When theoretical cosmologists speak of GUTs and TOEs, they’re not talking about anatomy. GUT is an acronym for Grand Unified Theory and TOE stands for Theory of Everything. These are just two fun facts in the fascinating book The End of Everything (Astrophysically Speaking) (Bookshop|Amazon) by Katie Mack, an assistant professor of physics at North Carolina State University. Don’t miss her moving poem and video “Disorientation.” This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “GUTs, Toes, and a View from the Cosmos”
You’re listening to A Way with Words, the show about language and how we use it.
I’m Grant Barrett.
And I’m Martha Barnette.
Grant, I’ve been reading a book in a field I know almost nothing about, and there’s a whole lot in this book about guts and toes.
You mean guts like my innards and toes like the little things at the end of my feet?
Actually, no.
Spelled the same way, G-U-T and T-O-E, but they’re acronyms.
Oh, acronyms. T-O-E, top of Everest. I don’t know. G-U-T, get under table. That’s earthquake advice, right? I don’t know. What is it? What are you learning about, Martha? It’s always something new.
This is a book about cosmology.
Gut is a physicist’s term for grand unified theory.
And Toe, T-O-E, you probably remember Stephen Hawking talking about this.
Yeah, I read his book when I was a kid.
Okay, yeah, The Theory of Everything.
Right, that makes perfect sense.
Yeah, this is a fascinating book.
It’s called The End of Everything, Astrophysically Speaking.
And it’s by Katie Mack, who is an assistant professor of physics at North Carolina State University.
And Katie Mack is a theoretical astrophysicist, which means that she studies cosmology seeking to understand the universe from its very beginning to its very end.
She’s trying to find fundamental truths about the way that the universe works.
And it’s a challenging book, but she’s an amiable nerd who’s endlessly fascinated by her topic.
She’s the scientist that you want to sit down next to at the pub and just let them rip.
Or be on an airplane with from coast to coast, right?
Sitting next to.
Yeah.
I once sat next to an obituary writer from the New York Times on an airplane.
It was one of the best flights I’ve ever had.
Oh, wow.
That’s really, it was really fantastic.
Oh, my gosh.
That is on my lifetime bingo card.
So you said the book was very challenging.
And I’m imagining that despite it being challenging, you’re finding all this language to latch onto.
And you’re kind of hopping from toadstool to toadstool, language to bit to language bit to kind of rescue you.
As I do, that’s exactly it, Grant.
So I do want to talk about that book a little bit more later in the show.
And I’d love to hear what you’re reading.
Oh, yeah.
I’d love to talk about what I’m reading, too.
And, you know, Martha and I would like to hear what you’re reading and what you think everyone else should be reading, too.
Or talk to us about anything related to language, words, speech, writing, literature, slang, new words, old words, or old expressions and new expressions.
Words@waywordradio.org or on Twitter @wayword.
