"[P.D. Ouspensky’s] yearning for a transcendent, timeless reality―one that cancels out physical disintegration and death―figures into science at some fundamental level. 
Einstein found solace in his theory of relativity, which suggested to him that events are ever-present in the space-time continuum. When his friend Michele Besso passed on shortly before his own death, he wrote: 'For us believing physicists the distinction between past, present, and future is only an illusion, even if a stubborn one.'" ―from Magic, Mystery, and Science
The triumph of science would appear to have routed all other explanations of reality. No longer does astrology or alchemy or magic have the power to explain the world to us. Yet at one time each of these systems of belief, like religion, helped shed light on what was dark to our understanding. Nor have the occult arts disappeared. We humans have a need for mystery and a sense of the infinite.
Magic, Mystery, and Science presents the occult as a "third stream" of belief, as important to the shaping of Western civilization as Greek rationalism or Judeo-Christianity. The occult seeks explanations in a world that is living and intelligent―quite unlike the one supposed by science. By taking these beliefs seriously, while keeping an eye on science, this book aims to capture some of the power of the occult. Readers will discover that the occult has a long history that reaches back to Babylonia and ancient Egypt. It proceeds alongside, and frequently mingles with, religion and science. From the Egyptian Book of the Dead to New Age beliefs, from Plato to Adolf Hitler, occult ways of knowing have been used―and hideously abused―to explain a world that still tempts us with the knowledge of its dark secrets.

Magic, Mystery, and Science: The Occult in Western Civilization

Grandy, David A.

Self-Help

Indiana University Press

Light―our experience of light, our measurement of light, and the notion that light speed is constant―can be understood to mark our interface with the cosmos. David A. Grandy's book moves from the scientific to the existential, from Einstein to Merleau-Ponty, from light as a phenomenon to light as that which is constitutive of reality. To measure the speed of light is to measure something about the way we are measured or blended into the cosmos, and that universal blending predetermines our measurement of light speed in favor of a universal or constant value. It's quite a trip, one aimed at scientists who have pondered light speed constancy, philosophers inclined to question the idea that mind and world are distinct, and scientifically or philosophically inclined persons who enjoy stretching themselves in new ways.

The Speed of Light: Constancy and Cosmos

Science & Math

History & Philosophy

Most people have heard about quantum physics and its remarkable, well-nigh bizarre claims. And most people would assume that quantum reality describes a world quite different from ours. In this book, David A. Grandy shows that one can find quantum puzzles, or variations thereof, in the backyard of everyday experience. What disappears in transferring quantum theory to the everyday is the theory's mathematical formalism, but that need not imply a loss of analytic rigor. If quantum reality is truly as elemental and ubiquitous as many thinkers suggest, then alternative or complementary perspectives ought to be possible, and with the proliferation of such perspectives, a more fully rounded understanding of quantum reality―and everyday reality―might emerge. Everyday Quantum Reality is a step in that direction.

Everyday Quantum Reality

Politics & Social Sciences

Philosophy

Light -- our experience of light, our measurement of light, and the notion that light speed is constant -- can be understood to mark our interface with the cosmos. David A. Grandy's book moves from the scientific to the existential, from Einstein to Merleau-Ponty, from light as a phenomenon to light as that which is constitutive of reality. To measure the speed of light is to measure something about the way we are measured or blended into the cosmos, and that universal blending predetermines our measurement of light speed in favor of a universal or constant value. It's quite a trip, one aimed at scientists who have pondered light speed constancy, philosophers inclined to question the idea that mind and world are distinct, and scientifically or philosophically inclined persons who enjoy stretching themselves in new ways.

The Speed of Light: Constancy + Cosmos

Most people have heard about quantum physics and its remarkable, well-nigh bizarre claims. And most people would assume that quantum reality describes a world quite different from ours. In this book, David A. Grandy shows that one can find quantum puzzles, or variations thereof, in the backyard of everyday experience. What disappears in transferring quantum theory to the everyday is the theory's mathematical formalism, but that need not imply a loss of analytic rigor. If quantum reality is truly as elemental and ubiquitous as many thinkers suggest, then alternative or complementary perspectives ought to be possible, and with the proliferation of such perspectives, a more fully rounded understanding of quantum reality—and everyday reality—might emerge. Everyday Quantum Reality is a step in that direction.

Best known for his work on the atomic bomb, Leo Szilard made important contributions to twentieth-century physics, biology, and information theory. He is, however, an interesting figure apart from his scientific accomplishments. In brief, he did not merely do science, but lived it as well. He was a true believer in science and its potential to save the world. This intellectual biography of Szilard captures the visionary centerpoint of his passion for science and public activism. This work will be of interest to historians of science, physicists, and biologists.Contents: The Intellectual Landscape; The Thunderclap and Its Antecedents; Moving into Nuclear Physics; A Time of "Heartbreak and Frustration"; Down the Shaft; From Physics to Biology and Political Chivalry; Notes; Bibliography; Index.

Leo Szilard: Science as a Mode of Being

Biographies & Memoirs

Professionals & Academics

University Press of America

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Grandy, David A.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Grandy, David A.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Grandy, David A.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Magic, Mystery, and Science: The Occult in Western Civilization

The Speed of Light: Constancy and Cosmos

Everyday Quantum Reality

The Speed of Light: Constancy + Cosmos

Everyday Quantum Reality

Leo Szilard: Science as a Mode of Being