Just finished up The Elegant Universe -- a popular layperson's physics book by Brian Greene regarding superstring and M theory. Should have been called The Inelegant Universe for it's portrayal of mind numbingly complicated mathematics, 5 different versions of competing string theory (6 if you count supergravity), multiple dimensions wrapped up in tens of thousands of self-repairing Calabi-Yau shapes, and and overwhelming uncertainty at the Planck level that ironically leads one to become certain that they shouldn't waste any more of their life worrying about the big questions of physics. Such a shame. As a bona-fide physics geek the subject matter is near and dear to my heart, but Greene's attempt to popularize and generate excitement for the field of study seems to have gotten lost under the weight of the theory's vast complexity, inconsistencies and incompleteness. The book is about 25 years too early in my opinion. It's a shame it sold so well. I fear people wont get a sense from the book how exciting and fascinating the field of theoretical physics can be, and walk away from it more confused than they were when they went in -- thinking more about an irrelevant universe than an elegant one.
I'm also reading Light by M. John Harrison -- a pulpy sci-fi mystery involving a present day serial killer/scientist who is a trying to escape into a possible future where people and space ships are biologically and spiritually fused, where recreation involves spending time at tank farms in a deprivation chamber of sorts which allows you to create custom mental worlds, where people's consciousness can occupy made-to-order tailored physical shells in any shape or form they choose, and where shadow people -- unoccupied shells without consciousness -- walk the streets committing horrible violent acts. Not too bad so far. Actually, that's a lie. It's a bit of a rough read. It's somewhat bloated with self congratulatory futuristic terminology disguised as stylized narrative, and it jumps around between non-events far too haphazardly. Actually quantum electrodynamics makes more sense than this story does so far (apologies to the Harrison fans here). But I'm a good soldier. I keep plodding ahead despite my better judgment. Perhaps something extraordinary will yet happen that will change my mind.
Lastly, I've started reading The Curious Incident of the Dog and the Night-Time -- a lovely little book by Mark Haddon that takes the shape of a journal of a young savant investigating the death of a neighbor's dog. I just started this one, but so far it's very promising. It has wit, charm, wisdom and some genuine unforced sentiment. I can't really think of a better way to describe it than the way the Boston Globe does on the book's cover: "Gloriously eccentric and wonderfully intelligent." Well, "glorious" may be a bit overreaching, but perhaps I may agree with that by the time I finish.
So, yeah. It's been a long, cold, lonely winter so far, and that translates into quite a bit of reading. Gosh, I even read (rather skimmed) that god-awful idiot's guide to Foucault's Pendulum called The Da Vinci Code. Ugh. That just shows you how desperate I am to pass the time until Spring arrives. |
