快猫短视频

WHAT does it mean to be? Or not to be, for that matter? In this slim volume, Peter Atkins provides a crash course in the science of existence. His is a masterful voice on the chemistry behind the beginnings of life, the processes of reproduction, the beginning and end of the universe and, most fascinating of all, what happens to our bodies after we die.

As might be expected of a loud-voiced atheist, Atkins misses no opportunity to take a swipe at religious ideas on being. This is for entertainment鈥檚 sake, really; few of his readers will need persuading of the silliness of end-times myths or the lack of evidence for any kind of afterlife or eternal soul. Of course, sniping becomes a lot less fun once you concede that religious people aren鈥檛 wilfully stupid, just content with myths. Perhaps that is why Atkins sidesteps what is perhaps the most enlightening scientific insight into religious belief: thanks to evolutionary pressures on the brain, people are naturally inclined to believe in unseen forces.

When back on the science, Atkins can turn a beautiful phrase: 鈥淲e are not merely stardust and the children of chaos, we are the spreaders of light.鈥� He is referring here only to science鈥檚 dissemination of knowledge: science provides no upbeat message about the meaning of existence. 鈥淒eep down,鈥� he says, 鈥渨e, like everything, are driven by purposeless decay.鈥�

There is nothing warm or fuzzy in these pages. Nevertheless, this rich collection of scientific insights is certainly food for the atheist鈥檚 soul.