Seeking Ultimates: An Intuitive Guide to Physics, Second Edition takes us on a journey that explores the limits of our scientific knowledge, emphasizing the gaps that are left. The book starts with everyday concepts such as temperature, and proceeds to energy, the Periodic Table, and then to more advanced ideas. The author examines the nature of time and entropy, chaos, quantum theory, cosmology, and some aspects of mathematics, confirming that our understanding is necessarily incomplete. Using references to historical figures in science as well as thought-provoking illustrations, Seeking Ultimates encourages you to consider your scientific knowledge in a new light. You will be able to reassess your belief in "truths" as presented (such as mathematical theorems) and to reconsider philosophical issues of theology and happiness. A comprehensive glossary explains in clear language the technical terms so that nonscientists can enjoy the text.

Table of Contents:
Introduction, Acknowledgments, 1 What this book is about, 1.1 Introduction, 1.2 My story, 1.3 Intuition, 1.4 Incompleteness, 1.5 Human aspects, 1.6 Reasons for reading this book, 1.7 Arrangement of the chapters, 2 There is no free lunch. Temperature and energy: science for the environment (Hero: Count Rumford), 2.1 Introduction, 2.2 How cold can we get?, 2.3 Historical notes on thermodynamics, 2.4 What Is the highest temperature?, 2.5 What is energy conservation?, 2.6 A marriage of energy and mass, 2.7 Perpetual motion?, 2.8 Energy for mankind, 2.9. Summary, 3 Painting by numbers. Elements and particles: science as prediction (Hero: Dmitri Mendeleev), 3.1 Introduction, 3.2 Chemistry in 1867, 3.3 The Periodic Table and three predictions, 3.4 Confirmation, 3.5 The atom in the 1890s, 3.6 The atom split, 3.7 Incompleteness, 3.8 Plum-pudding or planetary system?, 3.9 A taxonomy of particles, 3.10 Basic forces, 3.11 Predictions of particles, 3.12 Electrons yield modern electronics, 3.13 Summary, 4 Why you cannot unscramble an egg. Time and entropy: science and the unity of knowledge (Hero: Ludwig Boltzmann), 4.1 What is entropy?, 4.2 How can we move in time?, 4.3 The first problem: can all molecular velocities be reversed?, 4.4 A second problem: coarse-graining, 4.5 Time’s arrow as an illusion, 4.6 Different arrows of time, 4.7 Entropy as metaphor, 4.8 Summary, 5 How a butterfly caused a tornado. Chaos and life: science as synthesis (Hero: Charles Darwin), 5.1 Introduction, 5.2 Limits of predictability in Newtonian mechanics, 5.3 Chemical and population chaos, 5.4 Abrupt changes (‘phase transitions’), 5.5 Self-organization, 5.6 Entropy is not always disorder, 5.7 The origin of life, 5.8 Summary, 6 Now you see it, now you don’t. Quantum theory: science and the invention of concepts (Hero: Max Planck), 6.1 Introduction, 6.2 Quantum mechanics: the elimination of unobservables, 6.3 Wave mechanics: the optics-mechanics analogy, 6.4 A brief history of the new mechanics, 6.5 Wavefunctions and probabilities, 6.6 Attempts to understand quantum mechanics, 6.7 Comments on quantum mechanics, 6.8 Quantum effects, 6.9 Can gravity affect temperature or light?, 6.10 Matter drained of heat, 6.11 A look at superconductivity, 6.12 Summary, 7 The galactic highway. Cosmology: science as history (Hero: Albert Einstein), 7.1 Ages, 7.2 Hubble’s law, 7.3 Cosmological models, 7.4 The ‘relic’ radiation, 7.5 Olbers’ Paradox, 7.6 The oscillating universe, 7.7 The origin of the elements, 7.8 Black holes, 7.9 Some problems, 7.10 Time machines, 7.11 Summary, 8 Weirdness or purity. Mathematics: science as numbers (Hero: Arthur Eddington), 8.1 Introduction, 8.2 Gödel’s theorem: consistency and incompleteness, 8.3 Complexity and randomness, 8.4 Infinities, 8.5 The physical constants, 8.6 Cosmical coincidences, 8.7 The anthropic principle, 8.8 The Copemican principle, 8.9 Summary, 9 The last question. Does God exist? (Hero: Blaise Pascal), 9.1 Introduction, 9.2 Gödelian statements, 9.3 The evidence of thermodynamics, 9.4 The evidence from cosmology, 9.5 The evidence from quantum mechanics, 9.6 Conclusion, 10 Love of my life. Science as human activity (Hero: readers are invited to choose their own), 10.1 Happiness, 10.2 Limits of science, 10.3 Distortions: science and the public, 10.4 Science wars?, 10.5. Concluding remarks, Glossary, References, Name Index, Index