The simple beauty of the unexpected

Renowned physicist and science communicator Marcelo Gleiser sets out to discover the meaning of things through fly fishing in this Jabuti Prize-winning book.

Marcelo Gleiser has been passionate about science and fishing since his childhood on the beaches of Rio de Janeiro. Now a world-renowned physicist, author of dozens of books and hundreds of articles published in leading science journals, he felt it was time to connect with nature in a less theoretical way.

After attending a fly-fishing class at Dartmouth College, where he teaches, he became interested in the practice and adopted it as a hobby. Traveling the world to attend scientific conferences and fishing wherever he goes, Gleiser reflects on the many ways physics influences fishing, how fishing serves as a mirror for the workings of nature, and how science deals with spirituality, mystery, and the things it cannot explain.

If you're not interested in fishing, don't worry. Keep reading. For the author, and therefore for this book, fishing is a portal that allows us to glimpse both the world of natural phenomena and our inner world, with its yearnings and passions. While some seek meaning in meditation, tea ceremonies, or archery, and others cross the country by bicycle or surf, Gleiser runs mountains and takes to rivers. The goal is the same: to achieve a contemplative peace that illuminates our steps and actions, expanding the meaning of our lives.

Intimate and engaging, The Simple Beauty of the Unexpected is a tribute to nature, an essay on the connection between man and planet Earth, and an exploration of the meaning of existence, from atoms to the cosmos, passing through trout.