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caroline16's review against another edition
3.0
My understanding of physics is nearly nonexistent, and this is a book that can get fairly detailed. But the author is successful in conveying his sense of wonder and I was able to glean some knowledge about the history of physics and the advances in research from Plato to this day. Some very nice illustrations. However I was disappointed to learn that he is a believer in multiverses, which I have read there is no evidence for.
blckngld18's review against another edition
3.0
learned alot but also felt very stupid. so hard to wrap my brain around how intelligent some people are...fascinating though
taylorevansen's review against another edition
3.0
The reason I gave this book only 3 stars is entirely due to my own familiarity (or lack thereof) with the subject matter. There were large sections where I felt bogged down by details and I sometimes felt like I was pushing through without absorbing much.
If you can resist the urge to fully understand every concept mentioned, this is an interesting read that walks you through developments in physics with a lens of beauty. You can tell the author is passionate about his work. He injects a fair amount of humor and a tremendous amount of wonder into his writing on the subject. While I may not have comprehended every idea found within, this book stimulated my curiosity and made me marvel at the inner workings of all that is around us.
If you can resist the urge to fully understand every concept mentioned, this is an interesting read that walks you through developments in physics with a lens of beauty. You can tell the author is passionate about his work. He injects a fair amount of humor and a tremendous amount of wonder into his writing on the subject. While I may not have comprehended every idea found within, this book stimulated my curiosity and made me marvel at the inner workings of all that is around us.
davidr's review against another edition
5.0
The beautiful question is, whether the laws of physics are based on beauty; are they simple, symmetric, proportioned and economical. Wilczek is a Nobel-Prize winner in physics. Regardless of whether physics is based on beauty, Wilczek has written a beautiful book. His style of writing is excellent, and the book is graced with plenty of engrossing diagrams and color illustrations.
The earliest astronomers tried to make the orbits of the planets simpler than they actually are. They tried to make their orbits fit into the so-called Platonic solids. Then they tried to make their orbits fit into circles. When observations did not fit this idea, they made circles upon circles, and unnecessary complicated the orbits. It wasn't until Newton saw that gravity affects both objects on Earth as well as the planets, that the orbits could be determined from a simple physical law. The law states that gravitation is proportional to the masses of the objects and inversely proportional to the square of their distance.
Wilczek traces the idea of symmetry into all of the realms of physics; special and general relativity, electro-magnetism, and quantum mechanics. He shows how Maxwell completed his famous set of equations by assuming a degree of symmetry, and correctly found that electromagnetic waves travel at the speed of light. To this day, Maxwell's equations serve as the basic laws of electricity and magnetism.
My favorite chapter is about Emmy Noether, a mathematician with deep insights into physics. She was discriminated against because she was a woman, so she worked without pay. As the Nazis came to power, she emigrated to the United States. She proved a remarkable theorem; each law of conservation in physics can be derived from a basic concept of symmetry. So, for example, she showed why there are a basic laws of conservation of energy and momentum; she showed that it these laws are equivalent to stating that the laws of physics are invariant in time and space. Wilczek calls this the most profound idea in all of physics. And many prominent mathematicians and physicists have said that Noether was the most important of all women mathematicians.
Toward the end of the book, Wilczek describes the alphabet soup of fundamental particles. He shows the symmetries in their existence and properties, in certain respects. However, many of the particles do not really abide by symmetries, though this may simply be because of our present-day lack of full understanding.
The earliest astronomers tried to make the orbits of the planets simpler than they actually are. They tried to make their orbits fit into the so-called Platonic solids. Then they tried to make their orbits fit into circles. When observations did not fit this idea, they made circles upon circles, and unnecessary complicated the orbits. It wasn't until Newton saw that gravity affects both objects on Earth as well as the planets, that the orbits could be determined from a simple physical law. The law states that gravitation is proportional to the masses of the objects and inversely proportional to the square of their distance.
Wilczek traces the idea of symmetry into all of the realms of physics; special and general relativity, electro-magnetism, and quantum mechanics. He shows how Maxwell completed his famous set of equations by assuming a degree of symmetry, and correctly found that electromagnetic waves travel at the speed of light. To this day, Maxwell's equations serve as the basic laws of electricity and magnetism.
My favorite chapter is about Emmy Noether, a mathematician with deep insights into physics. She was discriminated against because she was a woman, so she worked without pay. As the Nazis came to power, she emigrated to the United States. She proved a remarkable theorem; each law of conservation in physics can be derived from a basic concept of symmetry. So, for example, she showed why there are a basic laws of conservation of energy and momentum; she showed that it these laws are equivalent to stating that the laws of physics are invariant in time and space. Wilczek calls this the most profound idea in all of physics. And many prominent mathematicians and physicists have said that Noether was the most important of all women mathematicians.
Toward the end of the book, Wilczek describes the alphabet soup of fundamental particles. He shows the symmetries in their existence and properties, in certain respects. However, many of the particles do not really abide by symmetries, though this may simply be because of our present-day lack of full understanding.
daaan's review against another edition
2.0
Probably a good book but I wasn't interested enough to reach the conclusion. The physics kept ramping up and I couldn't help asking myself what I possibly could gain from it. So I put it down and it's likely to stay that way.
bplache's review
reflective
slow-paced
2.0
I started reading with expectations that were quickly dashed. In my view, this is a very personal search for meaning or beauty in the work/world of physics. It certainly did not work for me, since the premise does not seem valid to me. I also was trying to find a thread, but ended up with many loosely connected observations, which - in my view - a subjective selection of bits and pieces, and where another selection would have given a different picture. - Too subjective for my taste.
sebbie's review against another edition
3.0
I initially got a "zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance" vibe from this, even though it ended up in a different direction, I liked it. I preferred the first half over the second personally