redrobinbookreviews

Why Does the World Exist?: An Existential Detective Story   Jim Holt
Entertaining, journalistic examination of the philosophical question, “Why is there something rather than nothing?” Found it a little irritating that he too often has to reduce his arguments to logical notation equations, but he is from that tradition, I guess. Though unpersuaded, Holt treats the god hypotheses with too much respect. Personally, I find, and have found for some time, the quantum theory persuasive and satisfying, at least intellectually. Unfortunate, useless detour into Platonism of all things, as well as other deeply unconvincing “theories.” A moving chapter at the end on death and the return to nothing. Even though I enjoyed it, took far too long to read this, sometimes only one or two paragraphs at a time. Fun read, though.