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James Owen Weatherall

The New York Times bestselling author of The Physics of Wall Street “deftly explains all you wanted to know about nothingness—a. k. a. the quantum vacuum” (Priyamvada Natarajan, author of Mapping the Heavens).

James Owen Weatherall’s bestselling book, The Physics of Wall Street, was named one of Physics Today’s five most intriguing books of 2013. In this work, he takes on a fundamental concept of modern physics: nothing. The physics of stuff—protons, neutrons, electrons, and even quarks and gluons—is at least somewhat familiar to most of us. But what about the physics of nothing? Isaac Newton thought of empty space as nothingness extended in all directions, a kind of theater in which physics could unfold. But both quantum theory and relativity tell us that Newton’s picture can’t be right. Nothing, it turns out, is an awful lot like something, with a structure and properties every bit as complex and mysterious as matter. In his signature lively prose, Weatherall explores the very nature of empty space—and solidifies his reputation as a science writer to watch.

Included on the 2017 Best Book List by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

“An engaging and interesting account. ”—The Economist

“Readers get a dose of biography while following such figures as Einstein, Dirac, and Newton to see how top theories about the void have been discovered, developed, and debunked. Weatherall’s clear language and skillful organization adroitly combines history and physics to show readers just how much ‘nothing really matters. ’”—Publishers Weekly

Yale University Press

Foundational Questions in Science

Void: The Strange Physics of Nothing

James Davison Hunter

Paul Nedelisky

Why efforts to create a scientific basis of morality are neither scientific nor moral: “Important and timely.”—The Wall Street Journal
 
 In this illuminating book, James Davison Hunter and Paul Nedelisky trace the origins and development of the centuries-long, passionate, but ultimately failed quest to discover a scientific foundation for morality. The “new moral science” led by such figures as E.O. Wilson, Patricia Churchland, Sam Harris, Jonathan Haidt, and Joshua Greene is only the newest manifestation of that quest.
 
 Though claims for its accomplishments are often wildly exaggerated, this new iteration has been no more successful than its predecessors. But rather than giving up in the face of this failure, the new moral science has taken a surprising turn. Whereas earlier efforts sought to demonstrate what is right and wrong, the new moral scientists have concluded, ironically, that right and wrong don’t actually exist. Their (perhaps unwitting) moral nihilism turns the science of morality into a social engineering project. If there is nothing moral for science to discover, the science of morality becomes, at best, a feeble program to achieve arbitrary societal goals. Concise and rigorously argued, Science and the Good is a definitive critique of a would-be science that has gained extraordinary influence in public discourse today—and an exposé of that project’s darker turn.
 
 “Science and the Good is a closely argued, always accessible riposte to those who think scientific study can explain, improve or even supersede morality . . . A generous and thoughtful critique.” —The Daily Telegraph

Science and the Good: The Tragic Quest for the Foundations of Morality