The Great US Book Tour!

I’ll be touring the USA at the end of February, early March so come along and hear all about the book, fine-tuning, life and the multiverse! Indiana, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Texas, Oklahoma, California – come and find me in planetariums, university campuses, a church, and even a pub.

This post will be updated as more events are booked and details added.

Sunday 19 Feb: Bloomington, Indiana

Title: A Fortunate Universe: Life in a Finely Tuned Cosmos
Time: 6pm
Address: Evangelical Community Church
503 South High Street
Bloomington, Indiana 47401
Link: More details here.

Monday 20 Feb: New Brunswick, New Jersey

Title: A Fortunate Universe: Life in a Finely Tuned Cosmos
Time: 7pm
Address: Hageman Hall, first floor of the Seminary Building
35 Seminary Pl,
New Brunswick, NJ
Link: More details here.

Tuesday 21 Feb: Philosophy Seminar and Panel at Rutger’s University

Not open to the public, sorry, but it will be recorded.
Rutgers University Philosophy Panel discussion, with Alex Pruss (Baylor), Hans Halvorson (Princeton), Adam Elga (Princeton), Tim Maudlin (New York), and Barry Loewer (Rutgers), organised by Dean Zimmerman (Rutgers).
Time: 1pm – 5pm
Address: Hageman Hall, first floor of the Seminary Building
35 Seminary Pl, New Brunswick, NJ
Link: Rutger-ians can sign up here.

Wednesday 22 Feb: Harvard Astronomy Department Seminar

Open to the public. Please come along!
Title: A Fortunate Universe: Life in a Finely Tuned Cosmos
Time: 4-5PM
Address: Phillips Auditorium
60 Garden St, Cambridge, MA

Thursday 23 Feb: Kutztown, Pennsylvania

Title: A Fortunate Universe: Life in a Finely Tuned Cosmos
Time: 7pm
Address: Kutztown University Planetarium
Grim Science Building, Room 100
Link: More details here. I’m part of the “From Earth to the Universe” planetarium show.

Friday 24 Feb: Dallas, Texas

Title: A Fortunate Universe: Life in a Finely Tuned Cosmos
Time: 7pm
Address: University of Texas at Dallas
SSA Auditorium
Link: More details here.

Saturday 25 Feb: Dallas, Texas

Title: A Fortunate Universe: Life in a Finely Tuned Cosmos
Time: 7pm
Address: University of Texas, Arlington
7pm San Saba/Palo Pinto room in UTA’s University Center
301 W. 1st Street, Arlington, TX 76010
Link: More details here.

Sunday 26 Feb: Dallas, Texas

Title: Debate/Discussion – “Materialism and Theism: Do Fine-Tuning Arguments Succeed?” with Dr. Matthew Titsworth of Collin College.
Time: 6pm
Address: The Door Clubs
2513 Main St, Dallas, Texas
Link: More details here.

Monday 27 Feb: College Station, Texas

Title: Philosophy Seminar
Time: 12:20-1:10pm
Address: Baylor University Philosophy Department
Not open to the public, sorry.

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Title: A Fortunate Universe: Life in a Finely Tuned Cosmos
Time: 6pm
Address: Texas A&M Rudder Tower 601
401 Joe Routt Blvd, College Station, Texas 77840
Link: More details here and here.

Tuesday 28 Feb: Austin, Texas

Title: A Fortunate Universe: Life in a Finely Tuned Cosmos
Time: 7pm
Address: University of Texas at Austin
Welch Hall, 1.316
The Chemistry building on the corner of 24th and Speedway
Link: More details here.

Wednesday 1 March: Norman, Oklahoma

Title: A Fortunate Universe: Life in a Finely Tuned Cosmos
Time: 9pm
Address: Meacham Auditorium,
Oklahoma Memorial Union
900 Asp Ave #428,
Norman, OK

Thursday 2 March: Texas Tech University

Title: A Fortunate Universe: Life in a Finely Tuned Cosmos
Time: 8:30pm
Address: Hance Chapel
Texas Tech University campus
2511 17th St, Lubbock, TX 79401
Link: More details here.

Friday 3 March

Currently free. Stay Tuned.

Saturday 4 March: Claremont California

Title: A Fortunate Universe: Life in a Finely Tuned Cosmos
Time: 5:30pm
Address: Harvey Mudd College, Claremont California
Hoch-Shanahan Dining Commons,
385 East Platt, Claremont, CA

Sunday 5 March: Orange California

Title: A Fortunate Universe: Life in a Finely Tuned Cosmos
Time: 7:30 pm
Address: Chapman University
Argyros Forum, Room 209
386 N. Center St.
Orange, CA

Monday 6 March: Irvine, California

Title: A Fortunate Universe: Life in a Finely Tuned Cosmos
Time: 7pm
Address: University of California, Irvine
Link: More details here.

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Talk in Sydney: The Universe for Beginners

I’ll be speaking in Sydney on Monday 16th January at the Macarthur Astronomy Forum. It’s free and open to everyone. The details:

The Universe for Beginners

Abstract: The night sky might seem to be a random collection of odd objects: stars, planets, asteroids, brown dwarfs, white dwarfs, supernovae remnants, pulsars, galaxies.

Are they just a menagerie, or can we make sense of them? I’ll show how a single question links the night sky’s occupants into a coherent scheme.

Date: 16th January, 2017

Time: 7:30pm

Location: Room 213, Building 30, Western Sydney University, Campbelltown Campus, Goldsmith Drive, CampbelltownMap

Forum Details

Macarthur Astronomy Forum is held in the small lecture theatre in Building 30 (School of Medicine) at Western Sydney University, Campbelltown Campus.

Members of the public are cordially invited to attend. We do not charge admission but your gold coin donation in our black box (at the front of the auditorium) would be very gratefully accepted. We provide self-service coffee, tea and biscuits after the meeting at a charge of $2.00 per head.

 

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Wall Street Journal review of “A Fortunate Universe”

Gino Segre has kindly reviewed “A Fortunate Universe” for The Wall Street Journal, (Sat/Sun Dec 31, 2016 – Jan 1, 2017). It’s behind a paywall, unfortunately, but here are some highlights.

The astrophysicists Geraint Lewis and Luke Barnes open their charming, intelligent and exceeding well-written book by arguing that we live in “a fortunate universe”. … They then proceed to convincingly show why we should share their belief. This requires a gentle stroll through the details of the Standard Model of particle physics, as well as the Standard Model of cosmology, but they lead us with such a light hand, streak of humor and lack of pedantry that the information is easily absorbed. …

Where does science go from here? Does what has been popularly called a theory of everything exist? Is there a multiverse? Must we be satisfied with an anthropic principle? The authors discuss these questions and more in a final dialogue. As Mr. Barnes states in concluding it: “Irrespective of how many other dead and sterile universes are out there, in this one I have a pair of kids that need a bath.” Life goes on.

Also, Charlie Lineweaver has reviewed our book in The Conversation. Charlie gave the impression that “intelligent design” was the main thesis of the book. It’s a good time to remind everyone that Geraint is, in his own words, “no kind of god botherer”.

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