A passionate but disconnected treatise whose adversarial tone makes for an ultimately unpleasant reading experience.
A physicist argues for one of Albert Einstein’s abandoned ideas in this defense of a road less traveled.
Unzicker’s (The Higgs Fake, 2013) stated primary thesis is to examine a concept that Einstein originally incorporated into his work on relativity, but later abandoned: a variable speed of light. The author argues that if one considers it as a variable, rather than a constant, the role of gravity in modeling the universe becomes a much simpler one. To support his arguments, Unzicker offers alternative explanations for several phenomena that have been used to bolster Einstein’s theory, such as English physicist Arthur Eddington’s famous observations of gravitational lensing. He also works to explain his ideas in simple, clear language. However, these efforts eventually lead the author to what appears to be his actual thesis: his dissatisfaction with the current state of modern physics and its focus on mathematical abstractions instead of visually comprehensible ideas. Einstein famously used easily diagrammed train simulations to picture and explain his theories, and Unzicker asserts that this mode of thinking is missing from modern physics, to its detriment. Overall, the author’s ideas are engaging and he presents them well. Although he doesn’t make a compelling argument for the correctness of a variable light-speed, he does succeed in framing his questions and explaining his reasoning in clear, relatively simple terms. However, his insistence on attacking the “groupthink” of the scientific community and his criticism of mathematical models over more intuitive practices becomes overly insistent. It detracts from the inherent appeal of the underlying concepts and turns an examination of one of Einstein’s unheralded ideas into a screed against the scientific establishment.
A passionate but disconnected treatise whose adversarial tone makes for an ultimately unpleasant reading experience.Pub Date: Nov. 28, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-5194-7343-1
Page Count: 236
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Feb. 7, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
The Johnstown Flood was one of the greatest natural disasters of all time (actually manmade, since it was precipitated by a wealthy country club dam which had long been the source of justified misgivings). This then is a routine rundown of the catastrophe of May 31st, 1889, the biggest news story since Lincoln's murder in which thousands died. The most interesting incidental: a baby floated unharmed in its cradle for eighty miles.... Perhaps of local interest-but it lacks the Lord-ly touch.
Pub Date: March 18, 1968
ISBN: 0671207148
Page Count: 312
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1968
IN THE NEWS
A media-savvy scientist cleans out his desk.
Tyson (Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, 2017, etc.) receives a great deal of mail, and this slim volume collects his responses and other scraps of writing.
The prolific science commentator and bestselling author, an astrophysicist at the American Museum of Natural History, delivers few surprises and much admirable commentary. Readers may suspect that most of these letters date from the author’s earlier years when, a newly minted celebrity, he still thrilled that many of his audience were pouring out their hearts. Consequently, unlike more hardened colleagues, he sought to address their concerns. As years passed, suspecting that many had no interest in tapping his expertise or entering into an intelligent give and take, he undoubtedly made greater use of the waste basket. Tyson eschews pure fan letters, but many of these selections are full of compliments as a prelude to asking advice, pointing out mistakes, proclaiming opposing beliefs, or denouncing him. Readers will also encounter some earnest op-ed pieces and his eyewitness account of 9/11. “I consider myself emotionally strong,” he writes. “What I bore witness to, however, was especially upsetting, with indelible images of horror that will not soon leave my mind.” To crackpots, he gently repeats facts that almost everyone except crackpots accept. Those who have seen ghosts, dead relatives, and Bigfoot learn that eyewitness accounts are often unreliable. Tyson points out that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, so confirmation that a light in the sky represents an alien spacecraft requires more than a photograph. Again and again he defends “science,” and his criteria—observation, repeatable experiments, honest discourse, peer review—are not controversial but will remain easy for zealots to dismiss. Among the instances of “hate mail” and “science deniers,” the author also discusses philosophy, parenting, and schooling.
A media-savvy scientist cleans out his desk.Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-324-00331-1
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: Sept. 1, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2019
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