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Fantastic Numbers and Where to Find Them

A Journey to the Edge of Physics

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Fantastic Numbers and Where to Find Them

By: Antonio Padilla
Narrated by: Antonio Padilla
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

For particularly brilliant theoretical physicists like James Clerk Maxwell, Paul Dirac or Albert Einstein, the search for mathematical truths—via ever more mind-boggling numbers—led to strange new understandings of reality. But what are these mysterious numbers that explain the universe?

In Fantastic Numbers and Where to Find Them, leading theoretical physicist and YouTube star Antonio Padilla takes us on an irreverent cosmic tour of nine of the most extraordinary numbers in physics. These include Graham's number, which is so large that if you thought about it in the wrong way, your head would collapse into a singularity; TREE(3), whose finite value could never be reached before the universe reset itself; and 10^{-120}, which measures the desperately unlikely balance of energy the universe needs to exist....

Leading us down the rabbit hole to the inner workings of reality, Padilla demonstrates how these unusual numbers are the key to unlocking such mind-bending phenomena as black holes, entropy and the problem of the cosmological constant, which shows that our two best ways of understanding the universe contradict one another. Combining cutting-edge science with an entertaining cosmic quest, Fantastic Numbers and Where to Find Them is an electrifying, head-twisting guide to the most fundamental truths of the universe.

©2022 Antonio Padilla (P)2022 Penguin Audio
Astronomy & Space Science Cosmology Mathematics Science Witty Black Hole

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All stars
Most relevant  
Just buy this ok? It’s so good and very different believe me and very enjoyable

I couldn’t stop listening!

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I feel more intelligent & connected just having listened. I have not enough time on my life really to listen again - which means I absolutely must listen again! Nice job m8

Just loved it

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this book is really interesting covering the why of physics according to the current limits of our knowledge. it gave me an appreciation of the principles that govern our universe and an appreciation how things of come to be. I really enjoyed this, it makes physics accessible to non experts like me. sheer enjoyment

excellent insight

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It cover some very cool concepts and history about numbers. It reignited the love I had for mathematics and made me thing differently about numbers.

I got this on a whim, and I’m glad I did.

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I bought this book because I'd heard about Graham's Number and wanted to know more. How could a number so large that it cannot be written within the length of the Universe be conjured up in a mathematical proof?
Not wanting to give a spoiler, let's just say that it was an undefined upper bound of a very wide range of possible values.
The book left me feeling like there would be a lot more unemployed people if it wasn't for the universities keeping them in math departments around the world.

Left feeling disappointed

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