The Universe in Verse is an ode to wonder and an exploration of the human search for truth and meaning.Poetry and science, as Popova writes in her introduction, "are instruments for knowing the world more intimately and loving it more deeply." In 15 short essays on subjects ranging from the mystery of dark matter and the infinity of pi to the resilience of trees and the intelligence of octopuses, Popova tells the stories of scientific searching and discovery. These stories are interwoven with details from the very real and human lives of scientists-many of them women, many underrecognized-and poets inspired by the same questions and the beauty they reveal. Each essay is paired with a poem reflecting its subject by poets ranging from Emily Dickinson, W. H. Auden, and Edna St. Vincent Millay to Maya Angelou, Diane Ackerman, and Tracy K. Smith, and is stunningly illustrated by celebrated artist Ofra Amit. Together, they wake us to a "reality aglow with wonder."

Vorwort
Maria Popova presents a full-hearted celebration of the human search for truth and beauty through the complementary lenses of science and poetry. Fifteen short, digestible essays on the wonders and mysteries of science and nature are each accompanied by a curated poem on the same subject and illustrated by award-winning artist Ofra Amit.

Autorentext

Maria Popova thinks and writes about our search for meaning—sometimes through science and philosophy, sometimes through poetry and children's books, always through the lens of wonder. She is the creator of *The Marginalian, *born in 2006 under the outgrown name Brain Pickings and included in the Library of Congress permanent digital archive of culturally valuable materials, author of *Figuring *and The Snail with the Right Heart, and maker of The Universe in Verse—a charitable celebration of the wonder of reality through stories of science winged with poetry.

Klappentext

The Universe in Verse is an ode to wonder and an exploration of the human search for truth and meaning.

Poetry and science, as Popova writes in her introduction, "are instruments for knowing the world more intimately and loving it more deeply." In 15 short essays on subjects ranging from the mystery of dark matter and the infinity of pi to the resilience of trees and the intelligence of octopuses, Popova tells the stories of scientific searching and discovery. These stories are interwoven with details from the very real and human lives of scientists-many of them women, many underrecognized-and poets inspired by the same questions and the beauty they reveal. Each essay is paired with a poem reflecting its subject by poets ranging from Emily Dickinson, W. H. Auden, and Edna St. Vincent Millay to Maya Angelou, Diane Ackerman, and Tracy K. Smith, and is stunningly illustrated by celebrated artist Ofra Amit. Together, they wake us to a "reality aglow with wonder."

Inhalt

Poetry, Science, and the Cosmos of the Possible 
 
The Singularity and Our Elemental Belonging
     Singularity (after Stephen Hawking) by Marie Howe
 
Flowers and the Birth of Ecology
     Bloom by Emily Dickinson
 
Entropy and the Art of Alternative Endings
     The More Loving One by W.H. Auden
 
Henrietta Leavitt, Edwin Hubble, and Our Hunger to Know the Universe
     From *My God, It’s Full of Stars *by Tracy K. Smith
 
Dark Matter and Our Yearning for Light
     *Let There Always Be Light *by Rebecca Elson
 
Emily Noether, Symmetry, and the Hidden Order of Things
     *Figures of Thought *by Howard Nemerov

Trees and the Optimism of Resilience
      Optimism by Jane Hirshfield
 
Pi and the Seductions of Infinity
     Pi by Wislawa Szymborska, translated by Clare Cavanagh and Stanislaw Baranczak
 
Euclid and the Dazzling Beauty of Universal Truth
     Euclid Alone Has Looked on Beauty Bare by Edna St. Vincent Millay
 
Radioactivity and the Mystery of Matter
     Power by Adrienne Rich
 
The Octopus and the Unknown
     Impossible Blues by Maria Popova
 
This Mote of Matter
     A Brave and Startling Truth by Maya Angelou
 
The Search for Life
     We Are Listening by Diane Ackerman
 
Mushrooms and the Creative Spirit
     Mushrooms by Sylvia Plath
 
Singularity Squared
     *Singularity (after Marie Howe) *by Marissa Davis
 
Acknowledgments