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The Miraculous from the Material: Understanding the Wonders of Nature
A gorgeously illustrated exploration of the science behind the universe’s most stunning natural phenomena—from atoms and unicellular life to rainbows, snowflakes, spider webs, the rings of Saturn, galaxies, and moreNature is capable of extraordinary phenomena. Standing in awe of those phenomena, we experience a feeling of connection to others, to wildlife, or to the cosmos. For acclaimed physicist and novelist Alan Lightman, just as remarkable is that all of what we see around us—from soap bubbles and scarlet ibses to shooting stars—are made out of the same material stuff, and obey the same rules and laws. This is what Lightman calls “spiritual materialism,” the belief that we can embrace spiritual experiences without letting go of our scientific worldview. Pairing 36 beautiful, full-color photos evoking some of nature’s most awe-inspiring phenomena with accessible, lyrical essays, The Miraculous from the Material explores the fascinating science underlying the natural world. Why do rainbows make an arc? Why does a particular waterfall at Yosimite National Park sometimes glow like it’s on fire? How does a hummingbird fly? The world has so many things to marvel at—and the science is just as fascinating. Lightman journeys from the world of atoms and molecules to the animal kingdom, from places like Ha Long Bay, Vietnam and the Grand Canyon out to the solar system and beyond, illuminating the unbelievable majesty of the cosmos the remarkable science behind how it got to be the way it is. The Miraculous from the Material is a stunning, soaring ode to the beauty and wonder all around us.
196 pages, Hardcover
Published November 19, 2024
28 people are currently reading
3043 people want to read
About the author
Alan Lightman
49 books1,299 followersAlan Lightman is an American writer, physicist, and social entrepreneur. Born in 1948, he was educated at Princeton and at the California Institute of Technology, where he received a PhD in theoretical physics. He has received five honorary doctoral degrees. Lightman has served on the faculties of Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and was the first person at MIT to receive dual faculty appointments in science and in the humanities. He is currently professor of the practice of the humanities at MIT. His scientific research in astrophysics has concerned
black holes, relativity theory, radiative processes, and the dynamics of systems of stars. His essays and articles have appeared in the Atlantic, Granta, Harper’s, the New Yorker, the New York Review of Books, Salon, and many other publications. His essays are often chosen by the New York Times as among the best essays of the year. He is the author of 6 novels, several collections of essays, a memoir, and a book-length narrative poem, as well as several books on science. His novel Einstein’s Dreams was an international bestseller and has been the basis for dozens of independent theatrical and musical adaptations around the world. His novel The Diagnosis was a finalist for the National Book Award. His most recent books are The Accidental Universe, which was chosen by Brain Pickings as one of the 10 best books of 2014, his memoir Screening Room, which was chosen by the Washington Post as one of the best books of the year for 2016,
and Searching for Stars on an Island in Maine (2018), an extended meditation on science and religion – which was the basis for an essay
on PBS Newshour. Lightman is an elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is also the founder of the Harpswell Foundation, a nonprofit organization whose mission is “to advance a new generation of women leaders in Southeast Asia.” He has received the gold medal for humanitarian service from the government of Cambodia.
black holes, relativity theory, radiative processes, and the dynamics of systems of stars. His essays and articles have appeared in the Atlantic, Granta, Harper’s, the New Yorker, the New York Review of Books, Salon, and many other publications. His essays are often chosen by the New York Times as among the best essays of the year. He is the author of 6 novels, several collections of essays, a memoir, and a book-length narrative poem, as well as several books on science. His novel Einstein’s Dreams was an international bestseller and has been the basis for dozens of independent theatrical and musical adaptations around the world. His novel The Diagnosis was a finalist for the National Book Award. His most recent books are The Accidental Universe, which was chosen by Brain Pickings as one of the 10 best books of 2014, his memoir Screening Room, which was chosen by the Washington Post as one of the best books of the year for 2016,
and Searching for Stars on an Island in Maine (2018), an extended meditation on science and religion – which was the basis for an essay
on PBS Newshour. Lightman is an elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is also the founder of the Harpswell Foundation, a nonprofit organization whose mission is “to advance a new generation of women leaders in Southeast Asia.” He has received the gold medal for humanitarian service from the government of Cambodia.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
November 25, 2024
Pulled the family together and told them this book is like a Christian daily devotional. Love it and the intention of it - the world is full of amazing phenomena that have been explained in religious terms throughout human history, but have scientific explanations we keep discovering. That doesn’t make them any less awe inspiring and I love both Lightman’s sense of wonder as well as his obvious connection to nature as a physicist.
Literally hope to treat this as a devotional with daily reminders of all the cool stuff in our world and to encourage curiosity with our kids.
Literally hope to treat this as a devotional with daily reminders of all the cool stuff in our world and to encourage curiosity with our kids.
September 7, 2025
3.0. Great topics but far too simplistic with the explanations. I could see incorporating this into middle grades science lesson plans but this is in no way a learning tool for educated adults. Maybe I missed that the purpose of the book was for children? I could see myself reading an essay a day to my grandsons.
Not a bad book, just far to "common" and too many cross over explanations that became a bit redundant.
Not a bad book, just far to "common" and too many cross over explanations that became a bit redundant.
January 4, 2025
I loved learning so much about some of the wonders of nature I just wish the writing wasn't so dry.
March 13, 2025
35 or so short essays explaining phenomena that have scientific explanations but also inspire awe and appreciation. The essays are in alphabetical order by title, so basically, no real order in the subject matter. I enjoyed the writing and the photos.
December 4, 2024
The physical sciences don't excite me as much as the life sciences but I was hoping to dip my toe in the field with this book on natural phenomena. I found parts of the book interesting but some of the science went over my head. There are pictures but my Kindle version didn't do them justice. Read my full review at Girl Who Reads.
January 8, 2025
1/7/2025 Really wish I had a hard/finished copy to see if an editor fixed some of the tiny but potentially critical flaws I noted. Full review tk at TheFrumiousConsortium.net.
1/8/2025 Ah, what a refreshing collection of essays for the intermediate scientist on the many wonderful things around us! I would say that it helps to have a knowledge of basic science before diving in, but if this book with its beautiful selection of photos and plainly stated appreciation for the beauty and magic of the everyday world encourages people to learn more about science, then so much the better!
Ofc, certain of the phenomena described here are easier to encounter than others. Birds and lightning are nearly worldwide occurrences, whereas Ha Long Bay and Yosemite Firefall are entirely site-specific. But Alan Lightman goes into the science behind all these wonders of nature with the same enthusiasm and appreciation for their beauty and ability to inspire. While he is certainly no believer in miracles, he does believe in the human experience of the miraculous, and is happy to explain the scientific processes behind these evocative experiences.
Which isn't to say that he's at all a killjoy! What's most palpable throughout this book is how, as the absolute inverse of a cult leader, he is more than happy to explain why things naturally occur and how we're able to observe them. Some of the explanations get a bit too technical even for me, even as some others seem weirdly underbaked -- why, for example, the seemingly arbitrary angle chosen from which to view rainbows? That said, I learned quite a bit. I hadn't known, for example, that spider webs were capable of jumping out at prey! Dr Lightman explains why with both relish and panache.
There were a few quibbles I had with the text as written that I'm hoping didn't survive the editorial process, that I only mention because I feel that books on science need to be more rigorously critiqued than their counterparts. One is just a matter of style, namely the awkward and unexplained decision to occasionally use the word "H-bird" to refer to hummingbirds. The more serious query I had was in regard to the use of the word "glanular" to describe snow in the section on glaciers. I'm pretty certain that was a typo, but can ascribe no meaning from the substitution of the most common words it might be standing in for (especially since granular would be the exact opposite of the packed snow described in the text, if I'm reading it correctly.)
Overall, this is a fun, inspiring book for people who want to know more about science and the world around us. It is definitely for anyone who enjoys the experience of wonder, and appreciates the beauty of the everyday.
The Miraculous From The Material by Alan Lightman was published November 19 2024 by Pantheon Books and is available from all good booksellers, including Bookshop!
1/8/2025 Ah, what a refreshing collection of essays for the intermediate scientist on the many wonderful things around us! I would say that it helps to have a knowledge of basic science before diving in, but if this book with its beautiful selection of photos and plainly stated appreciation for the beauty and magic of the everyday world encourages people to learn more about science, then so much the better!
Ofc, certain of the phenomena described here are easier to encounter than others. Birds and lightning are nearly worldwide occurrences, whereas Ha Long Bay and Yosemite Firefall are entirely site-specific. But Alan Lightman goes into the science behind all these wonders of nature with the same enthusiasm and appreciation for their beauty and ability to inspire. While he is certainly no believer in miracles, he does believe in the human experience of the miraculous, and is happy to explain the scientific processes behind these evocative experiences.
Which isn't to say that he's at all a killjoy! What's most palpable throughout this book is how, as the absolute inverse of a cult leader, he is more than happy to explain why things naturally occur and how we're able to observe them. Some of the explanations get a bit too technical even for me, even as some others seem weirdly underbaked -- why, for example, the seemingly arbitrary angle chosen from which to view rainbows? That said, I learned quite a bit. I hadn't known, for example, that spider webs were capable of jumping out at prey! Dr Lightman explains why with both relish and panache.
There were a few quibbles I had with the text as written that I'm hoping didn't survive the editorial process, that I only mention because I feel that books on science need to be more rigorously critiqued than their counterparts. One is just a matter of style, namely the awkward and unexplained decision to occasionally use the word "H-bird" to refer to hummingbirds. The more serious query I had was in regard to the use of the word "glanular" to describe snow in the section on glaciers. I'm pretty certain that was a typo, but can ascribe no meaning from the substitution of the most common words it might be standing in for (especially since granular would be the exact opposite of the packed snow described in the text, if I'm reading it correctly.)
Overall, this is a fun, inspiring book for people who want to know more about science and the world around us. It is definitely for anyone who enjoys the experience of wonder, and appreciates the beauty of the everyday.
The Miraculous From The Material by Alan Lightman was published November 19 2024 by Pantheon Books and is available from all good booksellers, including Bookshop!
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December 16, 2024Thanks for the free/gifted book, Penguin Random House & Zeitgeist
What an inspiring and gorgeous book! Lightman's thesis is that life follows natural law and rules, but in so doing it is miraculous--the material world is enough to explain the things that are and that happen, and that very fact is miraculous. Alphabetically he goes through elements, creatures, and forces in nature and explains how they are material, and what makes them miraculous and awe-inspiring. And his writing is incredible! I see how how it is that he could be simultaneously on the science and humanities faculty at Harvard, as he explains complex phenomena in lay terms easily accessible to non-scientists. And the way he brings out the miraculous make every little detail seem so incredible! I chose to read one "chapter" a day, and they are brief so it was easily achieved. I also found Lightmans's approach fascinating because although he does not attribute nature and nature's laws to higher intelligence he uses the exact same phrasing and reasoning to “obviously” support his arguments that I’ve heard from creationists. My takeaway: standing in awe of the miraculous is universal, whether you attribute it to an intelligent design or to unplanned evolution (or some combination thereof).
What an inspiring and gorgeous book! Lightman's thesis is that life follows natural law and rules, but in so doing it is miraculous--the material world is enough to explain the things that are and that happen, and that very fact is miraculous. Alphabetically he goes through elements, creatures, and forces in nature and explains how they are material, and what makes them miraculous and awe-inspiring. And his writing is incredible! I see how how it is that he could be simultaneously on the science and humanities faculty at Harvard, as he explains complex phenomena in lay terms easily accessible to non-scientists. And the way he brings out the miraculous make every little detail seem so incredible! I chose to read one "chapter" a day, and they are brief so it was easily achieved. I also found Lightmans's approach fascinating because although he does not attribute nature and nature's laws to higher intelligence he uses the exact same phrasing and reasoning to “obviously” support his arguments that I’ve heard from creationists. My takeaway: standing in awe of the miraculous is universal, whether you attribute it to an intelligent design or to unplanned evolution (or some combination thereof).
January 5, 2025
My first read for 2025. Engaging photography covering 36 natural phenomena that the author has selected from the natural world, which he then describes by blending their inherent beauty with mathematical principals or physics to create short essays about each topic. In my opinion, the writing isn't that great. So I don't see this book as gift giving material. But, I can easily imagine the book unread and gracing a lot of coffee tables.
January 5, 2025
What a great book! The author explains the science behind things like waterspouts, spiderwebs, and snowflakes. Some of the explanations are a little too scientific for me to understand, but overall he used lay terms. Each essay is only 2-3 pages, making it easier to absorb. The author doesn’t just explain the science, he also clearly has an appreciation for the beauty and wonder of the world (he calls himself a spiritual materialist).
January 21, 2025
"I call myself a spiritual materialist. By "materialist", I mean that I believe the world is made of material stuff, and nothing more, that material obeys rules and laws. At the same time, like many of us, I have "spiritual" experiences: Feelings of connection to other human beings and to the larger cosmos, moment of communion with wild animals, the appreciation of beauty, wonder. Nature is capable of extraordinary phenomena. We human beings stand in awe of those phenomena. That's part of my view of spirituality"
So begins this science-y book about the wonders and beauty of nature. Some of the topics I had never heard of (fallstreak and mammatus clouds, mandarinfish) and some of topics I am more familiar with. Some of them I have recently reviewed while helping my daughter with her chemistry and biology courses so they are fresher in my mind than I would have thought! Many of these essays are on topics we are all familiar with and some are of things we may never see. I do agree it was a bit dry in parts, and it would be helpful to have an interest in science to appreciate, but I enjoyed the humanistic ties and sense of wonder and connection he brought to some of the essays. I appreciate the photos as well, and I think this is a book that could be read little by little, over the course of several weeks or months. There is a mindfulness to it, and it's clear Alan Lightman appreciates the natural world and his part in it. We could all slow down and appreciate nature and how everything comes together a bit more, I think.
Also, I like the cover.
{library, hardcover}
So begins this science-y book about the wonders and beauty of nature. Some of the topics I had never heard of (fallstreak and mammatus clouds, mandarinfish) and some of topics I am more familiar with. Some of them I have recently reviewed while helping my daughter with her chemistry and biology courses so they are fresher in my mind than I would have thought! Many of these essays are on topics we are all familiar with and some are of things we may never see. I do agree it was a bit dry in parts, and it would be helpful to have an interest in science to appreciate, but I enjoyed the humanistic ties and sense of wonder and connection he brought to some of the essays. I appreciate the photos as well, and I think this is a book that could be read little by little, over the course of several weeks or months. There is a mindfulness to it, and it's clear Alan Lightman appreciates the natural world and his part in it. We could all slow down and appreciate nature and how everything comes together a bit more, I think.
Also, I like the cover.
{library, hardcover}
March 24, 2025
I thoroughly enjoyed this little book exploring natural wonders worldwide and beyond. Lightman gives a unique perspective with expertise in physics and the humanities with gorgeous pictures accompanied by short easy to understand essays of two or three pages that express awe at the miracles of nature. Though it is presented as a compact hardcover, I could see it in a larger coffee table book format.
December 9, 2024
Lightman offers a series of essays that explain awesome natural phenomena yet allow them to retain their ability to generate wonder in us. Tornados, Norther Lights, bioluminescence to name just three. Lightman does a great job of explaining the underlying science in terms suitable for a lay person. He ends each essay with a clear sense of wonder.
February 6, 2025
Having always been in awe of nature, but not totally understanding it, I really enjoyed this book. Lightman's descriptions of some of nature's curiosities were very thorough. For some, I wished for more examples and details and for others, I was totally in over my head! But always good to stretch my brain!!
April 4, 2025
Author's experience of seeing each particular phenomenon, leading to an explanation of each one in essays of a few pp. each. Explanations were supposedly simple, but those involving physical sciences were still over my head. Still, I learned some facts, mostly about those involving the life sciences. Absolutely beautiful illustrations to accompany each essay.
June 19, 2025
Audio. Some interesting and fascinating facts about some wonders of nature. The prose was a bit on the simple side but the explanations of things using physics were definitely challenging and sophisticated. A bit of an enigma between the complex physics and simplified prose. But lots of nature's Wonders explained.
June 11, 2025
A good over view of various creatures and phenomena. For me there was a noticeable disparity among various explanations--some being very simple and others beyond my grasp. I do wish he'd included tardigrades.
January 10, 2025
Excellent short essays with a full-page photo of a wide variety of topics.
January 15, 2025
Simple scientific explanations for natural phenomena without distracting from their wonder.
January 18, 2025
Short, readable essays on natural phenomena. Strangely, the essays are sorted alphabetically.
dnf
April 6, 2025i read the first three “chapters” or whatever you want to call them and then i was like actually i don’t really want to read this.
May 7, 2025
I’d have given this four stars, as it is beautifully written, but (and I rarely think about books this way, but) it’s really quite brief for the cover price.
May 22, 2025
A book of essays about various topics of science we see in the world around us. It explains nature and the things we see and may wonder about in terms that are easy to understand.
June 18, 2025
I wish there were higher stars to rate this beautiful book!
July 9, 2025
Bite-size science lessons written to a layperson's level.
October 30, 2025
Neat phenomenon photographed and explained. It's amazing in places. The author seems like someone you'd want to see these things with.
November 20, 2025
I loved the illustrations and easy to digest essays. It was approachable and left me feeling appreciative of the natural beauty of the world.
November 21, 2025
knowing how some things in nature work can enhance enjoyment of nature not diminish it
May 31, 2025
Interesting set of essays to read. While the short essay format made it quite a quick read, I do wish the author spent a little more time on each topic.
I enjoyed reading the essays, but it’s hard to imagine I’ll retain the information for long given how quickly the book blasts through facts.
I enjoyed reading the essays, but it’s hard to imagine I’ll retain the information for long given how quickly the book blasts through facts.
August 19, 2025
This is a gorgeous book! Full of glorious photos and great explanations of how the physics of our world creates miraculous gifts for us to experience! I like it so much that I will be sending copies to everyone on my holiday list … ages 9 to 90! No kidding, curious readers will love it!!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews