The Prophet and the Astronomer: Apocalyptic Science and the End of the World: A Scientific Journey to the End of Time

The Hobo Philosopher

The Prophet and the Astronomer By Marcelo Gleiser Book Review By Richard E. Noble "In this book I explore religion's assimilation of cataclysmic cosmic phenomena and its influence on scientific thought through the ages from the pre-Socratic philosophers of ancient Greece to modern day cosmology ... Indeed, I will argue that we create a scientific world as we do a spiritual one - in order to overcome fear, to defy time, to understand our place in the world, and to justify our lives ... Drawing on the Book of Danial, the Book of Revelation, and an investigation of apocalyptic sects, art and literature we will examine the formation and evolution of the solar system, the extinction of dinosaurs, Einstein's general theory of relativity, pulsars and black holes, the big bang and the inflationary universe, all the way to the latest ideas on cosmology." Reading the above, a curious reader who is not familiar with Marcelo Gleiser might conclude that this is a book by some right wing religious preacher type who is going to do a mystical tap dance on the science of the Universe. Not so. Marcelo Gleiser is the real thing. He is a professor of Natural Philosophy, physics, astronomy at Dartmouth College. If you are like me and found your way to an interest in the origins of the Universe and science in general via early religious training followed by studies of early Greek and Roman philosophers, then you will enjoy reading this book. This author keeps it as simple and understandable as could be expected while dealing with highly complicated cosmological theory and speculative particle physics. The first part of the book was right up my alley. The reader is taken back to before the time of Christ and the Christian era. The author links the ancient Greek and Roman philosophers and philosophies to the heavens. We learn about Zoroaster and other pre-Christian like tales. We see how the heavens have always played their part in the hopes and fears of humans. We see the connection be...