The Island of Knowledge
The Limits of Science and the Search for Meaning
Marcelo Gleiser, 2014
About the Book
How much can we truly know? In The Island of Knowledge, Marcelo Gleiser examines one of the most profound questions in science and philosophy: whether there are fundamental limits to human understanding. Drawing on the history of scientific thought—from Plato and Galileo to Einstein and contemporary physics—he argues that every expansion of knowledge also enlarges the horizon of the unknown.
Building on questions that have accompanied his work for decades, The Island of Knowledge offers Gleiser's most comprehensive reflection on the limits of scientific knowledge and the enduring human search for meaning. Its central ideas later inspired The Island of Knowledge, the interdisciplinary initiative that extends these questions beyond the written page into an ongoing global dialogue.
What People Are Saying About The Island of Knowledge:
“We've come to know far more than our ancestors could possibly have imagined—including the depth of our ignorance. In Gleiser's lucid narrative, that marvelous paradox comes alive.”
— Frank Wilczek, Nobel laureate and author of The Lightness of Being
“Marcelo Gleiser brings a physicist's knowledge, a philosopher's wisdom, and a poet's language to elucidate our largest questions. If you finish The Island of Knowledge with all the same opinions with which you began it, then turn to page one and start reading again.”
— Rebecca Goldstein, MacArthur Fellow and author of Plato at the Googleplex
“Articulate, elegant, and at times poignant, The Island of Knowledge is a magnificent account of humanity's struggle to understand its place in the cosmos. ... Gleiser shows how our efforts to comprehend the universe have transformed it into something rich and strange.”
— Seth Lloyd, professor of mechanical engineering at MIT and author of Programming the Universe
“Gleiser covers a broad swath of subjects—from cognition and curved space to particle physics, superstring theory, and multiverses—with a thoughtful, accessible style that balances philosophy with hard science. His island imagery will capture readers’ imagination as it examines the ideas that unnerve us even as they illuminate our world.”
— Publishers Weekly
“The Island of Knowledge is a history of the mind, its gift for finding ideas in things. The brilliance of centuries of philosophic and scientific inquiry, never more remarkable than at present, bears a profound resemblance to the brilliance it discovers in the universe. Marcelo Gleiser makes us feel what a privilege it is to be human.”
— Marilynne Robinson, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Humanities Medal, and author of Gilead and Absence of Mind: The Dispelling of Inwardness from the Modern Myth of the Self
