Searching for Stars on an Island in Maine

Searching for Stars on an Island in Maine by Alan Lightman                     Audio Book:  5 hours, 15 mins.       Hardback Book:  240 pages             

Alan Lightman is a physicist so when he goes out in the dark to ponder the stars in the night sky, one would think he would muse on the astro-physics end which he does from time to time, but, he also waxes lyrical on the simplistic beauty he sees and why he loves living on a small island in Maine so much.    His words bring the reader to a place where you can picture yourself sitting on a blanket on the ground, hearing crickets as you stare up at a vast sky chock full of stars and planets and ponder how it all began.    He talks about the Big Bang Theory, when and how it evolved, he talks about mankind and discusses religion and how some scientists believe in God because of the natural order of things and the intricacy of how every living thing is made up of such facets of phenomenal amounts of working parts that had to have some divine plan or certainly intervention elsewise how could they work together like they do?   Lightman himself leans toward the scientific but gives fair share to his friends and collegues who are Christinas.    He tends toward belief but the scientist in him can’t dismiss the desire for irrefutable, tangible, provable facts, though he does understand that belief is a matter of faith (Jesus to [doubting] Thomas, ‘blessed are those who have not seen yet still believe.”)   He talks about Gestalt psychology,  he talks about Vincent Van Gogh and how his famous work, “Starry Night,” which is said to have been based on the view from his window in the asylum he signed himself into, has been proven that the sky could not have looked like that on that date, however, the planet Venus is depicted and likely would have been visible at that time from his window.    Seems like Starry Night is a reaching into the cosmos to me, as though Van Gogh felt all the activity swirling around him in the sky so far away and he just put everything in it he felt was there or knew to be there whether he could see it or not.   Looks like the milky way, the planets and the expansion of the universe happening all at once and Van Gogh was clairsentient enough to absorb it and wanted to show it.    When I look at this painting I hear  “A Night on Bald Mountain,” playing in my thoughts.   Maybe Lightman did, too.   A lot of busy things going on so much so you experience a sense of motion though it is standing still.   The book is lyrical and poetic like sitting with a friend and talking about whatever comes to mind in a pleasant, calm outdoor setting.   I understand why he likes that island in Maine so much and how like a balm to the soul (which he also discusses) it is to have such a serene place to go muse about everything in the world and in the universe.   Very good book, I like how he covers so many topics so effortlessly and he takes the reader right along for the ride.   His range of subject matter is massive, oh yes, he covers matter, atoms,  plancks and quarks, and tells of experiments done on each and the bits of his own body mush he has put under a microscope and was amazed by all the miniscule things he found there.   He even prognosticates on where humans are headed in the future and how people 100 years ago predicted where the human race would be today and how many predictions for much later have already been achieved early in this century.   He talks about how mankind is moving away from interaction and leaning more and more on social interaction via the internet rather than face to face.  Is man racing toward a solitary existence only texting other humans in the great cyberspace of out there.    Science will have to study if that is a good or bad thing.    He also divines that one day people will be able to link their brains directly to the internet and speed up their access to instant information.   He forecasts people being able to pick up foreign languages faster and even being able to get the many variations in how words are pronounced and the various sounds are made by speaking the languages of other lands.   He also expects that instant access to the internet and one’s brain will create instant information and intelligence to thrive.   He makes other projections too that are fascinating and a little  disconcerting.      Good read, though again, the way he writes is so calming it almost lulls you but the gist of the info he is ahring will bring you right back to attention mode.   Deep stuff here, but, good stuff you will be glad to know.   Good book.