The Second Kind of Impossible: The Extraordinary Quest for a New Form of Matter By: Paul J Steinhardt

Author: Paul J. Steinhardt
Narrated by: Peter Larkin

One of the most fascinating scientific detective stories of the last 50 years, an exciting quest for a new form of matter. The Second Kind of Impossible plays like James Gleick’s Chaos combined with an Indiana Jones adventure. 

When leading Princeton physicist Paul Steinhardt began working in the 1980s, scientists thought they knew all the conceivable forms of matter. The Second Kind of Impossible is the story of Steinhardt’s 35-year-long quest to challenge conventional wisdom. It begins with a curious geometric pattern that inspires two theoretical physicists to propose a radically new type of matter – one that raises the possibility of new materials with never-before-seen properties but that violates laws set in stone for centuries. Steinhardt dubs this new form of matter “quasicrystal”. The rest of the scientific community calls it simply impossible. 

The Second Kind of Impossible captures Steinhardt’s scientific odyssey as it unfolds over decades, first to prove viability and then to pursue his wildest conjecture – that nature made quasicrystals long before humans discovered them. Along the way, his team encounters clandestine collectors, corrupt scientists, secret diaries, international smugglers, and KGB agents. Their quest culminates in a daring expedition to a distant corner of the Earth, in pursuit of tiny fragments of a meteorite forged at the birth of the solar system. 

Steinhardt’s discoveries chart a new direction in science. They not only change our ideas about patterns and matter but also reveal new truths about the processes that shaped our solar system. The underlying science is important, simple, and beautiful – and Steinhardt’s firsthand account is an engaging scientific thriller. 

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio. 

3.2M	00. Preface.mp3
21M	01. Impossible!.mp3
20M	02. The Penrose Puzzle.mp3
9.2M	03. Finding the Loophole.mp3
14M	04. A Tale of Two Laboratories.mp3
17M	05. Something Exciting to Show You.mp3
15M	06. Perfectly Impossible.mp3
9.0M	07. Did Nature Beat Us.mp3
7.2M	08. Luca.mp3
9.4M	09. Quasi-Happy New Year.mp3
9.3M	10. When You Say Impossible.mp3
17M	11. Blue Team vs. Red Team.mp3
12M	12. A Capricious If Not Overtly Malicious God.mp3
9.1M	13. The Secret Secret Diary.mp3
9.0M	14. Valery Kryachko.mp3
8.1M	15. Something Rare Surrounding Something Impossible.mp3
8.0M	16. Icosahedrite.mp3
21M	17. Lost.mp3
19M	18. Found.mp3
28M	19. Ninety-Nine Percent.mp3
6.3M	20. Beating the Odds.mp3
14M	21. L'Uomo Dei Miracoli.mp3
35M	22. Nature's Secret.mp3
315M	total