Before Einstein published his theory of special relativity, Isaac Newton’s view from centuries earlier was accepted as fact: that we live in a “clockwork universe” where time and space are constant. What Einstein first imagined, and what quantum physics later formulated, is the possibility that we operate in a multiverse—potentially an infinity of universes where different versions of our lives are playing out in ways both imaginable and unimaginable.

Astrophysicist Hakeem Oluseyi dives into this mystery—and why the universe we perceive is not the universe that actually exists. In trying to understand our deceptive universe, he examines spacetime, the illusion of mass, the large-scale structure of the universe, dark matter, and dark energy.

Oluseyi recently served as the space science education lead in the Space Mission Directorate at NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C., where he provided strategic leadership and management for the directorate’s investments in science education and communications.

Hakeem’s new book, A Quantum Life: My Unlikely Journey from the Street to the Stars (Ballantine Books) is available for purchase.

Book Sale Information

• Purchase your copy of A Quantum Life: My Unlikely Journey from the Street to the Stars by Hakeem Oluseyi here.
• Special Note: Politics and Prose is offering a 10% discount to Smithsonian Associates ticket-holders. To claim your discount, enter the code SPECIAL10 (no space between letters and numbers) in the “Coupon discount” section on Politics and Prose's check-out page.

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