The Artful Universe

by John D. Barrow

Hardcover

Published December 21, 1995

About the author

John D. Barrow was a professor of mathematical sciences and director of the Millennium Mathematics Project at Cambridge University and a Fellow of the Royal Society.

He was awarded the 2006 Templeton Prize for "Progress Toward Research or Discoveries about Spiritual Realities" for his "writings about the relationship between life and the universe, and the nature of human understanding [which] have created new perspectives on questions of ultimate concern to science and religion".

He was a member of a United Reformed Church, which he described as teaching "a traditional deistic picture of the universe".

Reviews

[Peter · Rating 2 out of 5]

There's some interesting stuff in here but also a lot of school level science such as why there are seasons. In the end, it's hard to see where Barrow is going with this or who he's writing for. (Someone who doesn't understand the seasons honestly isn't going to buy a book published by OUP.)

Where he does venture to propose an idea, they're rather weak and they're haunted by the spirit of Evolutionary Psychology, which was popular when it was written. An example is the theory that humans are drawn to savannah like landscapes, supported by a few cherry picked examples. Only a little reflection is needed to think of counterexamples.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a fascinating book, but I'm not quite sure what it is Barrow is trying to say. Perhaps that's my fault. I guess it's about the anthropic principle?

[Tech Nossomy · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a while this book had no entry on this website, so my review was written for the companion book:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...