In 2000, Dean Koontz wrote a great book called
From the Corner of His Eye. If
you haven't read it, pick up a copy. It's right up there with his
best five books. (How many has he written? About a thousand or
so, right? So being in the top five is saying a lot.)
After
presenting a wild idea in the book -- that there are other
universes where we also exist -- and carrying it off beautifully
(they need to make a movie out of this one) he ended the book with
a note saying that there was actual science that said this wild
idea might be true, that we might have zillions of duplicates,
living lives as real as our own in other universes.
I couldn't get over it: this was
real?
So I followed up by reading science books. Little did I know that
science would soon take over my life. I cannot believe how
gorgeous physics is. It's one of the main highlights of my mental
existence.
I revel in physics. On the tiniest levels
there is so much is going on. And those itsy bits are what our
reality is made of. The macroscopic world is built on a wild
framework of active, constantly moving, sub-microscopic
ingredients. We don't think about what's "down there" but it
counts.
One of the best things I ever did was read Brian Greene's
Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory.
It's not light reading but it's well worth the effort. This
author has an uncanny knack for explaining things. With his help
you can pretty much understand
everything. Because that's
what physics is about: everything. There is nothing in the
universe that doesn't obey the laws of physics (at least, as far
out as we can see).
I followed Greene's book up by
reading Daniel Dennet's "Darwin's Dangerous Idea". He's a
philosopher of science, which means it's his job to put together
the understanding that emerges from science. While scientists
discover the facts, Dennett talks about what it means, what
science is
telling us. One of the most intriguing things he
taught me is how our minds work. "Consciousness Explained" is
another of his books and I highly recommend it. Fair warning: the
book will immolate your concept of "self". It's like having the
rug pulled out from under you -- but it's exciting because you can
feel that it's true -- he's talking about what goes on in your head all the time. We are not what we think we are.
My
science reading went on and on for years. I read just about
everything I could get my hands on. Where before I devoured
fiction, now I would read only science books. At the tail end of this
process, I now have a tall bookcase completely filled with science
books and I've read almost every one of them. The understanding I
obtained from these guys -- as well as from Richard Dawkins and
Stephen Hawking and Roger Penrose and Janna Levin and Victor
Stenger and David Deutsch and a ton of others -- served to define
reality for me. I can never see things the old way anymore.
Post-science, I'm aware of the splendor all around me. Each
instant seems like a perfect, eternal thing (and it actually is).
Science transformed my
life and I guess I've got Dean Kontz to thank for it. I did, too. I
wrote him a nice email telling him that he'd altered my life in a
very positive way. He did and that's the truth. In fact, I might never have written
Xmas Carol if I hadn't read that Koontz book.