Longing for the Harmonies: Themes and Variations from Modern Physics

by Frank Wilczek and Betsy Devine

Book Overview

Devoted to sharing their own delight and awe before the fundamental mysteries of the cosmos, Frank Wilczek (winner of the 2004 Nobel Prize in Physics) and science writer Betsy Devine also have a serious purpose: to reveal to the lay reader how a heightened perception can respond to timeless themes of the physical universe. For example, they show that even the most exotic theories always confirm that physical laws are precisely the same throughout...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393024822
• ISBN13: 9780393024821
• Release Date: December 1987
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 1.61 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.0" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Great for promoting interest in Physics

This book is great for promoting interest in Physics. I still have not found a good book for children, but this is good for young people and adults. A cheap but excellent gift!!

A good time will be had by all.

Longing for the Harmonies is subtitled "Themes and variations from modern physics". I would have added "and beyond": I doubt there's another popularization of quantum mechanics and particle physics that also touches upon Keats, ancient Babylon and child psychology, to name but a few. The book actually strikes me as two intertwined books. First, there are the "preludes" which are thought-provoking excursions here, there and everywhere. At times they seem quite off the wall and impossibly far from fundamental physics, but they always whet the appetite for what's to come, a bit like (to use the musical analogy which is the book's main metaphor) a solo which seems out of place until it ties back into the main body of the song. Second, the "main body" of the book, although also laden with references and analogies from far and wide, exposes and (in so far as is possible!) demystifies quantum mechanics and fundamental physics in all its glory, both the large (cosmology and astrophysics) and the small (atoms and subatomic particles). The two domains, of course, are intimately related: the early Universe, devoid of complicated structures such as planets, stars and human beings, was a soup of elementary particles, and its evolution (and, perhaps, birth) was dictated by rules of the game established by particle physics. A review wouldn't be a review without at least a minor complaint; not an easy task with this book, but here is mine: the table of contents strikes me as a bit too cryptic. Chapter headings such as "Inevitability" or "Radical uniformity in microcosm" do little to explain what the chapter is about; more straightforward headings would probably help guide the reader through the grand tour they are on and help them get a sense of perspective of how the different subject inter-relate. Fortunately, the remaining three hundred-odd pages of the book are packed with enjoyable reading. Among the many, many gems in the book are a musical analogy of why particle physics doesn't obviate all of macroscopic physics, the "lave" concept (a combination of "lump" and "wave" descrbing the dual nature of matter), and a personal account of the discovery of a cornerstone of the interaction between quarks and gluons known as asymptotic freedom (for which one of the authors was co-recipient of the Nobel Prize in physics last year). But open the book just about anywhere and it's a good bet that you will find a fascinating take on something -- whether from particle physics or beyond. Give it a whirl!

always one of my favorites

This has long been one of my favorite expositions on the nature of science, written by scientists. Wilczek and Devine present one of the most creative and playful discussions of physics, from the basic to the forefront that I have seen. I am very happy that this book has been re-released because now many more people will have an opportunity to share the joy I had reading it.

Long for Harmony No More!

Longing for the Harmonies: That's what physicists do. This book, in fact, pretty much sums up what physics is, at heart, about: a search for connection and clarity, a series of variations on themes, the interplay of tension and release, mystery and discovery--the universe's own fugue. Frank Wilczek-who recently won the Nobel prize for puzzling out how quarks glom together-and Betsy Wilczek-writer, blogger, math whiz--have composed an entrancing work that captures both the substance and process of understanding.

_Longing for the Harmonies_ is a very good book.

_Longing for the Harmonies_ presents the highlights of physics in a way that is accessible to most readers. It is a graceful book that pleases as it informs. One of the authors, Frank Wilczek, is a leading physicist.