The Miraculous from the Material

"Nature is capable of extraordinary phenomena. Standing in awe of those phenomena, we experience a feeling of connection to others, to wildlife, or to the cosmos. For ... Alan Lightman, just as remarkable is that all of what we see around us--from soap bubbles and scarlet ibses to shooting stars--are made out of the same material stuff, and obey the same rules and laws. This is what Lightman calls 'spiritual materialism, ' the belief that we can embrace spiritual experiences without letting go of our scientific worldview. Pairing 36 ... full-color photos evoking some of nature's most awe-inspiring phenomena with accessible, lyrical essays, [this book] explores the ... science underlying the natural world"--