Why Does the World Exist?
by Jim Holt · first published 2012
6mentions
5recommended by
6HN commenters
2014–2022first – last mentioned
83% recommend17% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Engaging tour of the major philosophical and scientific answers to why anything exists at all, written as an accessible existential detective story; suits general readers curious about metaphysics and cosmology.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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I'd also recommend "Why Does the World Exist?: An Existential Detective Story", by Jim Holt. https://cmdev.com/isbn/0871403595
on “The Bridge From Nowhere” ↗Jim Holt's book "Why Does the World Exist?" is an interesting tour through different approaches to this topic.
on “Did the chicken come first or is it turtles all the way down?” ↗Good book on this topic by Jim Holt: "Why Does the World Exist? (An Existential Detective Story) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Why_Does_the_World_Exist%3F
on “Why does anything exist?” ↗…Mathematics (Great overview of mathematics). Quantum Mechanics: Concepts and Applications (Great QM book). Wooden on Leadership: How to Create a Winning Organization (Great leadership / management insights). Why Does the World Exist?: An Existential Detective Story Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (An extremely simplified historical overview of how we got here). The Book of Disquiet (Serpent's Tail Classics) (Random journaling…
on “Patrick Collison's Bookshelf” ↗"Why Does The World Exist?" is a fun book-length tour of the various ways people try to answer this question.
on “Why Is There Something Instead of Nothing? (2015)” ↗…certainly open to being convinced otherwise. And I have made efforts to understand the world. Existential thinking is not foreign to me, in the slightest. That's lead me to - among others - books like "Why does the world exist" by Jim Holt. Ultimately, despite everything I've read and watched, including an upbringing in the Christian church... I can only draw the conclusion that we just don't know. We have no idea if there's…
on “Americans Have Shifted Dramatically on What Values Matter Most” ↗