Alan Lightman Books In Order

Novels

  1. Einstein’s Dreams (1993)
  2. Good Benito (1995)
  3. The Diagnosis (2000)
  4. Reunion (2003)
  5. Ghost (2007)
  6. Mr g (2012)
  7. Three Flames (2019)

Picture Books

  1. Ada and the Galaxies (2021)

Novellas

  1. Reprisals (2013)

Non fiction

  1. Problem Book in Relativity and Gravitation (1975)
  2. Radiative Processes in Astrophysics (1980)
  3. Revealing the Universe (1982)
  4. Time Travel and Papa Joe’s Pipe (1984)
  5. A Modern Day Yankee in Connecticut Court (1986)
  6. Origins (1990)
  7. Ancient Light (1991)
  8. Great Ideas in Physics (1991)
  9. Time for the Stars (1992)
  10. Dance for Two (1996)
  11. The World Is Too Much with Me (2002)
  12. Living with the Genie (2003)
  13. Heart of the Horse (2004)
  14. A Sense of the Mysterious (2005)
  15. The Best American Science Writing 2005 (2005)
  16. The Discoveries (2005)
  17. Song of Two Worlds (2009)
  18. The Accidental Universe (2013)
  19. Screening Room (2015)
  20. Searching for Stars on an Island in Maine (2018)
  21. In Praise of Wasting Time (2018)
  22. Probable Impossibilities (2021)

Novels Book Covers

Picture Books Book Covers

Novellas Book Covers

Non fiction Book Covers

Alan Lightman Books Overview

Einstein’s Dreams

A modern classic, Einstein’s Dreams is a fictional collage of stories dreamed by Albert Einstein in 1905, when he worked in a patent office in Switzerland. As the defiant but sensitive young genius is creating his theory of relativity, a new conception of time, he imagines many possible worlds. In one, time is circular, so that people are fated to repeat triumphs and failures over and over. In another, there is a place where time stands still, visited by lovers and parents clinging to their children. In another, time is a nightingale, sometimes trapped by a bell jar. Now translated into thirty languages, Einstein s Dreams has inspired playwrights, dancers, musicians, and painters all over the world. In poetic vignettes, it explores the connections between science and art, the process of creativity, and ultimately the fragility of human existence.

Good Benito

Bennett ‘Benito’ Lang is a lonely and confused young boy who finds solace in the ordered and rigorous laws of mathematics and physics. But as an adult, when he most needs the irrefutable order and precision of science itself, Benito will learn that, despite its expansive beauty and power, it is no match for the unfathomable desires and pains of the human heart. Lightman is the acclaimed author of Einstein’s Dreams.

The Diagnosis

Alan Lightman’s first novel, Einstein’s Dreams, was greeted with international praise. Salman Rushdie called it ‘at once intellectually provocative and touching and comic and so very beautifully written.’ Michiko Kakutani wrote in The New York Times that the novel creates ‘a magical, metaphysical realm…
as in Calvino’s work, the fantastical elements of the stories are grounded in precise, crystalline prose.’ With The Diagnosis, Lightman gives us his most ambitious and penetrating novel yet. While rushing to his office one warm summer morning, Bill Chalmers, a junior executive, realizes that he cannot remember where he is going or even who he is. All he remembers is the motto of his company: The maximum information in the minimum time. When Bill’s memory returns, ‘his head pounding, remembering too much,’ a strange numbness afflicts him, beginning as a tingling in his hands and gradually spreading over the rest of his body. As he attempts to find a diagnosis of his illness, he descends into a nightmare, enduring a blizzard of medical tests and specialists without conclusive results, the manic frenzy of his company, and a desperate wife who decides that he must be imagining his deteriorating condition. By turns satiric, comic, and tragic, The Diagnosis is a brilliant and disturbing examination of our modern obsession with speed, information, and money, and what this obsession has done to our minds and our spirits.

Reunion

The New York Times has called Alan Lightman highly original and imaginative. Each of his novels is a new exploration of that imagination, utterly unlike the others. Einstein’s Dreams, an international best seller, was a whimsical and provocative tone poem about time. The Diagnosis, hailed by the Washington Post as a major accomplishment and a finalist for the National Book Award, was a disturbing examination of our obsession with speed, information, and money, and the resulting poverty of our spiritual lives. Lightman s new novel, Reunion, is a delicate and haunting story of how we shape our identity through memory. Charles is a middle aged professor at a minor liberal arts college, a once promising poet, admiring of passion but without passion himself. Without knowing why, he decides to attend his thirtieth college Reunion. And there, he magically witnesses a replay of his senior year. Drawn back into his memories, Charles watches his tender and romantic twenty two year old self embark on an all consuming love affair with a beautiful dancer. As the two young people struggle to find themselves amidst the social and political chaos of the late 1960s, the older Charles recalls contradictory versions of his past, ultimately confronting for the second time a series of devastating events that would forever change his life. Written with crystalline prose, at once precise and mysterious, Reunion explores the pain of self examination, the clay like nature of memory, and the impossible hopefulness of youth.

Ghost

Alan Lightman’s first novel, Einstein s Dreams, became an international best seller and was hailed by Salman Rushdie as at once intellectually provocative and touching and comic and so very beautifully written. His novel The Diagnosis, called highly original and imaginative by the New York Times, was a finalist for the National Book Award. Now comes a stunning and disturbing new novel about a man s encounter with the unfathomable. David is a person of modest ambitions who works in a bank, lives in a rooming house, enjoys books and quiet walks by the lake. Three months after unexpectedly being fired from his job, he takes a temporary position at a mortuary. And there, sitting alone in the slumber room one afternoon at dusk, he sees something that he cannot comprehend, something that no science can explain, something that will force him to question everything he believes in, including himself. After his metaphysical experience, all his relationships change with his estranged wife, his girlfriend, his mother and he grudgingly finds himself at the center of a bitter public controversy over the existence of the supernatural. As David struggles to understand what has happened to him, we embark on a provocative exploration of the delicate divide between the physical world and the spiritual world, between skepticism and faith, between the natural and the supernatural, and between science and religion. Combining a dramatic story with compelling characters and provocative ideas, Ghost investigates timeless questions that continue to challenge contemporary society.

Mr g

As I remember, I had just woken up from a nap when I decided to create the universe. So begins Alan Lightman’s playful and profound new novel, Mr g, the story of Creation as told by God. Barraged by the constant adviseme*nts and bickerings of Aunt Penelope and Uncle Deva, who live with their nephew in the shimmering Void, Mr g proceeds to create time, space, and matter. Then come stars, planets, animate matter, consciousness, and, finally, intelligent beings with moral dilemmas. Mr g is all powerful but not all knowing and does much of his invention by trial and error. Even the best laid plans can go awry, and Mr g discovers that with his creation of space and time come some unforeseen consequences especially in the form of the mysterious Belhor, a clever and devious rival. An intellectual equal to Mr g, Belhor delights in provoking him: Belhor demands an explanation for the inexplicable, requests that the newly created intelligent creatures not be subject to rational laws, and maintains the necessity of evil. As Mr g watches his favorite universe grow into maturity, he begins to understand how the act of creation can change himself, the Creator. With echoes of Calvino, Rushdie, and Saramago, combining science, theology, and moral philosophy, Mr g is a stunningly imaginative work that celebrates the tragic and joyous nature of existence on the grandest possible scale.

Radiative Processes in Astrophysics

Radiative Processes in Astrophysics This clear, straightforward, and fundamental introduction is designed to present from a physicist’s point of view radiation processes and their applications to astrophysical phenomena and space science. It covers such topics as radiative transfer theory, relativistic covariance and kinematics, bremsstrahlung radiation, synchrotron radiation, Compton scattering, some plasma effects, and radiative transitions in atoms. Discussion begins with first principles, physically motivating and deriving all results rather than merely presenting finished formulae. However, a reasonably good physics background introductory quantum mechanics, intermediate electromagnetic theory, special relativity, and some statistical mechanics is required. Much of this prerequisite material is provided by brief reviews, making the book a self contained reference for workers in the field as well as the ideal text for senior or first year graduate students of astronomy, astrophysics, and related physics courses. Radiative Processes in Astrophysics also contains about 75 problems, with solutions, illustrating applications of the material and methods for calculating results. This important and integral section emphasizes physical intuition by presenting important results that are used throughout the main text; it is here that most of the practical astrophysical applications become apparent.

Revealing the Universe

The contributors to this book, in the process of describing for the general reader the most recent advances in man’s understanding of the cosmos, at the same time clarify one of the oldest questions in scientific thought: the nature of the mutual interaction between theory and observation, concept and experiment, prediction and proof. Contributors include Owen Gingerich, Kenneth Bracher, Robert F. C. Vessot, Fred L. Whipple, Fred Franklin, Robert W. Noyes, Robert Rosner, Harvey Tananbaum, Alan P. Lightman, Walter H. G. Lewin, William H. Press, John Huchra, and George B. Field.

A Modern Day Yankee in Connecticut Court

‘Alan Ligtman has a unique giftt for exploring science and connecting its ideas for meanings to our lives.’ This collection of essays and stories bring up questions that he probes with imagination and wit.

Origins

Origins reveals the human being within the scientist in a study of the philosophical, personal, and social factors that enter into the scientific process. Twenty seven active cosmologists including Stephen Hawking, Roger Penrose, Steven Weinberg, Vera Rubin, Allan Sandage, Margaret Geller, and Alan Guth talk candidly about their childhoods and early influences, their motivations, prejudices, and worldviews. The book’s lucid introduction traces the explosion of new ideas that has recently shaken cosmological thinking. Origins explores not just the origin of the universe but also the Origins of scientific thought.

Ancient Light

Cosmology the study of the origin, structure, and continuing evolution of the universe is the most speculative of all sciences and religion. In ‘Ancient Light‘ astrophysicist and science writer Alan Lightman takes the reader on a grand tour of cosmology, exploring its history, the theories and the evidence, the new discoveries, the outstanding questions, and the controversies that have revolutionized this field. Thoughout history, as far back as the early Babylonians and Greeks, each culture has crafted its own story of the beginning of the universe. The modern story of cosmology began with the big bang model, but recent observations of the location and motions of galaxies are challenging this conventional view. The ‘Great Attractor’, the ‘Great Wall’ and other unexpected findings have thrown into chaos the previous assumption of a smooth and homogeneous cosmos so critical to the big bang model. Aided by the application of particle physics to cosmology, a new generation of scientists have launched a host of elaborate hypotheses to grapple with the inconsistencies that threaten the standard model. But current explanations ranging from the inflationary universe model to the cold dark matter model to the anthropic principle have run into difficulties of their own. In ‘Ancient Light‘, the human story behind cosmology is enhanced with biographical sketches of the key figures, past and present, including Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking, Vera Rubin, Alan Guth, and Margaret Geller.

Great Ideas in Physics

The conservation of energy, the second law of thermodynamics, the theory of relativity, quantum mechanics together, these concepts form the foundation upon which modern physics was built. But the influence of these four landmark ideas has extended far beyond hard science. There is no aspect of twentieth century culture including the arts, social sciences, philosophy, and politics that has not been profoundly influenced by them. In Great Ideas in Physics, Alan Lightman clearly explains the physics behind each of the four great ideas and deftly untangles for lay readers such knotty concepts as entropy, the relativity of time, and the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. Throughout the book he uses excerpts from the writings of scientific luminaries such as Newton, Kelvin, Einstein, and de Broglie to help place each in its proper historical perspective. And with the help of expertly annotated passages from the works of dozens of writers, philosophers, artists, and social theorists, Lightman explores the two way influences of these landmark scientific concepts on our entire human culture and the world of ideas.

Time for the Stars

Now, Alan Lightman, the author of the brilliantly original bestselling novel Einstein’s Dreams, presents the real life drama of astronomy, a journey far into the stars that outpaces any fiction for adventure and excitement. Unsurpassed in its authoritativeness, Time for the Stars is based on the report of the National Academy of Science’s Astronomy and Astrophysics Survey Committee, for whose science panel Alan Lightman served as chair. Here is a book that will introduce you to cosmic puzzles about people and planets stars and galaxies, and the beginnings and the ends of the universe. How do we know what’s inside the sun? What are the prospects of finding other solar systems and extraterrestrial life in coming years? What was the universe like ten billion years ago? Will it keep on expanding forever?Here are the latest advances in technology that have rocketed us to dazzling new frontiers. They may catch you off guard. But they will leave you fixed in wonder.

Dance for Two

The author of Einstein’s Dreams now presents a collection of essays, written over the past 20 years, that displays his genius for bringing literary and scientific concerns into ringing harmony. Sometimes provocative, sometimes fanciful, always elegantly conceived and written, these meditations offer readers a fascinating look into the creative compulsions shared by the scientist and the artist. Reading tour.

Living with the Genie

‘A group of remarkably penetrating, frank, and expert scientists, techno wizards, activists, and writers raise provocative questions about what is gained and what is lost in a world enthralled by technology in this wonderfully soulful forum on life in the ‘Wired World.’ ‘ BOOKLIST

Biotechnology, Cloning, Robotics, Nanotechnology…

At a time when scientific and technological breakthroughs keep our eyes focused on the latest software upgrades or the newest cell phone wizardry, a group of today’s most innovative thinkers are looking beyond the horizon to explore both the promise and the peril of our technological future.

Human ingenuity has granted us a world of unprecedented personal power enabling us to communicate instantaneously with anyone anywhere on the globe, to transport ourselves in both real and virtual worlds to distant places with ease, to fill our bellies with engineered commodities once available to only a privileged elite.

Through our technologies, we have sought to free ourselves from the shackles of nature and become its master. Yet science and technology continually transform our experience and society in ways that often seem to be beyond our control. Today, different areas of research and innovation are advancing synergistically, multiplying the rate and magnitude of technological and societal change, with consequences that no one can predict.

Living with the Genie explores the origins, nature, and meaning of such change, and our capacity to govern it. As the power of technology continues to accelerate, who, this book asks, will be the master of whom?

In Living with the Genie, leading writers and thinkers come together to confront this question from many perspectives, including: Richard Powers’s whimsical investigation of the limits of artificial intelligence; Philip Kitcher’s confrontation of the moral implications of science; Richard Rhodes’s exploration of the role of technology in reducing violence; Shiv Visvanathan’s analysis of technology’s genocidal potential; Lori Andrews’s insights into the quest for human genetic enhancement; Alan Lightman’s reflections on how technology changes the experience of our humanness.

These and ten other provocative essays open the door to a new dialogue on how, in the quest for human mastery, technology may be changing what it means to be human, in ways we scarcely comprehend.

A Sense of the Mysterious

From the bestselling author of Einstein’s Dreams comes this lyrical and insightful collection of science writing that delves into the mysteries of the scientific process and exposes its beauty and intrigue. In these brilliant essays, Lightman explores the emotional life of science, the power of imagination, the creative moment, and the alternate ways in which scientists and humanists think about the world. Along the way, he provides in depth portraits of some of the great geniuses of our time, including Albert Einstein, Richard Feynman, Edward Teller, and astronomer Vera Rubin. Thoughtful, beautifully written, and wonderfully original, A Sense of the Mysterious confirms Alan Lightman’s unique position at the crossroads of science and art.

The Best American Science Writing 2005

Together these twenty seven articles on a wide range of today’s most current topics in science, from Oliver Sacks, James Gleick, Atul Gawande, and Natalie Angier, among others, represent the full spectrum of scientific writing, proving once again that ‘good science writing is evidently plentiful’ Scientific American.

The Discoveries

An unprecedented explosion of creativity, insight, and breakthrough occurred in every field of science in the last century. From the theory of relativity to the first quantum model of the atom to the mapping of the structure of DNA, these discoveries profoundly changed the way we understand the world and our place in it. Now the physicist and novelist Alan Lightman tells the stories of two dozen of the most seminal discoveries.

In lucid and literary prose, Lightman paints the intellectual and emotional landscape of each discovery, portrays the personalities and human drama of the scientists involved, and explains the significance and impact of the work. He explores such questions as whether there were common patterns of research, whether The Discoveries were accidental or intentional, and whether the scientists were aware of or oblivious to the significance of what they had found. Finally, Lightman gives an unprecedented and exhilarating guided tour through each of the original papers, which are included in the book. Here are Einstein and Bohr, McClintock and Pauling, Planck and Heisenberg, and many others in their own words, grappling with the nature of the world. Original in its scope and depth, The Discoveries offers an extraordinary exploration into the nature of scientific discoveries and the minds of the men and women who made them.

Song of Two Worlds

In Alan Lightman’s new book, a verse narrative titled Song of Two Worlds, we meet a man who has lost his faith in all things following a mysterious personal tragedy. After decades of living hung like a dried fly, emptied and haunted by his past, the narrator awakens one morning revitalized and begins a Dante like journey to find something to believe in, first turning to the world of science and then to the world of philosophy, religion, and human life. As his personal story is slowly revealed, little by little, we confront the great questions of the cosmos and of the human heart, some questions with answers and others without.

Related Authors

Leave a Comment