“The relationship between science and the humanities is two-way. Science changes our view of the world and our place in it. In the other direction, the humanities provide the store of ideas and images and language available to us in understanding the world. The exploding star of A.D. 1054, the Crab Nebula, was sighted and documented by the Chinese, but nowhere mentioned in the West, where the Aristotelian notion of the immortality of stars still held sway. We often do not see what we do not expect to see.” WorldWayStillsTwoIdeasHumanityLanguageStarsUnderstandingViewsWestNotionAvailableStoresChineseImmortalityTwo WaysExplodingCrabsUnderstanding The WorldNebula Book:Great Ideas in Physics Source: Great Ideas in Physics
“A good book changes for you every few years because you are in a different place in your own life. That's a sign of a good novel. Not only will two different readers get something different but so will a single reader at different points in his life.” YearsTwoBookDifferentNovelReaderGood BookDifferent Place Author:Alan Lightman
“I go to live in Maine for the summer. Without computer, and without the telephone service we are mercifully without the faxes and e-mails. So it's really about two and a half months that I'll feel like I can recover some silence in my life...which is so hard to find.” FeelsI CanTwoHardHalfSilenceMonthsComputerSummerMailTelephonesMaineFax Author:Alan Lightman
“It's exciting having a student who is not used to expressing their emotional side and bringing that out in them and see that developing and helping to nurture that. That's an exciting thing. In a class of fifteen there are usually two very good writers, equal to good student writers anywhere in the country. Those two make the class wonderful.” TwoCountryHelpingUsedSidesClassWonderfulStudentsEmotionalEqualExcitingVery GoodDevelopingFifteenNurtureGood WritersExciting ThingsGood Students Author:Alan Lightman
“Human beings consider themselves satisfied only compared to some other condition. A man who has owned nothing but a bicycle all of his life feels suddenly wealthy the moment he buys an automobile...But this happy sensation wears off. After a while the car becomes just another thing that he owns. Moreover, when his neighbor next door buys two cars, in an instant our man feels wretchedly poor and deprived.” MenFeelsHumansTwoMomentsNextHuman BeingsPoorDoorsConditionsCarNeighborSatisfiedInstantWealthySensationsDeprivedAutomobileBicycle Author:Alan Lightman
“Who would fare better in this world of fitful time? Those who have seen the future and live only one life? Or those who have not seen the future and wait to live life? Or those who deny the future and live two lives?” WorldLifeTwoWaitingThis WorldFutureDenyLive LifeTwo Lives Author:Alan Lightman
“In this world, there are two times. There is mechanical time and there is body time." "They do not keep clocks in their houses. Instead, they listen to their heartbeats. They feel the rhythms of their moods and desires." "Then there are those who think their bodies don't exist. They live by mechanical time. They rise at seven o'clock in the morning. They eat their lunch at noon and their supper at six. They arrive at their appointments on time, precisely by the clock.” ThinkingWorldFeelsTwoBodyDesireHouseMorningThis WorldSixSevenMoodRhythmClockLive ByLunchHeartbeatNoonAppointmentsSupper Author:Alan Lightman
“In this world, there are two times. There is mechanical time and there is body time. The first is as rigid and metallic as a massive pendulum of iron that swings back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. The second squirms and wriggles like a bluefish in a bay. The first is unyielding, predetermined. The second makes up its mind as it goes along.” WorldMindFirstsTwoBodyTimeThis WorldIronMassiveSwingsBack And ForthPendulumsPredeterminedUnyieldingMetallic Book:Einstein's Dreams Source: Einstein's Dreams
“Where are the one billion people who lived and breathed in the year 1800, only two short centuries ago?” PeopleYearsTwoCenturyBillions Book:The Accidental Universe: The World You Thought You Knew Source: The Accidental Universe: The World You Thought You Knew
