The Universe, Life and Everything

What is reality?
The book you are holding is about the way we view the world.1
It is about the way we understand reality: the world we live in,
our place in it and the universe around us.2
The way we view our
world is changing. There is a perceivable shift in the way people
(both scientists and non-scientists) think about it. Furthermore,
this is a necessary and timely shift. Our modern understanding
of reality dates back to the work of Descartes, Newton and
their contemporaries, some 350 years ago. It is the backbone
of modern-day, Western society and it has been a manifestly
successful way to understand the world around us, bringing us
science, industry and the Enlightenment, leading to spectacular
increases in wealth worldwide, allowing culture and society to
flourish. However, there are areas where our current scientific
world view falters. There are phenomena that it cannot explain,
as we will see further on. The premise of this book is that there
is a shift occurring in the way we understand reality.....