New books & media
DOI: 10.1063/PT.3.5201
Severance
Severance, Dan Erickson, creator, Apple TV+, 2022
Can’t stop thinking about work on the weekend? What if you could permanently bifurcate yourself so that your work life never impinged on your leisure self? The Apple TV+ series Severance envisions such a world. A mysterious corporation, Lumon Industries, requires certain employees to undergo the titular, irreversible procedure. Situated on Lumon’s “severed floor,” they have no idea what they work on—or what their outside selves are like. Mark Scout, known at work only as Mark S., originally took a job on the severed floor of Lumon to hide from grief after losing his wife in a tragic accident. But when a new employee, Helly R., starts asking questions and tries to quit her job, Mark begins to question his decision. Severance’s strict devotion to the rules of its universe add gravitas to this taut thriller. —
Uranus and Neptune
Uranus and Neptune, Carolyn Kennett, Reaktion Books, 2022, $40.00
Until some three decades ago, not much was known about the two outermost planets in our solar system. That changed with the Voyager 2 mission, which conducted flybys of Uranus in 1986 and Neptune in 1989. In her recent book, the astronomer Carolyn Kennett provides a comprehensive introduction to both of those distant worlds. She discusses their discovery and origins, Voyager 2’s flybys, and observations made from space- and ground-based telescopes. Written for a general audience, the text is nontechnical and illustrated with more than 100 images. —
The One: How an Ancient Idea Holds the Future of Physics
The One: How an Ancient Idea Holds the Future of Physics, Heinrich Päs, Basic Books, 2023, $32.00
The key to understanding the universe is to consider it as one unified whole rather than decompose it into increasingly smaller particles, according to Heinrich Päs, a professor of theoretical physics. The philosophy of monism is not new; it dates back some 3000 years. In The One, Päs presents the history and science of monism and explores how it can be applied to quantum mechanics and the quest for a theory of everything. Tackling difficult philosophical ideas and scientific concepts, such as quantum entanglement and decoherence, The One is a dense and challenging read. —
Astronomy Minute
Astronomy Minute, Ata Sarajedini, host, 2020–
In this ongoing podcast, Ata Sarajedini, a professor at Florida Atlantic University, provides bite-sized introductions to various topics in astronomy. Episodes focus on celestial bodies, such as neutron stars, spiral nebulae, and the local group of galaxies; astronomical theories like relativity and the hypothetical Big Crunch; and observatories, including the James Webb Space Telescope. Although Sarajedini sometimes exceeds the titular minute—some episodes clock in at two and a half minutes!—Astronomy Minute is refreshing in its brevity in an era when the podcast sector has become dominated by longer-form content. —
The Skeptics’ Guide to the Future: What Yesterday’s Science and Science-Fiction Tell Us About the World of Tomorrow
The Skeptics’ Guide to the Future: What Yesterday’s Science and Science-Fiction Tell Us About the World of Tomorrow, Steven Novella, Grand Central, 2022, $30.00
Where are the flying cars, Moon settlements, and robot servants that have been described in so many science-fiction books and movies? In The Skeptics’ Guide to the Future, the author and clinical neurologist Steven Novella tackles the question of why we’re so bad at predicting the future and offers advice on how to do better. Novella, host of the popular podcast The Skeptics’ Guide to the Universe, applies the critical thinking, logic, and scientific expertise that he is known for to examine current technologies—such as genetic manipulation, robotics, and virtual reality—and make his own predictions on what the future holds. —
