A Series of Fortunate Events (eBook)

Chance and the Making of the Planet, Life, and You

Sean B. Carroll (Autor)

eBook Download: PDF

2020
232 Seiten
Princeton University Press (Verlag)
978-0-691-20954-8 (ISBN)

Infos

"e;Fascinating and exhilarating-Sean B. Carroll at his very best."e;-Bill Bryson, author of The Body: A Guide for OccupantsFrom acclaimed writer and biologist Sean B. Carroll, a rollicking, awe-inspiring story of the surprising power of chance in our lives and the worldWhy is the world the way it is? How did we get here? Does everything happen for a reason or are some things left to chance? Philosophers and theologians have pondered these questions for millennia, but startling scientific discoveries over the past half century are revealing that we live in a world driven by chance. A Series of Fortunate Events tells the story of the awesome power of chance and how it is the surprising source of all the beauty and diversity in the living world.Like every other species, we humans are here by accident. But it is shocking just how many things-any of which might never have occurred-had to happen in certain ways for any of us to exist. From an extremely improbable asteroid impact, to the wild gyrations of the Ice Age, to invisible accidents in our parents' gonads, we are all here through an astonishing series of fortunate events. And chance continues to reign every day over the razor-thin line between our life and death.This is a relatively small book about a really big idea. It is also a spirited tale. Drawing inspiration from Monty Python, Kurt Vonnegut, and other great thinkers, and crafted by one of today's most accomplished science storytellers, A Series of Fortunate Events is an irresistibly entertaining and thought-provoking account of one of the most important but least appreciated facts of life.

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 6.10.2020
• Zusatzinfo: 40 b/w illus. 1 table.
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Natur / Technik
• Themenwelt: Naturwissenschaften ► Biologie ► Evolution
• Themenwelt: Naturwissenschaften ► Biologie ► Humanbiologie
• Schlagworte: Accuracy and precision • Adaptation • Albert Camus • Allosome • ALL THINGS • Amino acid • Analogy • Anthropocentrism • Antibody • antifreeze • Antigen • Antimicrobial Resistance • Arthur Peacocke • A Series of Unfortunate Events • Asia • Astronomy • Bacteria • Base Pair • B Cell • Big History • biochemist • biodiversity • biologist • Biology • bladder stone • Blind Chance • Caitlin • Calculation • Cancer • Cannes • Carbon dioxide • Career • Certainty • Chance and Necessity • Charles Darwin • chromosome • Chromosome abnormality • Climate • climatology • Clinician • Cognitive Bias • Colbert • Commodity • Consideration • Conspiracy Theory • credential • Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event • Crohn's disease • Decision-Making • Descriptive Geometry • Diagnosis • dichotomy • Disease • Dissection • DNA Replication • DNA sequencing • Down syndrome • Dynasty • earth • eddie izzard • efficacy • Eltanin impact • Emergence • Enumeration • Enzyme • Eocene • Epidemic • Erhard Weigel • eric idle • Escherichia coli • estimation • Eurasian Plate • Evolution • Explanation • explanatory power • extinction event • extreme environment • eyelid • Fallopian Tube • female • fibrillation • flying circus • foraminifera • Francis Crick • Fresh water • fungus • Gambler's Fallacy • Gastrointestinal Tract • Gene • genes • genetic code • Genetic disorder • Geodesy • geologist • Geology • George Carlin • Gervais • gonad • Graham Chapman • grandparent • Gully • Haemophilia A • hemoglobin • heredity • HIV • human genome • Human Spirit • Humanzee • Hunter-Gatherer • Ice Age • ice sheet • Iconography • Impact event • Indian Plate • Individual • inference • Instant • Institution • Intention • Izzard • jacques monod • J.-B. Say • john cleese • Kurt Vonnegut • law of large numbers • Lemony Snicket • Life • luck • Lung Cancer • Maher • Mammal • Mark Twain • Materiel • Mathematical Physics • mathematician • Measurement • Medical Diagnosis • melanoma • Memory • Methodology • Michael Palin • Michel Foucault • Microorganism • Modernity • Molecular Biology • molecular cloning • Molecule • Monty Python • Monty Python and the Holy Grail • Monty Python’s Life of Brian • moral imperative • Motivation • Mutation • mutation rate • Neil Shubin • new idea • North America • Nucleic acid sequence • Nucleobase • Numerical analysis • Obligation • Observation • Olorgesailie • opportunistic infection • organism • Organizing principle • paleocene • paleontology • Pasteur Institute • pathogen • Penicillin • percentage • Personhood • Philosopher • Philosophy • Physician • Placentalia • Pleistocene • Pliocene • pneumonitis • Pouter • Prevalence • Princeton University Press • Probability • Probability Theory • Proboscis • Protein • Publication • Quantification (science) • Quantity • Random • randomness • raw material • reason • Religion • Resistance mutation • result • Retrovirus • Ricky Gervais • Robert Fitzroy • rodent • Sarah Silverman • saving • Saving Private Ryan • Science • Science Fiction • Scientist • Scientology • Sean B. Carroll • secretion • Secret Policeman’s Ball • Sediment • sequencing • seriousness • Seth Macfarlane • Silvermain • Slaughterhouse-Five • Social Group • somatic hypermutation • special creation • Speciation • Sperm • Statistic • Statistical Inference • statistical significance • Statistics • Stephen Colbert • Storytelling • Suppressor mutation • Surface Water • Sympathy • Symptom • tautomer • Technology • Terry Gilliam • Terry Jones • Theology • Theorem • theory • The Sirens of Titan • The Various • Thought • Tom Hanks • treatise • Trisomy • typhoid fever • umbrella term • Ungulate • uniqueness • urinary bladder • Utopia • Vaccine • Ventricular Fibrillation • vocabulary • Walter Alvarez • Wealth • wide variety • Winnowing • wishful thinking • woolly mammoth • Wu Zetian • year • Zoology • Zygote
• ISBN-10: 0-691-20954-5 / 0691209545
• ISBN-13: 978-0-691-20954-8 / 9780691209548