First You Build a Cloud

April 12, 1999
Contemporary physicists believe in, and depend on, theories and objects that, according to Cole, are now and always will be "unseeable... untouchable, unmeasurable, and sometimes even unimaginable." How can they do so, and why do they have to? Cole's admirable, clear set of essays will help lay readers understand and appreciate the laws, methods and language of working physicists, and of scientists in general. Where many science explainers focus on particular theories and gee-whiz facts, this volume (a reworked and expanded version of Cole's Sympathetic Vibrations) grounds itself in everyday experience (Why is the sky blue?) and explores the territory philosophers and literary essayists share with experimental physicists. Drawing on previous thinkers and writers from Newton and Einstein to Annie Dillard (and in particular on physicist and writer Victor Weisskopf), Cole explains how science uses metaphors; why scientists use, and need, many "wrong" ideas; how physicists learn to "see" invisible particles; what makes a theory beautiful; and how to distinguish between a force field, a force and a pseudo-force. Later chapters take on such specific key concepts of physics as wave-particles, relativity, resonant frequencies and quantum theory. Cole (who did the same for math in her The Universe and the Teacup) to balance concrete explanation and literary appreciation. Demystifying her peers' complex theories, she shows at the same time how "even our view of strictly physical forces such as gravity can have a profound effect on the way we view ourselves."

May 1, 1999
Every new advance in knowledge changes the way we perceive the world. Physics and astronomy have moved humankind from the center of creation to a fringe, almost incidental, role. This must inevitably be reflected in our philosophy of life and its meaning. As a result, it becomes increasingly more difficult to draw the line between physics and metaphysics, and no one is more aware of this than researchers working at the frontiers of science. In this exposition, Los Angeles Times science writer Cole (The Universe and the Teacup: The Mathematics of Truth and Beauty, LJ 11/1/97) tries to show how such researchers think about the world and how our perceptions, language, and aesthetic senses shape our description of the universe. Her work is just specific enough to pique interest and imagination and perhaps to encourage the reader to delve more deeply into scientific literature.--Harold D. Shane, Baruch Coll., CUNY

Copyright 1999 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.