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  • The Jazz of Physics: The Secret Link Between Music and the Structure of the Universe by Stephon Alexander book cover
  • The Jazz of Physics: The Secret Link Between Music and the Structure of the Universe by Stephon Alexander book cover
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The Jazz of Physics: The Secret Link Between Music and the Structure of the Universe

by Stephon Alexander

Jazz, geometry, and the cosmos

$17.09 USD
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AlbakiReads Editorial

Jazz, geometry, and the cosmos

Stephon Alexander brings together two fields often treated separately: jazz and theoretical physics. John Coltrane’s geometric approach to musical notes provides a point of connection, while the book ranges across thinkers from Pythagoras and Kepler to Einstein and Rakim. Its central thread is the longstanding idea that music and the structure of the universe might be related, explored through questions about the cosmos’s past and future. The result is an interdisciplinary account of how musical patterns can offer a way to think about some of physics’ difficult questions.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Teens and young adults interested in astronomy or physics
  • Jazz listeners curious about the ideas behind musical structure
  • Readers interested in connections among science, music, and intellectual history

Themes

Jazz and physicsMusic and mathematical patternsThe structure and history of the universeIntellectual history

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

A spectacular musical and scientific journey from the Bronx to the cosmic horizon that reveals the astonishing links between jazz, science, Einstein, and Coltrane

"I'll forever be grateful to musician/physicist Stephon Alexander... He'll help you see how our awe-inspiring universe is on a never-ending, cosmological riff."
―Felix Contreras, NPR

More than fifty years ago, John Coltrane drew the twelve musical notes in a circle and connected them by straight lines, forming a five-pointed star. Inspired by Einstein, Coltrane put physics and geometry at the core of his music.

Physicist and jazz musician Stephon Alexander follows suit, using jazz to answer physics' most vexing questions about the past and future of the universe. Following the great minds that first drew the links between music and physics - a list including Pythagoras, Kepler, Newton, Einstein, and Rakim - The Jazz of Physics reveals that the ancient poetic idea of the Music of the Spheres, taken seriously, clarifies confounding issues in physics.

The Jazz of Physics will fascinate and inspire anyone interested in the mysteries of our universe, music, and life itself.
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