Steven Weinberg, the world's preeminent physicist, provides a masterful journey through humankind's scientific coming of age. This is a story that not only traces our deep insights into nature's workings but reveals how we came to grasp the very meaning of scientific insight. With its refreshing candor and lyrical prose, To Explain the World is a delightful celebration of our passionate drive for understanding

It would be putting it mildly to say that Weinberg triumphantly lives up to what it says on the Nobel tin: a true intellectual as well as a brilliant theoretical physicist

Steven Weinberg is one of the most highly accomplished and respected scientists in the world. But even among this elite group he holds a unique position as a scientist-scholar and a writer of unparalleled clarity. Weinberg has become a role model for the rest of us who attempt to communicate to the broader public. No one writing on matters of science or of science and society has more wisdom to impart, nor can they impart it better than Weinberg

Weinberg has reached the pinnacle of scientific success - the Nobel Prize - he writes clearly and with confidence, imbuing the reader with an irresistible sense that one is in the hands of a master physicist at play

Of all top-class theoretical physicists no one, apart from Freeman Dyson, writes with the same combination of authority and grace

An absolute delight.

A refreshing contrast to other tomes on the topic... Weinberg reminds us to be humble not only about what we know, but how we know it.

In this masterful, entertainingly 'irreverent' book, [Weinberg] explains the rise of science from ancient Greeks to modern geeks in terms that his students and the rest of us will understand.

An enlightening read that does not demand specialist knowledge to enjoy.

Carr argues, very convincingly, that automation is eroding our memory while simultaneously creating a complacency within us that will diminish our ability to gain new skills … I had always wondered if it were possible Google Maps was ruining my sense of direction. Now I am certain of it

Fascinating … With digital technology today we are roughly at the stage we were with the car in the 1950s – dazzled by its possibilities and unwilling to think seriously about its costs … [this] nuanced account … is very good

Who is it serving, this technology, asks Carr. Us? Or the companies that make billions from it? Billions that have shown no evidence of trickling down … It’s hard not to read the chapter on lethal autonomous robots – technology that already exists – without thinking of the perpetual warfare of Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four

An eye-opening exposé of how automation is altering our ability to solve problems, forge memories and acquire skills

A powerful and compelling book.

[A] full and frank account

[A] wonderful book