Life Is Simple: How Occam's Razor Set Science Free and Shapes the Universe
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- Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
- Create Date：2021-10-10 03:19:08
- Update Date：2025-09-07
- Status：finish
- Author：Johnjoe McFadden
- ISBN：1541620445
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Summary
"In short， Life Is Simple is enthralling。"--Michael Blastland， Prospect
A biologist argues that simplicity is the guiding principle of the universe
Centuries ago， the principle of Ockham’s razor changed our world by showing simpler answers to be preferable and more often true。 In Life Is Simple， scientist Johnjoe McFadden traces centuries of discoveries， taking us from a geocentric cosmos to quantum mechanics and DNA， arguing that simplicity has revealed profound answers to the greatest mysteries。 This is no coincidence。 From the laws that keep a ball in motion to those that govern evolution， simplicity， he claims， has shaped the universe itself。 And in McFadden’s view， life could only have emerged by embracing maximal simplicity， making the fundamental law of the universe a cosmic form of natural selection that favors survival of the simplest。 Recasting both the history of science and our universe’s origins， McFadden transforms our understanding of ourselves and our world。
A biologist argues that simplicity is the guiding principle of the universe
Centuries ago， the principle of Ockham’s razor changed our world by showing simpler answers to be preferable and more often true。 In Life Is Simple， scientist Johnjoe McFadden traces centuries of discoveries， taking us from a geocentric cosmos to quantum mechanics and DNA， arguing that simplicity has revealed profound answers to the greatest mysteries。 This is no coincidence。 From the laws that keep a ball in motion to those that govern evolution， simplicity， he claims， has shaped the universe itself。 And in McFadden’s view， life could only have emerged by embracing maximal simplicity， making the fundamental law of the universe a cosmic form of natural selection that favors survival of the simplest。 Recasting both the history of science and our universe’s origins， McFadden transforms our understanding of ourselves and our world。
Reviews
Brian Clegg
，
This is a really hard book to review， because it has two quite distinct parts and the chances are that if you are interested in one of these parts， you may well find the other part less engaging。 The first section concerns the development of Occam's razor - the idea of keeping your explanation of something as simple as possible while it still works - and the impact this would have on philosophy （and proto-science） in the Middle Ages。 The second part treads very familiar ground in taking us throu This is a really hard book to review， because it has two quite distinct parts and the chances are that if you are interested in one of these parts， you may well find the other part less engaging。 The first section concerns the development of Occam's razor - the idea of keeping your explanation of something as simple as possible while it still works - and the impact this would have on philosophy （and proto-science） in the Middle Ages。 The second part treads very familiar ground in taking us through some of the major developments in science from Galileo onwards， occasionally tying back to Occam's razor to show that the impact of the idea continued。As it happens， I love the first bit as I find the medieval development of science and its intertwining with religion and philosophy fascinating。 Jonjoe McFadden brought in a lot of material I wasn't familiar with。 Of course I was aware of Occam's razor itself， but I knew nothing about William of Occam as a person， or the way his idea radically changed the philosophy of the period。 （If I'm picky， as someone who has written a book on Roger Bacon， I think McFadden plays a little fast and loose in this bit of history - he describes Bacon's Opus Majus pretty much as a treatise on optics， where it's strictly a book proposal not a treatise， and only 164 pages out of its 840 in my edition are on optics。）I find the angels-dancing-on-the-head-of-a-pin-ishness of the period a delight and would give it five stars， but I think many popular science readers will find it less inspiring than I do。 By comparison， I found the second half， post Boyle and his transitional position on the cusp of modern science， told me nothing really new in a summary way that wasn't very engaging。I think in many ways it would have been better if McFadden had limited himself to the first half and filled it out more - the rest we can pretty much take for granted， and it has been covered vast numbers of times elsewhere。 Life is Simple is definitely of interest if the early rumblings of philosophy towards science， and the impact of Occam's razor on philosophy and theology grab your attention， but otherwise less so。 Incidentally， the book's title gives you no clue as to what it's about， making it necessary to rely on the subtitle， never a good move。 At first glance， I thought it was a biology book on the origins of life。 。。。more
Books and margaritas
，
Life is Simple is an amazing book about the history of scientific discoveries through the lenses of Occam’s Razor， a rule which states that， in layman’s terms， the simplest explanation that correctly describes the phenomenon is usually the best one。 The author takes us on a journey through time and walks us through the most important scientific discoveries: from the acceptance of heliocentrism to quantum mechanics， natural selection and DNA。 It’s is a dense read， but yet it’s extremely informati Life is Simple is an amazing book about the history of scientific discoveries through the lenses of Occam’s Razor， a rule which states that， in layman’s terms， the simplest explanation that correctly describes the phenomenon is usually the best one。 The author takes us on a journey through time and walks us through the most important scientific discoveries: from the acceptance of heliocentrism to quantum mechanics， natural selection and DNA。 It’s is a dense read， but yet it’s extremely informative and simply fun to read。 The amount of research that went into writing this summary of the history of science is impressive， to say the least。One of my favourite chapters was the last one， in which the author talked about Cosmological Natural Selection， a theory that states that black holes ultimately create new universes with mutations as compared to its parents。 The new universes that aren’t good in creating matter and black holes die without reproducing， so it’s basically natural selection principle but applied to the whole cosmos。 Mind blowing！ A big part of this book deals with theology （which I personally didn’t enjoy as much as the rest of the book）， but you can’t separate early science from that。 Still， I felt like I learned so much about a topic that I had very little knowledge of。Highly recommend this book to anyone who is passionate about science。 。。。more
Mona
，
This book* offers a short history of science through the lens of Occam's Razor that states that simplicity is， most of the time， the best solution。 As the books tells it， scientists tended to add more complexity as the years passed。 Thanks to Occam's idea of simplicity new breakthroughs came to pass。 It's an interesting read for anyone passionate about science。 * - thank you to the publisher for offering me this ARC in exchange of an honest review This book* offers a short history of science through the lens of Occam's Razor that states that simplicity is， most of the time， the best solution。 As the books tells it， scientists tended to add more complexity as the years passed。 Thanks to Occam's idea of simplicity new breakthroughs came to pass。 It's an interesting read for anyone passionate about science。 * - thank you to the publisher for offering me this ARC in exchange of an honest review 。。。more
Andrea Wenger
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