Books Art and Beer

A trip to Tunbridge Wells yesterday to do three visits. Also had enough time to peruse Halls Bookshop again , and picked up a few bargains , particularly this one for 50 pence -



"Culture and Society in Britain 1850-1890" ed by J.M Golby (Oxford University Press)


 plus "The Renaissance In Europe, Courts Patrons And Poets" ed by David Mater (Yale University Press)

Both have been used as  textbooks for Open University arts courses.



On the way back had a few moments drinking beer at the Wetherspoons pub in Tonbridge. A pint of Thornbridge Jaipur ale (5.9 % ABV).

Missed the last 333 bus back from Maidstone by a minute due to the previous bus driver stopping five minutes at various bus stops to stay within his schedule , so it was much later than expected that I arrived back in the village. Arriva is one bus company i really do hate!

Book 31 - Lee Smolin "Three Roads To Quantum Gravity"

Lee Smolin "Three Roads To Quantum Gravity" (Phoenix) 





In the American TV series "The Big Bang Theory" Doctor Sheldon Cooper has a spat with Leslie Winkle when she completes a mathematical problem on his board when she sleeps with Leonard in their apartment. She is his nemesis as due to their conflicting scientific theories. Sheldon is an advocate of string theory whilst Leslie is a proponent of quantum loop gravity. This brings me nicely to the paperback on quantum loop gravity I have just finished.


Three Roads is Smolin's excellent overview of the landscape and issues involved in the pursuit of a quantum theory of gravity.

Rather than giving a hundred pages of history or dozens of 'nifty' side stories, Smolin hits a few brief points needed to understand the book and quickly moves into describing how black holes, loop quantum gravity, and string theory have appeared to lead the way in the search for the elusive gravitational theory.

Smolin is one of the pioneers of loop quantum gravity, but is fairly rare in that he has also worked with string theory during his career. His perspective on the competition of the two theories offers some hope for progress by way of synergy (though of course, this was published in 2001 and the lack of a solid theory of quantum gravity, as well as the title of his latest book, The Trouble With Physics: The Rise of String Theory, the Fall of a Science, and What Comes Next, leads me to believe he has lost his rose-colored glasses).

Unlike string theory books by Brian Greene, Michio Kaku and others, and especially unlike the bitter, sarcastic (and relatively boring) anti-string theory book by Peter Woit (titled Not Even Wrong), Smolin offers a very balanced, complimentary account of physics as it stood in 2001, much of which is still accurate and pertinent today.

The discussions of causality, black hole horizons and entropy, and the implication that space is quantized offer some well-articulated additions to the discussion of popular physics. Smolin doesn't weigh down this book with math or complex discussions of symmetry (unlike Woit). However, this book is not dumbed down for the average reader. You need some strong interest in science, and a basic understanding of physics in order to enjoy this book, but again, it isn't overwhelming or overly complex.

Later chapters cover loop quantum gravity, string theory, M-Theory (which was still extremely new at the time of publication), the holographic principle, and some meta discussions on the subject of anthropic arguments. I hope to find a more detailed presentation of loop quantum gravity, whether from Smolin or another physicist, because the discussion of the 'knots, links, and kinks' offered here is a summary and skips most of the details in favour of brevity and clarity.

This book really establishes the dynamics of physics as seen through Smolin's eyes as well as setting Smolin's own mindset.Highly recommended to the science junkie.