Alan Lightman - who worked for many years as a theoretical physicist - is the author of six novels, including the international bestseller Einstein's Dreams, as well as The Diagnosis, a finalist for the National Book Award. He is also the author of a memoir, three collections of essays, and several books on science. His work has appeared in The Atlantic, Granta, Harper's Magazine, The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books, and Nature, among other publications. He has taught at Harvard and at MIT, where he was the first person to receive a dual faculty appointment in science and the humanities. He lives in the Boston area.
The physicist and novelist's discursive essays on the mysteries of
the physical world are full of wonder and insight . . .
Lightman has a sympathetic gift for recreating the leaps of faith
in scientific advance. * the Observer *
Searching for Stars on an Island in Maine demonstrates
Lightman's ability to make the most abstract notions accessible to
all. No background is needed in physics, philosophy, religion
or any other field to fully understand every step of the
wide-ranging intellectual trek. No matter who you are, you will
emerge ready to be more impressive at your next dinner party . .
. No matter your views on science and the transcendent, this
engaging read will be as pleasant as a summer afternoon spent on an
island in Maine with good company. * Washington Post *
A lyrical and illuminating inquiry into our dual impulse for
belief in the unprovable and for trust in truth affirmed by
physical evidence . . . emerging with that rare miracle of
insight at the meeting point of the lucid and the luminous . .
. Searching for Stars on an Island in Maine is a splendid
read in its entirety. * Brain Pickings *
Stimulating . . . Once again, this deft wordsmith has
effortlessly straddled the divide between the hardest of the
hard sciences and the nebulous world of existential doubts and
longings. * Nature magazine *
He's at his best describing the scientific process, able
to evoke the thrill of new discovery while explaining
dizzyingly complex theories. * Mail on Sunday *
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