There are few things that thread through human history more comprehensively than mankind’s search for meaning and an understanding of the way the world works. For millennia these pursuits went hand in hand as philosophers attempted to unravel the mechanical mysteries of our universe and derive moral and metaphysical lessons from their findings. Figures like Aristotle, Aquinas, and Democritus dominated this world with comprehensive theories on the laws governing nature. The arrival of the scientific revolution toppled the cosmic applecart, however, as it undermined not only accepted knowledge but the very way we learned about the world.
Copernicus’ assertion that the sun, not the Earth, was the centre of our planetary system contained in it a challenge to every accepted notion. Billions of eyes throughout history had watched our star rise in the east and set in the west day in, day out. Our sensory evidence clearly showed the sky rotating around us. Astronomers and mathematicians had contrived equations that accounted for the orbits of the celestial bodies around us and our place at the centre of God’s universe was secure.
This was all undone as Copernicus questioned the most basic of truths and asserted that it was our planet that danced to the sun’s tune. Though his theory was dismissed by many as mad and ludicrous, in time the ripples of this revelation unsettled the world order. How could we, the creatures made in God’s own image, not be the centre of His creation? What other ‘truths’ might prove to be false? And how was science able to get it so wrong for so long?
Cover of 'To Explain the World: The Discovery of Modern Science' by Allen Lane
This fundamental questioning of the very basics of our understanding was the beginning of mankind’s scientific revolution. From this point on we would learn to question every assumption made and instead trust in the data available to us. With human prejudice removed the world would be able to move forward in leaps and bounds. God and man were removed from physics and numbers were allowed to reign supreme.
The other sciences soon inherited this liberation and chemistry and biology flourished with unencumbered observation. Today many of the secrets of the universe lay bare at our feet. Our understanding of how our world, our galaxy, and our universe work is beyond even the wildest dreams of those who have gone before us. We stand on the precipice of learning how our universe started and if ours is the only one.
Yet many of the questions asked by philosophers millennia ago remain unanswered. We have stared at many of our universe’s cogs yet remain as stumped by the simplest of metaphysical question as our ancient forbears. Susan talks with Nobel winning physicist Steven Weinberg about science, the secrets of the universe, and his latest book, ‘To Explain the World: The Discovery of Modern Science’. Join ‘Talking Books’ as we journey through the evolution of human thought and philosophy. What do we know? What can we know? And what remains a mystery?
Cover of 'Miss Carter's War' by Bloomsbury Publishing
In the second part of the show Susan looks at the nature of grief and how we deal with loss with Shelia Hancock. An accomplished stage and television actor Shelia wrote a moving account of her life with fellow actor and husband John Thaw after his death in 2002. A biography of both of their lives, together and apart, Shelia followed up ‘The Two of Us’ with ‘Just Me’ in 2008. An account of her coming to terms with widowhood this book is a window into the lasting effects of grief and a how we might heal the wounds of loss and better carry their scars.
Shelia’s latest work, ‘Miss Carter’s War’, is a marked change, in style if not substance. A work of fiction this book follows the life of Marguerite Carter as she deals with the aftermath of the Second World War and the fast changing world. Grief features strongly once again as Marguerite deals with the loss of her parents and the destruction of the war. Half French, half English she survived to war and clandestine service for the SOE behind enemy lines. With peace established she returns to England where she becomes one of the first women to receive a degree from Cambridge.
She takes a job as an English teacher in a girls’ grammar school. The book follows Marguerite through the changing decades as she oversees generations of girls as they come of age and depart into the wider world. We journey with Marguerite through the Swinging Sixties, the rise and fall of Margaret Thatcher, the looming threat of war, and up to the present day. Join Susan as she talks with Shelia about her life, dealing with grief, and ‘Miss Carter’s War’.
