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The Universe in Verse

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What to expect

In this audiobook Maria Popova, creator of The Marginalian, presents a celebration of the human search for truth and beauty through the lenses of science and poetry.

Poetry and science, as Popova writes in her introduction, "are instruments for knowing the world more intimately and loving it more deeply." In 15 short essays on subjects ranging from the mystery of dark matter and the infinity of pi to the resilience of trees and the intelligence of octopuses, Popova tells the stories of scientific searching and discovery. These stories are interwoven with details from the very real and human lives of scientists—many of them women, many underrecognized—and poets inspired by the same questions and the beauty they reveal. Each essay is paired with a poem reflecting its subject by poets ranging from Emily Dickinson, W. H. Auden, and Edna St. Vincent Millay to Maya Angelou, Diane Ackerman, and Tracy K. Smith. Together, they wake us to a "reality aglow with wonder." 

Critics Review

“This book is a wonder. Science writing so often negates the inherent wonder of science, which comes so brilliantly alive here. Something bursts open in the mind. And let me say this: Maria Popova has the rare gift of starting a sentence and leaving you in trance by its end. I'd read anything she writes.”—Jad Abumrad, creator, Radiolab
Author Maria Popova
Narrator Maria Popova, Lili Taylor
Duration 1 hours and 28 minutes
Release Date
ISBN 9781668644980
Format Audiobook
Publisher Hachette Audio
Genre Nature and the natural world: general interest, Poetry, Science: general issues
Availability US

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