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  • The Beginning of Infinity

  • Explanations That Transform the World
  • By: David Deutsch
  • Narrated by: Walter Dixon
  • Length: 20 hrs
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (244 ratings)
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The Beginning of Infinity

By: David Deutsch
Narrated by: Walter Dixon
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Summary

A bold and all-embracing exploration of the nature and progress of knowledge from one of today's great thinkers. Throughout history, mankind has struggled to understand life's mysteries, from the mundane to the seemingly miraculous. In this important new book, David Deutsch, an award-winning pioneer in the field of quantum computation, argues that explanations have a fundamental place in the universe. They have unlimited scope and power to cause change, and the quest to improve them is the basic regulating principle not only of science but of all successful human endeavor. This stream of ever improving explanations has infinite reach, according to Deutsch: we are subject only to the laws of physics, and they impose no upper boundary to what we can eventually understand, control, and achieve. In his previous book, The Fabric of Reality, Deutsch describe the four deepest strands of existing knowledge-the theories of evolution, quantum physics, knowledge, and computation-arguing jointly they reveal a unified fabric of reality. In this new book, he applies that worldview to a wide range of issues and unsolved problems, from creativity and free will to the origin and future of the human species.

Filled with startling new conclusions about human choice, optimism, scientific explanation, and the evolution of culture, The Beginning of Infinity is a groundbreaking audio book that will become a classic of its kind.

©2011 David Deutsch (P)2011 Gildan Media Corp
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History

Critic reviews

“Provocative and persuasive…Mr. Deutsch’s previous tome, The Fabric of Reality, took a broad-ranging sweep… The Beginning of Infinity is equally bold, addressing subjects from artificial intelligence to the evolution of culture and of creativity; its conclusions are just as profound." ( The Economist)

What listeners say about The Beginning of Infinity

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Just wow: a must-read

what a mind this guy has got. such insight. a feast for the curious and for anyone with a sense of wonder.

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Fantastic

This book (specifically the notions of universal problem solving) genuinely made me see humans in a different light, and the physics side made me want to read his other book straight after. Bonus - the narrator sounds like Brent Spiner.

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Just sensational.

18 chapters of my mind being blown. First few seemed quite abstract to me, but then it started to become clear how these concepts affect our everyday reality.

Stunning, stunning book.

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A sometimes difficult book.

A sometimes difficult book that helps to explain how science works, and why it does. My favourite chapter is an ancient Greek philosopher having a conversation with a god, because this is where most of the difficult concepts fall into place, and because it reads a bit like Terry Pratchet :P The rest of the book is heavy philosophical reasoning, with each chapter building on what has been explained in the previous.

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Essential for people not just physicists.

Amazingly well written and logical guide to the past, present, and future of explanation, and knowledge. Don't read another book without it. Listen and then listen again.

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