An idiosyncratic mishmash of science and religion that’s neither intellectually compelling nor spiritually uplifting.
A grandiose treatise that ponders the laws of physics, the history of the cosmos, the nature of God and the fate of mankind.
Sagar, an engineer, styles this tome as a kind of “autobiography” of his existence, starting with the formation of his constituent subatomic particles, but it’s more of a rambling tour of readings and musings in physics and philosophy. It begins with a brief, engaging account of cosmology from the Big Bang through the evolution of life. The book then turns to more involved (and less successful) explorations of advanced physics, including the mysteries of Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle, “quantum entanglement” and the relativistic paradoxes of travel near the speed of light. Sagar’s explications of these difficult topics are haphazard, sketchy and often hard to follow, and he freely admits to not fully understanding them himself. The book’s sixth chapter comprises a fanciful “seminar” of great thinkers—from Immanuel Kant to Albert Einstein to contemporary physicist Freeman Dyson—that reprints lengthy excerpts of their philosophical writings, and this material is sometimes stimulating. However, much of it will be indigestible and baffling to lay readers. All this background sets up a section on Sagar’s own philosophical speculations, which mix such topics as the anthropic principle—which says that fundamental constants must be able to support the life-forms that observe them—with the quantum mechanics mysticism popularized by Fritjof Capra’s 1975 book The Tao of Physics. Sagar theorizes that God is an abstract “all intelligent omnipresent…infinite mind”; that humans may eventually merge into the divine “Superconsciousness” and change the fundamental constants in order to forestall the death of the present universe and create a new one; and that our main task is to avoid blowing ourselves up in the next few centuries—a disaster that Sagar considers a near-certainty unless everyone works for world peace. The book’s pensées aren’t especially original or deep, and it supports them less with clear arguments than with erudite gobbledygook (“So, you rely on the strong Leibniz principle and a rough estimate on sizes of abstractly possible universes in order to settle a metaphysical dispute that is at least as undecidable with finitist means as the fine structure of the Cantor set?”). Overall, the book presents a theory of everything that could put almost any seminar room to sleep.
An idiosyncratic mishmash of science and religion that’s neither intellectually compelling nor spiritually uplifting.Pub Date: Jan. 21, 2014
ISBN: 978-1492828907
Page Count: 254
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: April 14, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An intriguing meditation on the nature of the universe and our attempts to understand it that should appeal to both...
Italian theoretical physicist Rovelli (General Relativity: The Most Beautiful of Theories, 2015, etc.) shares his thoughts on the broader scientific and philosophical implications of the great revolution that has taken place over the past century.
These seven lessons, which first appeared as articles in the Sunday supplement of the Italian newspaper Sole 24 Ore, are addressed to readers with little knowledge of physics. In less than 100 pages, the author, who teaches physics in both France and the United States, cogently covers the great accomplishments of the past and the open questions still baffling physicists today. In the first lesson, he focuses on Einstein's theory of general relativity. He describes Einstein's recognition that gravity "is not diffused through space [but] is that space itself" as "a stroke of pure genius." In the second lesson, Rovelli deals with the puzzling features of quantum physics that challenge our picture of reality. In the remaining sections, the author introduces the constant fluctuations of atoms, the granular nature of space, and more. "It is hardly surprising that there are more things in heaven and earth, dear reader, than have been dreamed of in our philosophy—or in our physics,” he writes. Rovelli also discusses the issues raised in loop quantum gravity, a theory that he co-developed. These issues lead to his extraordinary claim that the passage of time is not fundamental but rather derived from the granular nature of space. The author suggests that there have been two separate pathways throughout human history: mythology and the accumulation of knowledge through observation. He believes that scientists today share the same curiosity about nature exhibited by early man.
An intriguing meditation on the nature of the universe and our attempts to understand it that should appeal to both scientists and general readers.Pub Date: March 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-399-18441-3
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Riverhead
Review Posted Online: Dec. 7, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A magnificent account of a central reality of our times, incorporating deep scientific expertise, broad political and social knowledge, and ethical insight, and Idled with beautifully written biographical sketches of the men and women who created nuclear physics. Rhodes describes in detail the great scientific achievements that led up to the invention of the atomic bomb. Everything of importance is examined, from the discovery of the atomic nucleus and of nuclear fission to the emergence of quantum physics, the invention of the mass-spectroscope and of the cyclotron, the creation of such man-made elements as plutonium and tritium, and implementation of the nuclear chain reaction in uranium. Even more important, Rhodes shows how these achievements were thrust into the arms of the state, which culminated in the unfolding of the nuclear arms race. Often brilliantly, he records the rise of fascism and of anti-Semitism, and the intensification of nationalist ambitions. He traces the outbreak of WW II, which provoked a hysterical rivalry among nations to devise the bomb. This book contains a grim description of Japanese resistance, and of the horrible psychological numbing that caused an unparalleled tolerance for human suffering and destruction. Rhodes depicts the Faustian scale of the Manhattan Project. His account of the dropping of the bomb itself, and of the awful firebombing that prepared its way, is unforgettable. Although Rhodes' gallery of names and events is sometimes dizzying, his scientific discussions often daunting, he has written a book of great drama and sweep. A superb accomplishment.
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1986
ISBN: 0684813785
Page Count: 932
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1986
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