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Frank Close, OBE, is a Professor of Physics at Oxford University and a Fellow of Exeter College. In his new book, The Void Close tells the story of scientists’ efforts to understand the Void and in the process helps us understand that by seeking to understand the nature of the Void, we are confronting the enigma of why anything should exist at all. In the excerpt below Close looks at ancient conceptions of the Void.

The paradox of creation from the void, of Being and Non-Being, has tantalized all recorded cultures. As early as 1,700, years BC, the Creation Hymn of the Rigveda states that

There was neither non-existence nor existence then. There was neither the realm of space nor the sky which is beyond. What stirred? Where? (more…)

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We are having fun in the book class here in Sedona. And, gratefully, I think my big, nasty cold is finally dying out. Can you say Praise Dog! So, here's a fun little accordian book I made for class. (The teacher needs to have fun too, right?) Emma Lou Bangles, of course, was my model.

By Kirsty OUP-UK

What better way to find out about a book than to have the author themselves talk to you face-to-face about their book and how they came to write it? Alas, we aren’t yet quite technologically advanced enough to send Frank Close, Professor of Theoretical Physics at the University of Oxford, into each and every one of your homes, so I hope that this specially-recorded video of him talking about his new book The Void will be the next best thing.

So, can nothing really exist? Does nature really abhor a vacuum? Let Frank Close tell you himself… (more…)

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Rebecca OUP-US

People change jobs all the time, particularly in publishing, but this week someone who I have worked closely with since I started at OUP is leaving. I asked Dan Ozzi to do one last thing for before he left, write a blog entry. He choose to talk about one of his favorite artists who is featured in The Oxford Dictionary of American Art and Artists by Ann Lee Morgan. The dictionary is a wealth of information, with 945 alphabetically arranged entries contained in one-volume. Below are Dan’s thoughts on Chuck Close.

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