Not an easy read, but for those with at least some background in quantum mechanics and relativity, it should prove both...
Authors Bach and Belardo use Einstein’s Theories of Relativity and quantum physics to establish a philosophical paradigm they say will lead to hope and happiness for mankind.
The book opens with a rather perplexing prologue, preface and introduction. These sections confound, in part, because of an inherent paradox. They continually use the terms “unthinkable” and “unspeakable,” without explaining what, precisely, is unimaginable or unsayable. Fortunately, clarity rules once the science begins—no small task considering the subject matter. It turns out that the unthinkable, unspeakable things are the implications of the Theories of Relativity, constructs that thwart our brains and mouths. This is dense stuff, but basically, quantum experiments have demonstrated that two particles can confer information instantaneously across any distance and time frame. Since this violates Einstein’s Theories of Relativity by exceeding the speed of light, scientists, including Einstein, began a debate that rages to the present. Without getting into that argument, which is not really covered in the book, the authors posit that relativity is not being violated. Einstein’s famous equation, E=mc2, they say, demonstrates that at the speed of light, all of space-time equals zero and in fact all information of the past, present and future, equals infinite and, therefore, exists as a single inseparable point, a realm they call nospacetime, nonlocality and an information singularity. Since all things are one in nospacetime, the information has not traveled any distance at all. The authors then attempt to make the leap to philosophy by postulating that somehow the knowledge of this oneness of all things on the nonlocal level will in itself change mankind’s wicked ways. As with most leaps from science to values and beliefs, their assumptions are not necessarily on a par with their scientific ones.
Not an easy read, but for those with at least some background in quantum mechanics and relativity, it should prove both fascinating and enlightening on a scientific level, even if the promised salvation of the human race falls somewhat short.Pub Date: Aug. 10, 2012
ISBN: 978-1470026134
Page Count: 150
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Dec. 18, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A quirky wonder of a book.
A Peabody Award–winning NPR science reporter chronicles the life of a turn-of-the-century scientist and how her quest led to significant revelations about the meaning of order, chaos, and her own existence.
Miller began doing research on David Starr Jordan (1851-1931) to understand how he had managed to carry on after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake destroyed his work. A taxonomist who is credited with discovering “a full fifth of fish known to man in his day,” Jordan had amassed an unparalleled collection of ichthyological specimens. Gathering up all the fish he could save, Jordan sewed the nameplates that had been on the destroyed jars directly onto the fish. His perseverance intrigued the author, who also discusses the struggles she underwent after her affair with a woman ended a heterosexual relationship. Born into an upstate New York farm family, Jordan attended Cornell and then became an itinerant scholar and field researcher until he landed at Indiana University, where his first ichthyological collection was destroyed by lightning. In between this catastrophe and others involving family members’ deaths, he reconstructed his collection. Later, he was appointed as the founding president of Stanford, where he evolved into a Machiavellian figure who trampled on colleagues and sang the praises of eugenics. Miller concludes that Jordan displayed the characteristics of someone who relied on “positive illusions” to rebound from disaster and that his stand on eugenics came from a belief in “a divine hierarchy from bacteria to humans that point[ed]…toward better.” Considering recent research that negates biological hierarchies, the author then suggests that Jordan’s beloved taxonomic category—fish—does not exist. Part biography, part science report, and part meditation on how the chaos that caused Miller’s existential misery could also bring self-acceptance and a loving wife, this unique book is an ingenious celebration of diversity and the mysterious order that underlies all existence.
A quirky wonder of a book.Pub Date: April 14, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5011-6027-1
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 1, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2020
Solid data and reasoned conjecture strike a harmonious balance in a new SETI.
A jocular title does not even hint at the real wonders of this cook’s tour of alien life.
Astrophysicist Frank, author of Light of the Stars and The Constant Fire, has been obsessed with the idea of extraterrestrial life since childhood. After years of dreaming about exploring the cosmos for signs of intelligent life, he and other scientists are on the threshold of a new era of unprecedented discovery in the field of astrobiology. He details not only recent revelations in the detection of exoplanets, but also the search for technosignatures, indicators of technologically advanced species on worlds light years distant. These are not merely elements of science fiction. They are realities now within human reach thanks to the continuing development of ultra-powerful telescopes and to the sea change in a scientific culture that once scoffed at the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). Frank’s enthusiasm is contagious, occasionally over-exuberant, and there is plenty of hard science in this survey, which the author presents with economy and accessibility. The book brims with fascinating facts and speculations, from the particulars of astrobiology to Dyson spheres. Frank’s cosmic tour makes stops at such milestones as the Fermi Paradox and the Drake Equation, showing how these 1950s advances continue to inform our thinking about the possibility of technological civilizations. The author also recounts the origins and current manifestations of the UFO craze and how the advancement of actual science has been impeded by 70 years of pop culture images that haunt our collective expectations. Frank advises we look for alien life where it most likely exists: deep space. He also stresses the key point that we have only begun to peer into the universe with instruments capable of breakthrough discoveries, a useful riposte to critics of the effort. Throughout, Frank champions the importance of demanding standards of evidence: “They are, literally, why science works.”
Solid data and reasoned conjecture strike a harmonious balance in a new SETI.Pub Date: Nov. 21, 2023
ISBN: 9780063279735
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023
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