The Goldilocks Enigma: Why Is the Universe Just Right for Life? [Paperback]

Paul Davies (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 29, 2008

Cosmic Jackpot is Paul Davies’s eagerly awaited return to cosmology, the successor to his critically acclaimed bestseller The Mind of God. Here he tackles all the "big questions," including the biggest of them all: Why does the universe seem so well adapted for life?

In his characteristically clear and elegant style, Davies shows how recent scientific discoveries point to a perplexing fact: many different aspects of the cosmos, from the properties of the humble carbon atom to the speed of light, seem tailor-made to produce life. A radical new theory says it’s because our universe is just one of an infinite number of universes, each one slightly different. Our universe is bio-friendly by accident -- we just happened to win the cosmic jackpot.

While this "multiverse" theory is compelling, it has bizarre implications, such as the existence of infinite copies of each of us and Matrix-like simulated universes. And it still leaves a lot unexplained. Davies believes there’s a more satisfying solution to the problem of existence: the observations we make today could help shape the nature of reality in the remote past. If this is true, then life -- and, ultimately, consciousness -- aren’t just incidental byproducts of nature, but central players in the evolution of the universe.

Whether he’s elucidating dark matter or dark energy, M-theory or the multiverse, Davies brings the leading edge of science into sharp focus, provoking us to think about the cosmos and our place within it in new and thrilling ways.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Paul Davies' Cosmic Jackpot is a truly mesmerizing book, no matter which you universe you may inhabit!" --Michio Kaku, prof. of theoretical physics, author of Hyperspace and Parallel Worlds

About the Author

PAUL DAVIES is an internationally acclaimed physicist, cosmologist, and astrobiologist at Arizona State University. He is the author of more than twenty books, including The Mind of God, About Time, How to Build a Time Machine, and The Goldilocks Enigma.

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Mariner Books; Reprint edition (April 29, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0547053584
• ISBN-13: 978-0547053585
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #109,209 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Paul Davies is an internationally acclaimed physicist, cosmologist, and astrobiologist at Arizona State University, where he runs the pioneering Beyond Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science. He also chairs the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Post-Detection Taskgroup, so that if SETI succeeds in finding intelligent life, he will be among the first to know. The asteroid 1992OG was officially renamed Pauldavies in his honor. In addition to his many scientific awards, Davies is the recipient of the 1995 Templeton Prize--the world's largest annual prize--for his work on science and religion. He is the author of more than twenty books, including The Mind of God, About Time, How to Build a Time Machine, and The Goldilocks Enigma. He lives in Tempe, Arizona.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

47 of 51 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent read - regardless of your beliefs October 24, 2008

By Michael Watkins

Format:Paperback

Scientists are becoming aware that our universe is remarkably friendly to the development of life. It is as if it was designed for life. How can this be explained? Theists will claim that it was designed for life by God. Atheists will claim otherwise. But the question is how to explain this? Davies does a great job laying out the issues that make our universe so biofriendly. He then examines eight theories that have been invoked to explain this. Many scientists are atheists and have worked hard to develop theories that could explain our fortunate circumstances. A prevailing theory is that there are an infinite number of universes, or multiverses. The conditions of most of them are hostile to life formation. Davies does a fair and even-handed examination of each of the 8 theories, from intelligent design to the multiverse theory. He presents the scientific information in a way that a layman can understand. He points out the strengths and especially the weaknesses of each theory, even his own. I believe in God, and Davies is an atheist. But his writing is very fair and very thought provoking. This is a very interesting book, regardless of the reader's beliefs.

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars same book as cosmic jackpot March 18, 2009

By J. Jenkins

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I bought this book because I'm a big fan of Paul Davies, but I was disappointed to find out the paperback edition of 'the cosmic jackpot' (which I had read when it came out) was simply given a new title. I would read the reviews for the earlier book instead of this one, since the two are identical. All in all it's a fantastic book that discusses why life needs to be properly explained in a properly complete 'theory of everything'. At the moment of course there is not the beginning of an explanation, unless one is willing to entertain the idea of a multiverse plus anthropic selection.
In summary, see reviews of cosmic jackpot.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars English edition of "Cosmic Jackpot" July 25, 2009

By Eric Bergerud

Format:Paperback

This is a wonderful book for those who want to share the confusion held by all honest cosmologists. I don't know why it happened, but there must have been some kind of slip at Amazon or elsewhere. "Goldilocks Enigma" was originally published in the UK. Americans have different taste in titles and the US edition was called "Cosmic Jackpot." I sympathize with any Davies fan who thought it was something new. I'm sure this wasn't a rip-off, but rather a screw-up. BTW: fans should track down Davies' Op-Ed for the New York Times a couple of years back calling for a solution to cosmology that didn't rest on either the claims of divinity or the idea that natural laws were self-generating and thus couldn't be explained. That little piece really ticked off our materialist friends - probably didn't help that Davies won the Templeton Prize either. A traitor to his class I guess.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The anthropic principle and all that July 9, 2012

By Dr. H. A. Jones

Format:Paperback

The Goldilocks Enigma: Why is the universe just right for life? by Paul Davies, Penguin, 2007, 368 ff.

The Anthropic Principle and all that

`Today we know that there is no life force. Living organisms are machines, and they derive their extraordinary qualities from their great complexity.' This extract is taken from near the end of the book (p.253) but it might well have appeared in the Preface as it tells readers the overall ethos of the presentation. Paul Davies is a professor of physics, formerly in London and Australia and now at Arizona State University and he approaches his subject with the dispassionate rationalism of a scientist wedded to the materialist world-view. With chapter titles like `The Universe Explained', `How the Universe Began' and `What the Universe is made of', it's clear that this book is mainly about cosmology, presented quite eloquently and without mathematics, but it is the anthropic principle which is the real focus of the book, as indicated by the book title. Davies also has something to say about particle physics as it relates to the Big Bang, but this is not what the book is about and there are several more detailed and equally readable books on quantum mechanics.

After an initial chapter (`The Big Questions') that is as much philosophy as science, Davies gives us an account of the laws of physics that have given us the universe as we know it. He presents many different theories but makes it clear that many are rather tenuous. In dealing with `A Universe Fit for Life', Davies regards the term `anthropic principle' as `an unfortunate misnomer' (p.149) because `nobody is suggesting that the principle has anything to do with humans'.... Yet books on this subject, such as that by Barrow and Tipler, suggest that it does precisely that: Brandon Carter, who coined the term, did so because of the fact that `certain properties of the Universe are necessary prerequisites for the evolution and existence' of humankind. But, says Davies, `The anthropic principle seems to elevate life and mind to a special place in nature'; but `[m]ost physicists and cosmologists . . . regard life as a trivial, accidental embellishment to the physical world'. This is clearly a view that Davies shares though, as some of his other books indicate, he does not think that this makes human existence meaningless. As the sentence with which I opened makes clear, there is no suggestion that God or any kind of cosmic life force is necessary or operational in the evolution of humankind.

As a review of cosmological theories, the book is excellent. But I didn't find any answer within to "why" the universe is just right for life as the subtitle suggests. Instead of saying that we needed natural constants to take the values they do "in order that" life could evolve, as the anthropic principle does, we could turn this around and equally say that life has evolved as it has because the natural constants have the values that they do. If the constants were otherwise, we would have evolved differently, if at all. The book is completed with 45 pages of Notes, Bibliography and Index.

Nature's Numbers: The Unreal Reality Of Mathematics (Science Masters Series) by Ian Stewart
The Anthropic Cosmological Principle (Oxford Paperbacks) by Tipler and Barrow

Howard Jones is the author of The World as Spirit Read more ›

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars must read September 9, 2008

By invictus

Format:Paperback

Must Read

Davies has written a book about physics generally and cosmology in particular. To a person interested in but not formally trained in these th disciplines, it must necessarily be hard going. But anyone who can find a better up-to-date attempt at what Davies has achieved will be indeed fortunate. I am in my seventies and count myself blessed that I have survived long enough to become knowledgeable about the the universe as a whole, albeit understanding aspects of it very imperfectly.

Davies has performed an extraordinary service to those afflicted with curiosity about the topics he tries to elucidate. I am confident that there is no better work of this scope in print.

INVICTUS