Stefan Klein (science author)

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Stefan Klein (2010)

Stefan Klein (born October 5, 1965 in Munich ) is a German-Austrian physicist , science journalist and non-fiction author .

Life

Klein grew up as the son of a chemist and a chemist. He studied physics and analytical philosophy in Munich, Grenoble and Freiburg im Breisgau and received his doctorate in Freiburg with a thesis on theoretical biophysics . From 1996 to 1999 he was the science editor at “ Spiegel ”, where he quickly made a name for himself with his science reports and numerous cover stories. In 1998 he received the Georg von Holtzbrinck Prize for Science Journalism . From 1999 to 2000 he was an editor at " Geo ". Since then he has been working as a freelance writer.

Klein is visiting professor for cultural studies at the Berlin University of the Arts .

In 2000 he came out with his book The Diaries of Creation , in 2002 the formula of happiness or how good feelings arise . Klein's works have been translated into more than 20 languages.

In 2015 he received the German Reading Prize in the category of readable science .

Klein is married to science journalist Alexandra Rigos and has two daughters and a son. He lives in Berlin .

plant

Happiness formula

The happiness formula or How good feelings are created examines the phenomenon of happiness from the perspective of brain research and social psychology . As is usual in neuropsychological research, “happiness” is understood as an emotion - that is, as a largely automatic and temporary reaction of the brain to an external or internal stimulus. (The philosophical literature, on the other hand, often defines the term "happiness" as a paraphrase for "successful life".)

Klein describes how the good feelings programmed by evolution are triggered and what they are used for: happiness, curiosity and learning are inseparable. With numerous research results, Klein believes he can prove the thesis that the brain can be trained in such a way that positive emotions are perceived more intensely and more frequently. In a final chapter on the "happy society", the social conditions that are conducive to life satisfaction are examined. The decisive factor here is not prosperity, but the greatest possible degree of justice, citizenship and self-determination for each individual.

As in all of his books, Klein describes his mostly complex topics in an easily understandable narrative tone; the language is ironic and sometimes funny. Set pieces from literature serve as examples and are intended to show how the question of happiness was approached in earlier eras. When describing current research results, an excessive amount of detail is dispensed with in order to allow the central concepts and ideas to emerge.

All coincidence

All coincidence revolves around the question of how much we can see of the world in which we live. Coincidence is a consequence of ignorance: processes appear as coincidental, behind which we do not recognize any rules, either because the relationships are too complex or because there are no rules at all. In certain processes (quantum physics, evolution), coincidence is part of every possible theoretical description. Von Klein uses many examples to describe where and how chance works. Klein spans a wide (in the opinion of some critics too wide) arc from physics to evolution , economics and politics to love. The second part of the extensive book deals with how people deal with chance. At the core of this is the knowledge from neuroscience that the brain must underestimate the role of chance because this is the only way it can acquire knowledge. According to Klein, this explains not only phenomena such as belief in fate, but also the often devastating assessment of risks in today's complex world; Examples are airplane disasters and other accidents, but also wrong life decisions. In the third part, Klein pleads for recognizing the importance of chance instead of fighting it, and for using the opportunities of an open society .

time

In time , Klein turns to the human sense of time . Klein analyzes the function of the body's biological clock, which regulates all processes in the organism to the second and thus prepares the stage for all our actions, but is not readable by consciousness. So people have to make a difference in order to divide their time: they need crutches like the clock and orient themselves to all sorts of time signals, such as their own breath or memory. Time is, as the FAZ wrote, "a single protest against the deeply unfair circumstance that unforgettable time rushes by while unbearable time treads on the spot". The author advocates a "new culture of the times". Because in modern society with its overabundance of stimuli and demands, more and more people feel that they are "slaves to strange watches". This new culture is intended to enable people in modern society to no longer see themselves as slaves to strange watches. By dealing with time based on the findings of brain research and neuropsychology, we could learn to experience ourselves again as creators of our own time.

The sense of giving

In The Sense of Giving: Why Selflessness Triumphs in Evolution and We Can't Get Any Further With Egoism , Klein deals with questions from the field of practical moral philosophy, which he tries to relate to modern social requirements. Klein is concerned with proving that not only egoism but also altruism is crucial for human societies and their advanced development. In this way he distinguishes himself from both the image of man in conventional economics (with the image of Homo Oeconomicus) and popular evolutionary psychology.

Works

  • The diaries of creation. From the big bang to the cloned human. dtv, Munich 2000; Fischer Taschenbuch, Frankfurt am Main 2009, ISBN 978-3-596-18069-1 .
  • The formula for happiness or how good feelings arise. Rowohlt, Reinbek near Hamburg 2002; Fischer Taschenbuch, Frankfurt am Main 2014, ISBN 978-3-596-18770-6 . ( No. 1 on the Spiegel bestseller list from October 7th to 13th, 2002 )
  • All coincidence. The power that determines our life. Rowohlt, Reinbek near Hamburg 2004; Paperback, ibid. 2005, ISBN 3-499-61596-7 .
  • Time. The stuff that life is made of. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2006; Paperback, ibid. 2008, ISBN 978-3-596-16955-9 .
  • Da Vinci's Legacy or How Leonardo Reinvented the World. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2008; Paperback, ibid. 2009, ISBN 978-3-596-17880-3 .
  • We are all stardust. Conversations with scientists about the mysteries of our existence. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2009; Paperback, ibid. 2010, ISBN 978-3-596-18070-7 .
  • The sense of giving. Why selflessness triumphs in evolution and why we don't get any further with egoism Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2010; Paperback, ibid. 2011, ISBN 978-3-596-17860-5 .
  • Dreams. A journey into our inner reality. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2014, ISBN 978-3-10-039615-0 .
  • “We could be immortal!” Conversations with scientists about the human mystery. Fischer Taschenbuch, Frankfurt am Main 2014, ISBN 978-3-596-19606-7 .
  • Just happy. The formula for happiness for every day. Fischer Taschenbuch, Frankfurt am Main 2014, ISBN 978-3-596-03082-8 (first 2004).
  • The all and the nothing. From the beauty of the universe . Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2017, ISBN 978-3-10-397261-0 .

Web links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ http://www.fr.de/kultur/literatur/stefan-klein-naturerkenntnis-bringt-einem-demut-bei-a-1378973,0#artpager-1378973-0
  2. ^ Biography Stefan Klein , Munzinger Archive , accessed January 20, 2015.
  3. ↑ S. Klein: The All and the Nothing. Frankfurt a. M. 2017. p. 40.
  4. ↑ UdK Berlin, Head of General Studies. Retrieved October 20, 2017 .
  5. ↑ Current award winners on the Deutscher Lesepreis website , accessed on January 20, 2015.
  6. ↑ Zeit Magazin 48/2009
personal data
SURNAME Small, Stefan
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German science journalist and non-fiction author
DATE OF BIRTH October 5, 1965
PLACE OF BIRTH Munich