A further exploration of a theory of physics that reinterprets light through a new paradigm.
In this follow-up to A New Light on the Expanding Universe (2010), Hardison (Why Edward Morley Didn't Win the Nobel Prize in Physics, 2014, etc.) expands on his contention that the speed of light isn’t a fixed, measurable quantity, as most physicists have believed for more than a century, and that, as a result, modern physics has produced a faulty portrait of the universe, based on a misunderstanding of the fundamental nature of light and matter. The book further explores the implications of light as an instantaneous transfer of energy from one atom to another and the resulting reinterpretation of experimental observations of eclipses, background radiation, and galactic movement. As in the previous work, Hardison presents a highly technical discussion of his subject, with hundreds of equations and dozens of tables and diagrams throughout the text. Although the math requires a degree of expertise, the narrative is clean and coherent, explaining complex topics without hyperbole or jargon and often with a touch of humor. “I really don’t believe in photons anymore,” Hardison explains at one point, and a later chapter deals with “neutrons, which are ubiquitous but don’t seem to have much purpose in life.” In the book’s final chapters, he attempts to engage with critics of his earlier work but acknowledges the fundamental problem of evaluating his contentions: “All of my theoretical calculations seem to produce essentially the same results as the widely accepted theories.” Without data to validate the theories discussed in the book, readers will be able to join in Hardison’s thought experiment but they won’t come away with a definitive answer to the nature of the universe. Physics students won’t find this book a replacement for their classroom texts, but readers with a knowledge of the mathematics involved in Hardison’s arguments will still find it an engaging—if not conclusive—argument for examining established physics from a new perspective. More about a new theory of physics that challenges accepted science regarding the building blocks of the universe.
Pub Date: March 8, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4917-7860-9
Page Count: 236
Publisher: iUniverse
Review Posted Online: May 25, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Jahren transcends both memoir and science writing in this literary fusion of both genres.
Award-winning scientist Jahren (Geology and Geophysics/Univ. of Hawaii) delivers a personal memoir and a paean to the natural world.
The author’s father was a physics and earth science teacher who encouraged her play in the laboratory, and her mother was a student of English literature who nurtured her love of reading. Both of these early influences engrossingly combine in this adroit story of a dedication to science. Jahren’s journey from struggling student to struggling scientist has the narrative tension of a novel and characters she imbues with real depth. The heroes in this tale are the plants that the author studies, and throughout, she employs her facility with words to engage her readers. We learn much along the way—e.g., how the willow tree clones itself, the courage of a seed’s first root, the symbiotic relationship between trees and fungi, and the airborne signals used by trees in their ongoing war against insects. Trees are of key interest to Jahren, and at times she waxes poetic: “Each beginning is the end of a waiting. We are each given exactly one chance to be. Each of us is both impossible and inevitable. Every replete tree was first a seed that waited.” The author draws many parallels between her subjects and herself. This is her story, after all, and we are engaged beyond expectation as she relates her struggle in building and running laboratory after laboratory at the universities that have employed her. Present throughout is her lab partner, a disaffected genius named Bill, whom she recruited when she was a graduate student at Berkeley and with whom she’s worked ever since. The author’s tenacity, hope, and gratitude are all evident as she and Bill chase the sweetness of discovery in the face of the harsh economic realities of the research scientist.
Jahren transcends both memoir and science writing in this literary fusion of both genres.Pub Date: April 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-101-87493-6
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Jan. 4, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
As much a work of philosophy as of physics and full of insights for readers willing to work hard.
Undeterred by a subject difficult to pin down, Italian theoretical physicist Rovelli (Reality Is Not What It Seems: The Journey to Quantum Gravity, 2017, etc.) explains his thoughts on time.
Other scientists have written primers on the concept of time for a general audience, but Rovelli, who also wrote the bestseller Seven Brief Lessons on Physics, adds his personal musings, which are astute and rewarding but do not make for an easy read. “We conventionally think of time,” he writes, “as something simple and fundamental that flows uniformly, independently from everything else, uniformly from the past to the future, measured by clocks and watches. In the course of time, the events of the universe succeed each other in an orderly way: pasts, presents, futures. The past is fixed, the future open….And yet all of this has turned out to be false.” Rovelli returns again and again to the ideas of three legendary men. Aristotle wrote that things change continually. What we call “time” is the measurement of that change. If nothing changed, time would not exist. Newton disagreed. While admitting the existence of a time that measures events, he insisted that there is an absolute “true time” that passes relentlessly. If the universe froze, time would roll on. To laymen, this may seem like common sense, but most philosophers are not convinced. Einstein asserted that both are right. Aristotle correctly explained that time flows in relation to something else. Educated laymen know that clocks register different times when they move or experience gravity. Newton’s absolute exists, but as a special case in Einstein’s curved space-time. According to Rovelli, our notion of time dissolves as our knowledge grows; complex features swell and then retreat and perhaps vanish entirely. Furthermore, equations describing many fundamental physical phenomena don’t require time.
As much a work of philosophy as of physics and full of insights for readers willing to work hard.Pub Date: May 18, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-7352-1610-5
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Riverhead
Review Posted Online: April 2, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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