StarTalk Radio

So, back on my shelf, I got a book by Stephen Hawking. The large scale structure of space time. Okay. Get some title like that. All right. And in it, it describes the physics and the mathematics inside the black hole. Okay. And as you go through, it basically opens up an entire space time. So, inside a black hole is effectively a whole other universe.

I have a book on my shelf, co-written by Stephen Hawking. I read it and didn't completely understand it. But I do remember the pages where it said that on the other side of a black hole, an entire other space-time opens up. As though it has birthed in another universe.

Yes, Hawking and Ellis. Very technical, beautiful book. So what they did... To me it was an ugly book because I didn't understand it.

To Janet, it's a beautiful book. It was painful though. It was painful.

So the idea is really... Oh, I can't wait to read it.

So they said, oh, maybe when you start to go into the singularity, you're actually blown out into a new Big Bang.

Yeah, Dava Sobel. Dava Sobel.

The Glass Universe.

Yeah, we had Dava here to talk about that book.

Yeah, and it's an incredible story but Hubble knew about that work which is remarkable.

Your sisters of the sun.

author of the very bestselling The Elegant Universe, followed by The Fabric of the Cosmos, followed by The Hidden Reality.

Hidden Reality was a third book.

Another famous book that uses or references Prometheus is the subtitle of Mary Shelley's book, Frankenstein.

And yeah, or what's the full title? Frankenstein, a Modern Prometheus.

So I'm fascinated. So this is Dr. Frankenstein not so much bringing fire to the world but creating life.

This seems like you're transgressing God or something, right?

So Frankenstein comes from that

It's what inspired Mary Shelley to write Frankenstein When she read about the experiments with dead frogs If you poked them with electricity, their legs jumped

I wish there was a book about it. Fahrenheit 451.

I wish there was a book about it. Fahrenheit 451.

Chris Ryan, sex writer in his book Sex at Dawn.

Chris Ryan, sex writer in his book Sex at Dawn.

Your book just came out in paperback. I think the hardcover came out last year. But often paperbacks do much better than the hardback. So this will be anyone's chance to pick this up.

Entangled Life, how fungi make our worlds change our minds and shape our futures.

So for this mushroom expertise, we've got Merlin Sheldrake, who's got a book out just now in paperback, Entangled Life, How Fungi Make Our Worlds Change Our Minds and Shape Our Futures.

Your book just came out in paperback. I think the hardcover came out last year.

Entangled Life, how fungi make our worlds change our minds and shape our futures.

Merlin, who's got a book out just now in paperback, Entangled Life, How Fungi Make Our Worlds Change Our Minds and Shape Our Futures.

I'm getting this book I feel like we've not even scratched the surface.

I actually read Walter Isaacson's biography on Einstein.

It was inspired by the book by Walter Isaacson, Einstein his life in his universe.

Or simply into Ayn Rand novels. Yes, that's a dystopian Atlas Shrugged.

Or simply into Ayn Rand novels. Yes, that's a dystopian Atlas Shrugged. It's true.

In the novel, Jonathan Swift's novel, Gulliver's Travels, there's two movies in there.

And I think it's a parody on what people think scientists do.

So there are these scientists with lab coats on and they're really intense and they can't even have a conversation with you.

And one of them is working on crushing freshly mined marble into material that they can make pillows out of.

There's another one where there's a weather vane which tells you the direction of the wind. It's usually like a rooster or something on the top.

In Scott Kelly's book, Endurance, he mentions the hassle it is for an astronaut who has to wear glasses when they do a spacewalk.

Contact lenses weren't an option, so he had to glue his glasses on his head in one of his spacewalks to prevent them from falling.

But they've both been. And, you know, according to Endurance, which I believe is the title of Scott's book, he acclimated in many ways very quickly.

And simply not just because you have a book called Unstoppable about climate change, not just because of that.

And simply not just because you have a book called Unstoppable about climate change, not just because of that.

This is almost feeling like the premise of The Gunslinger series that Stephen King does.

This is almost feeling like the premise of The Gunslinger series that Stephen King does.

Oh, that's right. Yeah, he read it to me. That's very cool. It was beautiful.

Oh, that's right. Yeah, he read it to me. That's very cool. It was beautiful.

And 'The Man In The High Castle' became 'The Man In The High Castle'.

For example his short story do androids dream of electric sheep became Later on her that's right. We can remember it for you wholesale became What will recall and The Man In The High Castle became a man in the high castle

But we don't know. Oh, snap! We have to be humble about that. Read the book.

I wrote a whole book about it. You can buy that one, too, From Eternity to Here.

In 1999, when I wrote The Age of Spiritual Machines, I predicted that we would pass the Turing Test by 2029. So in 30 years.

And in 1999, when I wrote The Age of Spiritual Machines, I predicted that we would pass the Turing Test by 2029. So in 30 years.

If you actually look at Lord of the Rings As suffused as it is with magic There's very little onstage magic

But when orcs attack, he draws his sword And he fights just like the people next to him He doesn't just go And then make them disappear

I think one of the reasons why people go on reading books like The Lord of the Rings is because of the enormous care that Tolkien took to create that world.

His maps. Yeah, but his depth of knowledge is far greater than the actual story he's telling. And because we know that or feel it, we have great confidence in the world that is being shown to us.

Do you know who summoned up these books to read them immediately? Because it's a series of books called Celestial Mechanics.

Do you know who summoned up these books to read them immediately? Because it's a series of books called Celestial Mechanics.

He reads it, goes to Laplace and says, Monsieur, this is a beautiful piece of work. Brilliant. But you make no mention of the architect of the system.

So I figured, okay, then they plunked a book down in front of me called Grunt, The Curious Science of Humans at War.

This is her book.

I haven't read it either. I don't remember what's in it. I wrote it a long time ago.

Okay, so this is military science, but specifically not the weapons and the bombs and the strategy, which I... you may have a lot of questions there about that when I will turn those all over to you.

So it's all in here.

So I figured, okay, then they plunked a book down in front of me called Grunt, The Curious Science of Humans at War.

This is her book.

The book starts out with the chicken gun and I love the chicken... The chicken gun.

it's a dark topic but it's an interesting quirky fun read.

it's an interesting, it's a foreign culture.