Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Preview
  • The Primacy of Doubt

  • From Quantum Physics to Climate Change, How the Science of Uncertainty Can Help Us Understand Our Chaotic World
  • By: Tim Palmer
  • Narrated by: Tim Palmer
  • Length: 9 hrs and 41 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (6 ratings)

£0.00 for first 30 days

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

The Primacy of Doubt

By: Tim Palmer
Narrated by: Tim Palmer
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £17.99

Buy Now for £17.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Summary

Why does your weather app say “there’s a 10 percent chance of rain” instead of “it will be sunny”? In large part, this is due to the insight of award-winning physicist Tim Palmer, who pioneered the introduction of uncertainty into weather and climate prediction.

Now, he wants to apply it to how we study everything else.

In The Primacy of Doubt, Palmer gives us a revolutionary vision of mathematical uncertainty that provides new insights into a range of practical problems and some of the deepest questions in science and philosophy. He draws connections that are in equal parts unexpected and fascinating: how ensemble forecasts can predict unpredictability, how the brain uses noise for creative thinking, how the geometry of chaos forces us to rewrite the laws of quantum mechanics, and in so doing reconciles determinism, free will, and moral responsibility.

A tour de force from a brilliant mind, The Primacy of Doubt shows that the fundamental law of the universe might just be to expect the unexpected.

©2022 Tim Palmer (P)2022 Recorded Books
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

Existential Physics cover art
Chaos cover art
The Edge of Knowledge cover art
Bernoulli's Fallacy cover art
I Am a Strange Loop cover art
The Righteous Mind cover art
Understanding Beliefs cover art
The Elephant in the Universe cover art
Emotional Ignorance cover art
Block by Block cover art
Imagined Life cover art
A Fortunate Universe cover art
The Contact Paradox cover art
The World According to Physics cover art
Alien Encounter cover art
Decoding Reality cover art

What listeners say about The Primacy of Doubt

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    3
  • 4 Stars
    3
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2
  • 4 Stars
    2
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2
  • 4 Stars
    2
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

The Primacy of Doubt is an intriguing book...

The Primacy of Doubt is an intriguing book which covers a lot of ground. I expect different parts will appeal quite differently to different people. Personally I found Part 1 excellent, Part 2 a little weaker and unfocused. I didn't get much out of the more speculative Part 3.

I think Palmer is fundamentally correct about the importance of ensembles and support his call for a more structured 'CERN' type approach to replace today's ensemble of opportunity wrt to climate modelling.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!