{"product_id":"the-island-of-knowledge-the-limits-of-science-and-the-search-for-meaning-9780465049646","title":"The Island of Knowledge: The Limits of Science and the Search for Meaning","description":"\u003cb\u003eDo all questions have answers? How much can we know about the world? Is there such a thing as an ultimate truth?\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e To be human is to want to know, but what we are able to observe is only a tiny portion of what's \"out there.\" In \u003ci\u003eThe Island of Knowledge\u003c\/i\u003e, physicist Marcelo Gleiser traces our search for answers to the most fundamental questions of existence. In so doing, he reaches a provocative conclusion: science, the main tool we use to find answers, is fundamentally limited. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e These limits to our knowledge arise both from our tools of exploration and from the nature of physical reality: the speed of light, the uncertainty principle, the impossibility of seeing beyond the cosmic horizon, the incompleteness theorem, and our own limitations as an intelligent species. Recognizing limits in this way, Gleiser argues, is not a deterrent to progress or a surrendering to religion. Rather, it frees us to question the meaning and nature of the universe while affirming the central role of life and ourselves in it. Science can and must go on, but recognizing its limits reveals its true mission: to know the universe is to know ourselves. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Telling the dramatic story of our quest for understanding, \u003ci\u003eThe Island of Knowledge\u003c\/i\u003e offers a highly original exploration of the ideas of some of the greatest thinkers in history, from Plato to Einstein, and how they affect us today. An authoritative, broad-ranging intellectual history of our search for knowledge and meaning, \u003ci\u003eThe Island of Knowledge\u003c\/i\u003e is a unique view of what it means to be human in a universe filled with mystery.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eMarcelo Gleiser\u003c\/b\u003e is Appleton Professor of Natural Philosophy and Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Dartmouth College. He has published numerous popular works, including an essay, \"Emergent Realities in the Cosmos,\" which was featured in 2003's \u003ci\u003eBest American Science Writing\u003c\/i\u003e, and three previous books: \u003ci\u003eThe Dancing Universe, The Prophet and the Astronomer\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eA Tear at the Edge of Creation\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Basic Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50503376535826,"sku":"9780465049646","price":24.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_5547be06-4ea7-4ac4-874b-5ebd61f7000f.jpg?v=1730789748","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-island-of-knowledge-the-limits-of-science-and-the-search-for-meaning-9780465049646","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}