The Introduction here talks so much about abundance and Wilczek says “The the world is large. There’s plenty of room for humans to thrive in and plenty left over for us to admire from a distance” I thought it was going to have a religious bend to it. Wrong – but that’s the mood throughout the book -the universe is a source of wonder,  beauty and mystery to him and he writes like he’s in perpetual in awe. But although the text sometimes veers into religious or spiritual sounding prose – he’s not a believer except maybe pantheism, “a doctrine which identifies God with the universe, or regards the universe as a manifestation of God.” (Google) 

Fundamentals: Ten Keys to Reality 
by Frank Wilczek 
2021
Read by Sean Patrick Hopkins 7h 31m
Rating – 8.5 / science – physics

The book is about physics from basic mechanical physics to quantum physics.  Wilczek calls it material reality and says he measures it, observes what it does, thinks about it.  The author is a theoretical physicist, mathematician and Nobel laureate – one of America’s finest scientists.  

“A gorgeous and inviting overview of the fundamental facts of physical reality.” —Steven Pinker, author of Enlightenment Now

I started out really not liking this book much at all, but after about half of it I started picking up on what he was talking about and the way he was talking – iow, I got it and got into it. Starting with the introduction Wilcek talks about being “born again” but all he means is being struck by the wonder and awe of the universe as he was.

The style is a bit literary and he can digress some and get chatty. Again, after I got used to it that was okay.

The Chapters:

Part I. What There Is

• Chapter 1. There’s Plenty of Space
• Chapter 2. There’s Plenty of Time
• Chapter 3. There Are Very Few Ingredients
• Chapter 4. There Are Very Few Laws
• Chapter 5. There’s Plenty of Matter and Energy

Part II. Beginnings and Ends

• Chapter 6. Cosmic History is an Open Book
• Chapter 7. Complexity Emerges
• Chapter 8. There’s Plenty More to See
• Chapter 9. Mysteries Remain
• Chapter 10. Complementary Is Mind-Expanding