Quick Take
- Narration: Robert Temple reads his own work with the authority of a researcher who spent decades at the frontier of this subject, though his academic delivery occasionally slows the pace.
- Themes: Plasma as the fourth state of matter, the possibility of plasma intelligence, fringe science meeting mainstream physics
- Mood: Dense but quietly mind-expanding, with flashes of genuine wonder
- Verdict: A serious and accessible introduction to plasma science that earns its more speculative claims by grounding them in decades of peer-reviewed research.
I came to A New Science of Heaven with some skepticism. The title sounds like the kind of fringe science that promises a paradigm shift and delivers circular reasoning. Within the first hour, that skepticism softened considerably. Robert Temple, the bestselling author who has collaborated with Nobel laureates including Paul Dirac and David Bohm, is not trafficking in speculation dressed as science. He is doing something more unusual and more interesting: bringing decades of serious plasma research to an audience that has never heard of it.
I finished the central chapters on a rainy afternoon when I had nothing pressing to do, which felt appropriate. This is not commute listening. The material demands a kind of relaxed attention. Temple makes connections between plasma physics, the Kordylewski Clouds discovered by Hungarian astronomers, biophotons, and the double-helix structures that plasma forms under certain conditions. Each connection is presented with specific citations and named scientists. He earns the speculative conclusions by working methodically through the established science first.
Our Take on A New Science of Heaven
The book’s central argument is this: plasma constitutes more than 99 percent of the observable universe, it has been the subject of serious Nobel Prize-winning research for decades, and yet it is almost entirely unknown to the general public. Temple spends the first third of the book correcting that absence. The science of plasma as the fourth state of matter, from which gases, liquids, and solids emerge, is presented clearly enough that someone with no physics background can follow along. That accessibility is one of Temple’s genuine skills as a writer.
Where the book becomes genuinely surprising is its survey of the conditions under which plasma exhibits behaviors that resemble life. Temple is careful with language here. He does not claim plasma is alive. He documents that clouds of plasma have been observed forming double helixes, banks of cells, filaments and junctions, and structures that could theoretically control the flow of electric currents. One reviewer noted that reading this made them reconsider everything they had previously absorbed from Buddhism, Kabbalah, and Daoism, finding that Temple’s plasma framework illuminates many of those traditions’ accounts of light and intelligence. That reading is exactly what Temple seems to intend, though he never forces the connection.
Why Listen to A New Science of Heaven
The audiobook format works particularly well for Temple’s writing style. He lectures, in the best sense of the word. There is a momentum to his explanations that rewards listening over reading. His twelve hours of material never feel padded because he is always adding a new piece of evidence or complicating an earlier claim. The accompanying PDF, available in the Audible library with the audiobook, is worth downloading before you begin. It contains supporting visual material that helps ground some of the plasma structure descriptions that are harder to picture from audio alone.
Temple narrates his own work, which some listeners will appreciate and others may find limiting. His voice is measured and precise rather than dramatically engaging. He sounds like what he is: a scholar in his seventies who has spent a long time thinking about these ideas and is now presenting them as carefully as possible. Reviewers describe the material as easy to digest for lay people, and that tracks. He avoids jargon without dumbing things down, which is a difficult balance to strike in science writing.
What to Watch For in A New Science of Heaven
The later chapters venture furthest from established science. Temple raises the possibility that plasma intelligence could represent a form of extraterrestrial life we have been looking for in entirely the wrong places. He also connects his plasma research to accounts of the Kordylewski Clouds, those enormous plasma formations hovering between Earth and the Moon that were only recently confirmed by astronomers. These sections are where listeners most disposed toward skepticism will feel the pull of resistance. Temple handles this well by making clear when he is reporting documented science and when he is proposing an interpretive framework.
One reviewer familiar with Russian scientific literature noted that Temple draws on untranslated Russian papers that never made it into English-language scientific media, which gives the book genuine archival value beyond its synthesis of English-language research. That sense of recovered knowledge, of important work that happened in the background while public attention was on relativity and quantum mechanics, gives the book something that feels less like a manifesto and more like a reclamation project.
Who Should Listen to A New Science of Heaven
This audiobook suits listeners who read popular science comfortably and want to be genuinely surprised by material they had no prior exposure to. It is not for those looking for confirmation of existing spiritual frameworks, though the philosophical resonances are real and Temple acknowledges them honestly. It is also not for those who need every claim proven beyond doubt before engaging with it. Temple presents strong evidence for the established science and clearly labeled hypothesis for the more speculative material. Listeners willing to hold both in tension will find this one of the more rewarding science audiobooks of recent years.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Robert Temple have legitimate scientific credentials for writing about plasma physics, or is this popular fringe science?
Temple’s credentials are genuine. He worked directly with Nobel laureates Paul Dirac and David Bohm, and co-authored an academic paper with Chandra Wickramasinghe. The book cites peer-reviewed research throughout, though the interpretive framework in later chapters moves beyond what any consensus would currently endorse.
Is the PDF companion document essential to understanding the audiobook?
Not essential, but genuinely useful. The PDF contains visual materials that help illustrate the plasma structures Temple describes, particularly the double-helix formations and cellular organizations. It is available for free in your Audible library when you purchase the audiobook.
How does this book handle the line between established plasma physics and more speculative claims about plasma intelligence?
Temple is disciplined about signaling when he moves from documented science to interpretive hypothesis. He reports what has been observed, names the scientists involved, and then frames his more speculative readings as possibilities rather than conclusions. Listeners who pay attention to these signals will find the progression intellectually honest.
Would this audiobook interest someone with a background in Eastern philosophy or comparative religion, or is it primarily for science readers?
Several reviewers with backgrounds in Buddhism, Kabbalah, and Daoism found Temple’s plasma framework unexpectedly illuminating for concepts like light and intelligence in those traditions. The book does not make those connections explicit, but it presents the physics in a way that invites them organically.
