Fantastic Numbers and Where to Find Them – Mind-Bending Physics by YouTube Star
Fantastic Numbers
And Where to Find Them
by Antonio Padilla
⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4.3/5 (201 reviews) | 3.7 on Goodreads (890 ratings) | Editors’ Pick – Best Nonfiction
📚 Quick Facts
- Pages: 352
- Publisher: Picador Paper
- Published: Jul 25, 2023
- Format: Paperback
- Price: $10.00
- Award: Editors’ Pick
🔢 The Strange Numbers That Explain the Universe
A fun, dazzling exploration of the strange numbers that illuminate the ultimate nature of reality. For brilliant theoretical physicists such as James Clerk Maxwell, Paul Dirac, and Albert Einstein, the search for mathematical truths led to strange new understandings of the ultimate nature of reality. But what are these truths? What are the mysterious numbers that explain the universe?
Leading theoretical physicist and YouTube star Antonio Padilla takes us on an irreverent cosmic tour of nine of the most extraordinary numbers in physics, offering a startling picture of how the universe works. They include Graham’s number (so large thinking about it wrong could collapse your head into a singularity), TREE(3) (whose finite nature can never be definitively proved), and 10^{-120} (measuring the desperately unlikely balance of energy needed to allow the universe to exist). Leading us down the rabbit hole to a deeper understanding of reality, Padilla explains how these unusual numbers are the keys to grasping mind-boggling phenomena like black holes, relativity, and the cosmological constant.
💬 “An extraordinary book. Tony Padilla has woven mathematical facts into a mesmerising story. He has an intensity and passion I haven’t seen for a long time in popular science.”
— Pedro G. Ferreira, Author of The Perfect Theory
✨ What Makes This Book Special
🎭
Fun & Entertaining
Lively, irreverent, and even funny exploration
🤯
Mind-Bending Ideas
Numbers so large they could collapse your head
📺
YouTube Star Author
From Numberphile creator with 7M+ video views
🌠 Nine Extraordinary Numbers
- ♾️ Graham’s number — Too large to comprehend safely
- 🌳 TREE(3) — Finite but unprovable
- ⚖️ 10^{-120} — Universe’s unlikely energy balance
- 🕳️ Black hole numbers — Singularity mathematics
- 🌌 Cosmological constant — Universe’s biggest problem
- ⏰ Poincaré recurrence — Universe resetting itself
- 🔢 Ramanujan’s integers — Mathematical magic
- 🎯 Einstein’s relativity — Numbers that bend reality
💭 What Readers Are Saying
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
“An electrifying debut. Padilla is a stellar guide, shifting from playful to serious with ease. His love for his subject is infectious and his knowledge vast in a way that is fitting for the material.”
— Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
“Astonishing in its sweep and depth. Like James Gleick’s Chaos and Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time, this is a remarkable piece of work that offers a unique way of looking at the universe.”
— Kirkus Reviews
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
“A delightful book that is really a window onto the astonishing scope and scale of the universe. You will be amazed at the mind-bending ideas and impressed that our minds can bend that far.”
— Sean Carroll, Physicist
Dive Into the Rabbit Hole of Reality
Discover the nine most extraordinary numbers that explain black holes, relativity, and the nature of reality itself. A mesmerizing journey that’s entertaining, mind-bending, and surprisingly funny.
📦 Free shipping available | ⭐ 4.3/5 stars from 201+ reviews | 🏆 Editors’ Pick – Best Nonfiction
