The Upright Thinkers

The Upright Thinkers Plot Summary

Introduction

Imagine standing at the edge of a vast canyon, peering into the depths of time. On one side stands a primitive human ancestor, tentatively striking two stones together to create a sharp edge. On the other side, modern scientists manipulate invisible quantum particles and peer into the fabric of spacetime itself. How did we traverse this seemingly impossible intellectual chasm? This extraordinary journey from basic tool-making to understanding the fundamental laws of the universe represents humanity's greatest achievement - the development of scientific thought. Throughout these pages, we'll explore how humans gradually developed the capacity to understand nature through observation, experiment, and mathematical reasoning rather than myth and superstition. We'll see how this approach emerged not in a straight line but through a series of revolutionary breakthroughs punctuated by periods of preservation and refinement. This exploration isn't just for scientists or historians - it's for anyone curious about how we came to understand our world and ourselves, and how the scientific worldview that now shapes every aspect of modern life emerged from humble beginnings in ancient civilizations.

Chapter 1: Ancient Foundations: First Tools to Early Civilizations (3000 BCE)

The story of human scientific thought begins not with laboratories or universities, but with our earliest ancestors who first gazed at the stars and wondered about their place in the universe. Archaeological evidence reveals that by 2.5 million years ago, early humans were creating stone tools with sharp edges - a development requiring not just manual dexterity but a new kind of thinking. These toolmakers had to understand cause and effect, visualizing how striking one stone with another could create a useful cutting edge. This cognitive leap represented the earliest foundations of scientific reasoning. The control of fire, mastered by Homo erectus around 400,000 years ago, marked another crucial milestone. Fire provided warmth, protection from predators, and the ability to cook food (increasing nutrient absorption), but it also required understanding and manipulating a natural process - a fundamental aspect of scientific thinking. As modern humans (Homo sapiens) emerged around 300,000 years ago, they developed increasingly sophisticated technologies, from spear-throwers to bone needles, reflecting growing cognitive abilities and cumulative knowledge. The Neolithic Revolution, beginning around 12,000 years ago, transformed human existence as people transitioned from nomadic hunting and gathering to settled agriculture. Recent archaeological discoveries at sites like Göbekli Tepe in Turkey suggest that religious or ceremonial structures may have preceded permanent settlements, challenging our understanding of how civilization developed. Rather than agriculture enabling monument-building, the desire to create sacred spaces may have motivated people to settle down and develop farming techniques. This period saw humans systematically observing natural cycles of plants and animals - the beginnings of agricultural science. The emergence of the first true cities in Mesopotamia around 5,000 years ago created conditions for specialized knowledge to flourish. As urban populations grew, the need for record-keeping led to the development of writing systems. The Sumerians created cuneiform script initially for commercial transactions but eventually used it to preserve myths, laws, and medical knowledge. Writing allowed knowledge to be preserved and transmitted across generations with unprecedented accuracy, setting the stage for the systematic accumulation of ideas that would eventually become science. These early civilizations also developed sophisticated mathematical systems for measuring fields, constructing buildings, and tracking celestial movements. By 3000 BCE, civilizations in Mesopotamia and Egypt had established the foundations for scientific thinking: systematic observation, mathematical reasoning, and written records. Egyptian engineers used geometric principles to build pyramids with remarkable precision, leveling massive structures with errors of less than an inch across hundreds of feet. Mesopotamian astronomers carefully tracked the movements of planets and stars, creating detailed records that allowed them to predict celestial events. While these ancient peoples attributed natural phenomena to divine forces, they nonetheless developed practical knowledge based on careful observation and mathematical reasoning - essential precursors to the scientific worldview that would gradually emerge over the following millennia.

Chapter 2: Greek Revolution: Birth of Rational Inquiry (500-300 BCE)

The Greek intellectual revolution that flourished between 500-300 BCE represents one of history's most remarkable transformations in human thinking. While earlier civilizations had developed practical knowledge and technological skills, the Greeks pioneered a fundamentally new approach to understanding the world. Rather than accepting traditional explanations based on divine will or ancestral wisdom, Greek thinkers began asking systematic questions about the nature of reality itself. This shift from "what" to "why" questions marked the birth of rational inquiry. The coastal city of Miletus in Ionia (modern Turkey) became the cradle of this new thinking. There, Thales proposed that water was the fundamental substance from which all things derived - a theory that seems simplistic today but represented a revolutionary attempt to explain natural phenomena through natural causes rather than divine intervention. When asked what caused earthquakes, Thales suggested the world floated on water, and earthquakes occurred when this water sloshed around - a wrong explanation, but revolutionary in its approach. His student Anaximander suggested that the world emerged from an indefinite substance he called "apeiron," while Anaximenes proposed air as the primary element. Though their specific theories proved incorrect, their methodology of seeking rational explanations rather than invoking supernatural causes established a powerful new intellectual tradition. Pythagoras, who established a quasi-religious community in southern Italy around 530 BCE, made the profound discovery that mathematical relationships underlie physical phenomena. After observing how musical tones related to string lengths in precise mathematical ratios, he proclaimed that "number is the essence of reality." His famous theorem about right triangles demonstrated that abstract mathematical principles could describe concrete reality with precision. The Pythagoreans' belief that "all is number" anticipated the modern scientific understanding that mathematical laws govern natural processes - a concept that would eventually become the cornerstone of modern science. The intellectual climate of Greece provided fertile ground for these ideas. Greek city-states fostered a culture where open debate and the questioning of authority were not just permitted but celebrated. Unlike the more hierarchical societies of Mesopotamia and Egypt, Greek thinkers could challenge conventional wisdom without fear of religious persecution. The diversity of Greek political systems also meant that thinkers banished from one city could often find refuge in another, allowing controversial ideas to survive and spread. This environment of intellectual freedom was crucial for the development of rational inquiry. Aristotle, tutored by Plato and later tutor to Alexander the Great, became the most influential figure of this revolution. His approach was encyclopedic - he studied and categorized everything from animal anatomy to meteorology, from ethics to physics. Unlike modern scientists, Aristotle sought to understand the purpose behind natural phenomena rather than just describing them mathematically. Though many of his specific conclusions were later proven wrong, his insistence on careful observation and logical reasoning laid crucial groundwork for the scientific method. His works would be preserved, translated, and studied for centuries, providing both a foundation and a foil for later scientific thinkers. The Greek scientific revolution reached its zenith when Alexander's conquests spread Hellenic culture throughout the Near East. The founding of Alexandria in Egypt, with its Museum and Library housing half a million scrolls, created the world's first research institute. There, Greek theoretical approaches merged with Egyptian practical knowledge, particularly in fields like medicine, astronomy, and mathematics. This cross-cultural exchange generated new knowledge and preserved ancient wisdom that might otherwise have been lost. The Greek revolution in thought ultimately transformed human understanding by establishing that the world operates according to comprehensible principles that can be discovered through rational inquiry - a perspective that would eventually enable unprecedented scientific and technological progress.

Chapter 3: Medieval Preservation: Monasteries to Universities (500-1400)

The fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 CE marked the beginning of a profound transition in how knowledge was preserved and transmitted in Europe. Contrary to popular misconceptions of a complete "Dark Age," the medieval period saw important developments that would eventually enable the scientific revolution. As Roman institutions collapsed, monasteries became crucial repositories of ancient learning. Monks painstakingly copied classical texts, preserving works by Aristotle, Euclid, Ptolemy and other ancient thinkers that might otherwise have been lost forever. The Benedictine motto "ora et labora" (pray and work) established a rhythm where intellectual labor was valued alongside spiritual devotion. While Western Europe experienced this institutional transformation, the Islamic world entered a golden age of scientific and philosophical inquiry. From the 8th to the 13th centuries, scholars in Baghdad, Cairo, Cordoba and other centers translated and expanded upon Greek knowledge. Figures like Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen) made groundbreaking contributions to optics, conducting the first true experiments with light and vision. Islamic mathematicians developed algebra (the word itself comes from the Arabic "al-jabr") and introduced the decimal system with Arabic numerals, tools that would prove essential for later scientific advances. This preservation and expansion of knowledge would eventually flow back to Europe through translations from Arabic, particularly in Spain and Sicily where Islamic and Christian cultures met. A pivotal development occurred in the 12th and 13th centuries with the establishment of the first universities. Beginning with Bologna (1088), Paris (c.1150), and Oxford (1167), these institutions created new frameworks for intellectual inquiry. Unlike modern universities, medieval institutions focused primarily on theology, law, and medicine rather than natural philosophy (science). Nevertheless, they established crucial precedents: systematic curricula, formal disputations, and communities of scholars dedicated to rational inquiry. As historian Edgar Zilsel observed, "man seems to be inclined to interpret nature after the pattern of society." Medieval European society was changing, with growing affluence creating new opportunities for the educated, and this social transformation enabled a gradual revival of scientific thinking. The medieval scholastic tradition, often criticized for excessive reliance on authority and logical hair-splitting, nevertheless made important contributions to scientific thinking. Scholars at Oxford's Merton College in the 14th century, including Thomas Bradwardine and William of Heytesbury, developed the "Merton Rule" describing uniform acceleration - a concept that would later influence Galileo. Jean Buridan at the University of Paris proposed the concept of impetus to explain continued motion, challenging Aristotle's physics and anticipating Newton's first law of motion. These developments show that medieval thinkers were not merely preserving ancient knowledge but actively questioning and extending it. Technological innovation flourished during this period even when theoretical science progressed slowly. Medieval Europe saw the invention or refinement of mechanical clocks, eyeglasses, the magnetic compass, gunpowder weapons, and sophisticated water mills. The heavy plow, horse collar, and three-field crop rotation transformed agriculture, while innovations in shipbuilding enabled expanded trade and exploration. These practical advances reflected a culture increasingly comfortable with manipulating the natural world for human purposes - an essential precondition for the scientific mindset that would flourish in the Renaissance. Perhaps the most revolutionary medieval invention was Johannes Gutenberg's printing press with movable type, developed around 1440. By making books dramatically cheaper and more abundant, printing democratized knowledge and accelerated the exchange of ideas. A single printer could produce more books in a week than a medieval scribe could copy in a year. This technology would prove crucial for the scientific revolution, allowing discoveries to be widely shared, debated, and built upon. The medieval period thus ended not in darkness but with an innovation that would help illuminate the centuries to come, demonstrating how this era of transition laid essential groundwork for the scientific breakthroughs that would follow.

Chapter 4: Scientific Revolution: Newton's Mechanical Universe (1600-1700)

The 17th century witnessed an intellectual transformation so profound that historians call it simply "The Scientific Revolution." This period saw the emergence of modern science as we understand it today - a systematic approach to knowledge based on mathematical reasoning, careful observation, and controlled experimentation. While building on medieval foundations, these thinkers created something genuinely new: a coherent methodology for investigating nature that continues to shape our world. Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) stands as a pivotal figure in this transformation. Born in Pisa, Italy, Galileo combined mathematical brilliance with experimental ingenuity and remarkable communication skills. His work with the newly invented telescope revealed mountains on the moon, spots on the sun, and moons orbiting Jupiter - observations that contradicted Aristotelian cosmology and supported the Copernican view that Earth orbits the sun. Even more revolutionary was Galileo's approach to motion. Unlike his predecessors, who performed experiments mainly to illustrate ideas they already accepted, Galileo used experiments to explore nature and test hypotheses. When studying free fall, he knew his water clock wasn't precise enough to measure falling objects directly, so he slowed things down by rolling bronze balls down smooth inclined planes. This ingenious approach revealed that falling objects accelerate at a constant rate regardless of their weight - directly contradicting Aristotle's theory that heavier objects fall faster. Galileo's contemporary, Johannes Kepler (1571-1630), made equally revolutionary contributions to astronomy. After inheriting detailed observational data from Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe, Kepler spent years searching for mathematical patterns in planetary motion. His persistence led to three laws that precisely described how planets move: they follow elliptical orbits with the sun at one focus; they sweep out equal areas in equal times; and the square of a planet's orbital period is proportional to the cube of its average distance from the sun. These elegant mathematical relationships demonstrated that celestial motion follows comprehensible laws rather than the complex arrangements of circles proposed by earlier astronomers. The scientific revolution reached its culmination with Isaac Newton (1642-1727), who synthesized the work of his predecessors into a comprehensive system of natural philosophy. Born in Lincolnshire, England, Newton developed calculus, investigated the properties of light, and formulated three laws of motion that would govern physics for centuries. His crowning achievement came in his 1687 masterpiece, "Principia Mathematica," where he demonstrated that the same force causing objects to fall on Earth also keeps the moon in orbit and planets circling the sun. This universal law of gravitation unified terrestrial and celestial physics, showing that the same mathematical principles govern motion throughout the cosmos. As physicist Richard Feynman noted, "In the age in which Newton lived, the courage to even hope to find such a simple and unified theory of motion was a mark of his great originality." The revolution extended beyond physics and astronomy. Robert Boyle (1627-1691) established chemistry as a rigorous discipline through careful experiments with gases and his formulation of Boyle's Law. Anton van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723) used microscopes to discover bacteria and other microorganisms, revealing an entirely new realm of life. William Harvey (1578-1657) demonstrated through meticulous observation and experiment that blood circulates continuously through the body, overturning centuries of medical dogma. These diverse investigations shared a common approach: systematic observation, controlled experimentation, and mathematical analysis. Newton's work transformed not just science but human consciousness itself. After Newton, people began to think in terms of forces, inertia, and momentum - concepts that would have been incomprehensible before. His vision of a clockwork universe governed by mathematical laws inspired thinkers in fields far beyond physics. America's founding fathers embraced Newtonian thinking to assert in the Declaration of Independence that "the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle" people to political self-determination. The scientific revolution established a new approach to knowledge based on observation, experiment, mathematical analysis, and peer review - a transformation that would enable unprecedented advances in human knowledge and, eventually, dramatic improvements in the human condition through technological innovation.

Chapter 5: Chemistry's Rise: Understanding Matter's Building Blocks (1750-1900)

The 18th and 19th centuries witnessed chemistry's transformation from a collection of practical recipes and alchemical speculations into a rigorous science built on atomic theory. This evolution began with Antoine Lavoisier (1743-1794), often called the father of modern chemistry. Working in pre-revolutionary France, Lavoisier brought unprecedented precision to chemical experiments by carefully measuring the weights of substances before and after reactions. His most famous experiment demonstrated that when materials burn, they combine with oxygen from the air rather than releasing a mysterious substance called "phlogiston" as previously believed. This discovery led him to formulate the law of conservation of mass: "Nothing is created, nothing is destroyed, everything is transformed." Lavoisier's systematic approach extended to chemical nomenclature, replacing confusing alchemical terms with a rational naming system still used today. Tragically, his scientific contributions could not save him from the French Revolution's Reign of Terror. When sentenced to the guillotine in 1794, his plea for time to complete his research was famously rejected with the words, "The Republic has no need of scientists." This brutal end could not diminish his legacy - a chemistry based on careful measurement rather than speculation. The atomic theory that would explain Lavoisier's observations emerged from the work of John Dalton (1766-1844), an English Quaker schoolteacher with extraordinary scientific insight. In 1808, Dalton published "A New System of Chemical Philosophy," proposing that each element consists of identical, indivisible atoms with characteristic weights. Chemical compounds form when atoms combine in fixed ratios - for example, water always contains two hydrogen atoms for each oxygen atom. This elegant theory explained why chemical reactions occur in definite proportions and provided a framework for understanding countless chemical phenomena. While Dalton's atomic theory gained acceptance among scientists, practical applications of chemistry were transforming society. The industrial revolution depended heavily on chemical processes for producing textiles, metals, glass, and other materials. Humphry Davy (1778-1829) used the newly invented electric battery to isolate potassium, sodium, and other elements, while his assistant Michael Faraday (1791-1867) made fundamental discoveries about electromagnetism that would eventually enable electrical technology. Chemistry was becoming not just an intellectual pursuit but an engine of economic and technological progress. The periodic table, developed by Dmitri Mendeleev (1834-1907) in 1869, brought remarkable order to chemistry's growing catalog of elements. Arranging elements by atomic weight, Mendeleev discovered that their properties followed a periodic pattern. This allowed him to predict the properties of yet-undiscovered elements and correct errors in existing data. When gallium was discovered in 1875 with precisely the properties Mendeleev had predicted for his "eka-aluminum," the periodic table's power was confirmed. This organizational breakthrough revealed deep patterns in nature's building blocks and suggested that atomic structure must follow some underlying mathematical principles. By the late 19th century, new discoveries were pointing toward an even deeper understanding of atoms. The identification of radioactivity by Henri Becquerel and Marie and Pierre Curie suggested that atoms were not truly indivisible. J.J. Thomson's discovery of the electron in 1897 confirmed that atoms had internal structure. The stage was set for the 20th century's revolutionary insights into subatomic physics, which would reveal that the seemingly solid matter of everyday experience consists mostly of empty space populated by particles behaving according to strange quantum rules. Chemistry had evolved from ancient alchemical dreams of transmuting lead into gold to a science capable of understanding - and eventually manipulating - the fundamental building blocks of matter.

Chapter 6: Darwin's Legacy: Evolution and the Natural Order (1859-1900)

The publication of Charles Darwin's "On the Origin of Species" in 1859 represents one of the most profound intellectual revolutions in human history. Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection transformed not just biology but humanity's understanding of its place in nature. Born into a wealthy English family in 1809, Darwin showed little academic promise in his youth. His life changed dramatically when he secured a position as naturalist aboard HMS Beagle for its five-year voyage around the world. The diverse species Darwin encountered, particularly on the Galápagos Islands, raised questions about the fixity of species that would occupy him for decades. Darwin's revolutionary insight came after reading Thomas Malthus's essay on population growth. Malthus argued that populations naturally increase faster than their food supply, leading to competition for resources. Darwin realized this same principle applied to all species: more individuals are born than can survive, creating a "struggle for existence" where those with advantageous traits are more likely to survive and reproduce. Over generations, this process - natural selection - gradually modifies species. Combined with the understanding that offspring inherit traits from their parents, this mechanism explained how species could change over time without supernatural intervention. The implications of Darwin's theory were explosive. If species evolved gradually through natural processes rather than being separately created, then humans were not special creations but descendants of ape-like ancestors. The theory challenged not just religious creation stories but the prevailing Victorian worldview that placed humans above and separate from nature. Darwin himself delayed publication for nearly twenty years, partly from fear of controversy. When Alfred Russel Wallace independently developed similar ideas, Darwin finally published his theory, forever changing our understanding of life's diversity. The scientific community's acceptance of evolution was relatively swift, but the theory's reception in broader society was more complex. Religious leaders often opposed it, though many eventually found ways to reconcile evolution with faith. Social theorists misappropriated Darwin's ideas to justify racism, imperialism, and unrestrained capitalism through "Social Darwinism" - applications that Darwin himself would have rejected. The theory became a cultural battleground that extended far beyond scientific questions about biological change. Darwin's work transformed biology from a largely descriptive science into one with a powerful explanatory framework. Before Darwin, the stunning diversity of life seemed explicable only through divine design. After Darwin, biologists could understand adaptations as the product of natural processes operating over immense time spans. This perspective unified previously separate fields like taxonomy, embryology, and biogeography. As geneticist Theodosius Dobzhansky would later write, "Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution." The evolutionary perspective continues to shape our understanding of ourselves and our relationship to other species. Modern genomic evidence has overwhelmingly confirmed Darwin's basic insights while revealing mechanisms of inheritance far more complex than he could have imagined. Evolution explains why our bodies contain vestigial structures, why we share nearly 99% of our DNA with chimpanzees, and why bacteria develop antibiotic resistance. Darwin's great insight - that the apparent design in nature emerges from undirected natural processes - remains one of science's most profound and consequential discoveries, a testament to how careful observation and bold thinking can transform our understanding of the world and our place within it.

Chapter 7: Quantum Revolution: Beyond Human Perception (1900-1930)

The dawn of the 20th century found physics in a curious state of complacency. Many leading scientists believed they had essentially completed their discipline, with only a few "minor details" left to resolve. This confidence rested on the twin pillars of Newton's mechanics and Maxwell's electromagnetism, which together seemed to explain all observed physical phenomena. Yet within three decades, this edifice would be completely transformed by the quantum revolution - a scientific upheaval that revealed an atomic realm governed by laws that defy our everyday intuitions. The quantum story begins with Max Planck (1858-1947), a conservative German physicist who reluctantly introduced a radical idea. In 1900, while studying blackbody radiation (the spectrum of light emitted by hot objects), Planck discovered that he could explain experimental results only by assuming that energy is emitted in discrete packets, or "quanta," rather than continuously. This mathematical trick, which Planck initially considered merely a convenient calculation device, would prove to be the first glimpse of a fundamentally different reality at the atomic scale. Five years later, Albert Einstein proposed that light itself consists of discrete packets or particles (later called photons), contradicting the well-established wave theory. As Einstein later remarked, "All my attempts to adapt the theoretical foundation of physics to this new type of knowledge failed completely." The Danish physicist Niels Bohr made the next crucial advance in 1913 by applying quantum ideas to the atom itself. Working with Ernest Rutherford's nuclear model of the atom, Bohr proposed that electrons can only occupy certain discrete energy levels or "orbits" around the nucleus - a stark violation of classical physics. When electrons jump between these allowed states, they absorb or emit photons with precisely defined energies, explaining the distinctive spectral lines produced by different elements. Though still a hybrid of classical and quantum concepts, Bohr's model successfully predicted the hydrogen spectrum and suggested that quantum rules govern the fundamental structure of matter. The full mathematical framework of quantum mechanics emerged in the mid-1920s through two seemingly different approaches. Werner Heisenberg developed matrix mechanics, a mathematical system that deliberately avoided visualizing the unobservable paths of electrons, focusing instead on measurable quantities like the frequencies of emitted light. Shortly afterward, Erwin Schrödinger proposed wave mechanics, describing electrons as probability waves rather than particles. Though conceptually distinct, these approaches proved mathematically equivalent - different perspectives on the same underlying reality. The philosophical implications of quantum theory proved as revolutionary as its mathematical structure. Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, formulated in 1927, demonstrated that certain pairs of properties (like position and momentum) cannot be simultaneously measured with perfect precision - not due to technical limitations but as a fundamental feature of reality itself. Even more disturbing to classical intuitions was the probabilistic nature of quantum predictions. Unlike Newton's deterministic universe, where the future unfolds with clockwork certainty from present conditions, quantum mechanics offers only probabilities for different outcomes. This indeterminism troubled Einstein, who famously objected that "God does not play dice with the universe." Despite its counterintuitive nature, quantum theory has proven extraordinarily successful both theoretically and practically. It explains phenomena from the periodic table of elements to the stability of matter itself. Without quantum mechanics, we couldn't understand semiconductors, lasers, or superconductivity. The digital revolution - computers, smartphones, the internet - rests entirely on our understanding of quantum behavior. Medical technologies like MRI scanners and modern genetic sequencing would be impossible without it. The quantum pioneers had peered beyond human senses into a realm that defies visualization, discovering principles that would transform both our understanding of nature and the technological landscape of human civilization.

Summary

Throughout this journey from stone tools to quantum mechanics, we've witnessed a profound transformation in how humans understand and interact with the natural world. The ascent of knowledge has been driven by a consistent pattern: established frameworks that successfully explain known phenomena eventually encounter anomalies they cannot accommodate, leading to revolutionary new paradigms that both incorporate previous knowledge and transcend its limitations. This pattern played out as Aristotelian physics gave way to Newtonian mechanics, which in turn yielded to quantum theory. Each transition preserved what was valuable in earlier understanding while opening new frontiers of knowledge. The evolution of scientific thought reveals that progress depends not just on brilliant individuals but on cultural and institutional factors that either nurture or inhibit innovation. The Greek achievement flourished in a culture that valued rational inquiry; medieval universities created institutional frameworks for systematic learning; and modern scientific communities established norms of open communication and rigorous testing. Today, as we face complex challenges from climate change to pandemic disease, this history offers crucial lessons. It reminds us that scientific progress requires both bold theoretical leaps and patient empirical testing, institutional support for research, and the courage to question established beliefs when evidence demands it. Most importantly, it teaches us that the most profound scientific advances often come not from confirming what we think we know, but from embracing the mysteries that lie at the boundaries of our understanding.

About Author

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Leonard Mlodinow

Leonard Mlodinow is an American theoretical physicist and mathematician, screenwriter and author. In physics, he is known for his work on the large N expansion, a method of approximating the spectrum of atoms based on the consideration of an infinite-dimensional version of the problem, and for his work on the quantum theory of light inside dielectrics.He has also written books for the general public, five of which have been New York Times best-sellers, including The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives, which was chosen as a New York Times notable book, and short-listed for the Royal Society Science Book Prize; The Grand Design, co-authored with Stephen Hawking, which argues that invoking God is not necessary to explain the origins of the universe; War of the Worldviews, co-authored with Deepak Chopra; and Subliminal: How Your Unconscious Mind Rules Your Behavior, which won the 2013 PEN/E. O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award. He also makes public lectures and media appearances on programs including Morning Joe and Through the Wormhole, and debated Deepak Chopra on ABC's Nightline.

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