Book Recommendation: The Universe in Verse by Maria Popova
Don’t you just love it when someone really gets you? That’s the feeling I had when my creative partner, Angela, gifted me The Universe in Verse, a simply splendid and touching collection of poetry and short essays spearheaded by the incomparable Maria Popova.
What Happens When Science and Art Intersect
I’ve rhapsodized in the past about Popova’s deep dives into the resonance between science and art. Here’s how Popova frames her interest in this intersection:
“Poetry and science—individually, but especially together—are instruments for knowing the world more intimately and loving it more deeply. We need science to help us meet reality on its own terms, and we need poetry to help us broaden and deepen the terms on which we meet ourselves and each other.”
Yes!
The Universe in Verse consists of 15 short meditations on themes like the wonder of flowers, why we should be enchanted by pi, why dark matter fascinates us, and how we should spend more time thinking about trees. At the end of each of these meditations, Popova invites us to further explore the theme through a short poem.
Lessons from Entropy and Alternative Endings
To my surprise, the section that struck me most deeply wasn’t about galaxies, or evolution, but one entitled Entropy and the Art of Alternative Endings.
Popova encourages us to think of entropy not as inevitable loss, but as a defining characteristic of … well, everything. To illustrate the point, she turns to the British-American poet W. H. Auden, who came from a science background and yet nonetheless produced some of the most heartbreaking poems in the English language. Popova takes us through Auden’s passionate and turbulent romance with Chester Kallman to the “fierce devotion that had prevailed over the lazy entropy of romantic passion.” She selected Auden’s beautiful poem The More Loving One to end the chapter. You might recognize these lines:
“How should we like it were stars to burn
With a passion for us we could not return?
If equal affection cannot be,
Let the more loving one be me.”
Choosing Curiosity and Wonder Every Day
Image credits: Colton Sturgeon | Unsplash
Perhaps the best thing about this format is the invitation to engage deeply, but only for a short burst. For me, the words on the page were just the beginning. I read this slim volume while on an intensive around-the-world speaking tour. I read it as I waited to board a flight; as I loitered in traffic; as I struggled with the demons of jet lag in the middle of the night. It was the perfect antidote to exhaustion and a haze of non-observation of the astonishing world around me.
If you’re open to more beauty in your intellectual life, then grab a copy of The Universe in Verse. I’m also a big fan of Popova’s newsletter and her long, difficult, but fantastically rewarding nonfiction work Figuring.
I’ll leave you with a single line from Popova, which sums up the reason why I do what I do. It’s this:
“To live wonder-smitten with reality is the gladdest way to live.”
About Tiffany
Dr. Tiffany Vora speaks, writes, and advises on how to harness technology to build the best possible future(s). She is an expert in biotech, health, & innovation.
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