Can advanced mathematics and physics help us navigate a path through today’s social and political turmoil?
Eugenia Cheng’s book The Art of Logic: How to Make Sense in a World That Doesn’t shows how mathematical logic can help us see difficult political questions such as public healthcare, Black Lives Matter and Brexit more clearly – and know when politicians and companies are trying to mislead us.
And former Guardian science editor Tim Radford’s book The Consolations of Physics: Why the Wonders of the Universe Can Make You Happy, wants to persuade us that a branch of science many people find soulless – physics – can offer spiritual balm.
Reading list
The Consolations of Physics: Why the Wonders of the Universe Can Make You Happy by Tim Radford (Sceptre)
The Art of Logic: How to Make Sense in a World That Doesn’t by Eugenia Cheng (Profile)