The Mind of God

The Mind of God

Science and the Search for Ultimate Meaning

Summary

Paul Davies' The Mind of God: Science and the Search for Ultimate Meaning explores how modern science is beginning to shed light on the mysteries of our existence.

Is the universe - and our place in it - the result of random chance, or is there an ultimate meaning to existence? Where did the laws of nature come from? Were they created by a higher force, or can they be explained in some other way? How, for example, could a mechanism as complex as an eye have evolved without a creator?

Paul Davies argues that the achievement of science and mathematics in unlocking the secrets of nature mean that there must be a deep and significant link between the human mind and the organization of the physical world. In this quest for an ultimate explanation of the universe, he examines the origin of the cosmos, the possibility of other universes and the claim that we inhabit a kind of gigantic computer. The universe is, he concludes, no mere quirk of fate but a meaningful place for thinking beings. Through science, we can truly glimpse the mind of God.

'Makes us re-examine the great questions of existence'
  The New York Times

'The greatest achievement of the book is to provide an insight into the nature of science itself and the uncertainties that lie in the physical realm'
  John Gribbin, Sunday Times

'For those brought up on a diet of Adam and Eve, The Mind of God will make surprising reading'
  Independent

Paul Davies is Director of the BEYOND Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science, and co-Director of the Cosmology Initiative, both at Arizona State University. An internationally-acclaimed physicist, writer and broadcaster, Davies is the author of some twenty award-winning books, including The Eerie Silence: Searching for Ourselves in the Universe, The Goldilocks Enigma: Why is the Universe Just Right for Life? and About Time: Einstein's Unfinished Revolution.

Reviews

  • Makes us re-examine the great questions of existence
    The New York Times

About the author

Paul Davies

Paul Davies is a Regents' Professor of Physics and Director of the Beyond Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science at Arizona State University. The bestselling author of some thirty books, his many awards include the Templeton Prize and the Faraday Prize of the Royal Society. He is a Member of the Order of Australia and has an asteroid named after him.
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