The Whole Truth

A Cosmologist’s Reflections on the Search for Objective Reality

P. J. E. Peebles

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English

Princeton University Pres
01 March 2025

Mathematics & Sciences; Philosophy of science; History of science; Cosmology & the universe; Physics

A century ago, thoughtful people questioned how reality could agree with physical theories that keep changing, from a mechanical model of the ether to electric and magnetic fields, and from homogeneous matter to electrons and atoms. Today, concepts like dark matter and dark energy further complicate and enrich the search for objective reality. The Whole Truth is a personal reflection on this ongoing quest by one of the world's most esteemed cosmologists.

What lies at the heart of physical science? What are the foundational ideas that inform and guide the enterprise? Is the concept of objective reality meaningful? If so, do our established physical theories usefully approximate it? P. J. E. Peebles takes on these and other big questions about the nature of science, drawing on a lifetime of experience as a leading physicist and using cosmology as an example. He traces the history of thought about the nature of physical science since Einstein, and succinctly lays out the fundamental working assumptions. Through a careful examination of the general theory of relativity, Einstein's cosmological principle, and the theory of an expanding universe, Peebles shows the evidence that we are discovering the nature of reality in successive approximations through increasingly rigorous scrutiny.

A landmark work, The Whole Truth is essential reading for anyone interested in the practice of science.

By: P. J. E. Peebles
Imprint: Princeton University Pres
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 235mm, Width: 156mm,
ISBN: 9780691231372
ISBN 10: 0691231370
Pages: 264
Publication Date: 01 March 2025
Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , Primary , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

P. J. E. Peebles is a Nobel Prize-winning physicist and the author of several books, including Cosmology's Century: An Inside History of Our Modern Understanding of the Universe, Principles of Physical Cosmology, Quantum Mechanics, and Physical Cosmology (all Princeton). He is the Albert Einstein Professor of Science Emeritus in the Department of Physics at Princeton University.

Reviews for The Whole Truth: A Cosmologist’s Reflections on the Search for Objective Reality

"""[An] engaging and inviting account of the history of the physical sciences.""---Grace O'Hanlon, Library Journal ""This treatment is marked by the author's emphasis on the theory's empirical basis, off eringmany examples of multiple researchers independently arriving at the same conclusion. Such emphasis distinguishes this book from more popularbooks on cosmology, and this alone makes it worth having in a university library.""---A. Spero, Choice Reviews"