“This Explains Everything”: Answers To How The World Works

The explanations will surprise you

I read this book a while back, and it is still a good nonfiction recommendation:

Basically, “This Explains Everything” is a compilation of answers given by contemporary thinkers (from philosophers to physicists, from psychologists to biologists) to the same question:

“What is a deep, beautiful, and elegant theory of how the world works?”

The answers vary greatly, with most being only a couple pages long. You don’t need to read all of them if you are not too interested in the particular field the contributor specializes in. For example, I missed quite a lot of physics and space-related answers.

Many thinkers were mentioning the Darwin’s theory of evolution and natural selection as their chosen theory.

Here are some of the theories and thoughts that caught my eye:

• Most importantly: the fact that an idea is “elegant” doesn’t necessarily make it better or more accurate, as it could potentially be a cognitive bias. Elegance and simplicity can be misleading.
• The theory of “dark matter” of the mind, first developed by Freud, suggests that most people live with a conflict between what they want and how they actually live. They repeat certain patterns, or act “irrationally” against their best interests (cognitive behavioral therapy works with “unlearning” those negative, learned patterns). Of course, it’s important to understand this concept in the context of modern psychology and psychiatry, not through Freud’s often outdated ideas.
• The theory explaining why certain type of turtles travels from Africa to South America every year (they began migrating when the continents were connected 🤯)
• The theory explaining how we really are what we do.

The book is at times harder to read, but again, it’s not necessary to read all the theories in it. Once you delve deeper in the book, it becomes truly fascinating as it helps see the world through other (scientists’) lenses.

It’s a good reminder to set aside daily problems and worries, and to reflect on our existence in a more philosophical way.

I never post book reviews without a beer recommendation. Books and beers – that’s what I do.

Today’s beer is a pale ale by a Düsseldorf brewery Olbermann which was pretty good!

I lived in Düsseldorf for nine years, and Germany is not particularly known for craft beers (given the local beer purity laws). To be fair, this has started to change in the recent years, with more local microbreweries emerging.

Olbermann pub is just in the center of Düsseldorf’s Old Town, so be sure to stop by if you visit this beautiful city on the Rhine!