FEAR OF A BLACK UNIVERSE An Outsider's Guide to the Future of Physics

A self-described outsider in academic physics, author/narrator Stephon Alexander brings a welcome lilt to his delivery of this barrier-breaking cosmology guide. Alexander's voice blends his native Trinidadian accent with the Bronx accent he picked up in boyhood as he coaxes listeners to ponder complex physics concepts such as invariance, superposition, emergence, and dark matter. Cross-discipline thinking is the key to unlocking cosmological conundrums, Alexander assures us, and he gives plenty of examples of theoretical physics viewed through the lenses of sociology, genetics, and music, among others. It is Alexander's discussion of consciousness as a kind of "cosmic adhesive" that will tip the listener's understanding of reality: Could the basic experience of our own awareness be an integral part of the fabric of the universe? E.S.B. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine [Published: SEPTEMBER 2021]