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jazzy_daveFrank Wilczek "A Beautiful Question: Finding Nature's Deep Design" (Penguin)
While the "question" Wilczek explores in this book is a compelling one, its pull is somewhat diminished by the foregone nature of the book's conclusion: Wilczek himself declares that quantum theory is a "definite answer 'yes'" just 8 pages in. With the drama of the hunt somewhat deflated by this bizarre spoiler, Beautiful Question goes from the advertised quest to something more like a meditation on the remarkable ability of scientists, from Pythagoras to Einstein, to uncover layer after layer of the stunning structure and complex design. And that journey, moving less towards beauty than into it, is a hypnotic and illuminating one -- more than once I found myself meaning to polish off a chapter only to lookup more than an hour later having gotten through hundreds of years of scientific progress.
That said, as a contemplation, the book does often fails to live up to its promise. The prose is efficient but far from stunning, and too often seems wrapped up in its own satisfaction with possessing what it presents as "the answer." Many sections are frustratingly vague; the book seems stuck somehow between popular science and a legitimate exploration of the issues, often bringing up advanced topics I had never heard of (such as the "Platonic" structures of many algae and viruses) but only skimming the surface of an actual explanation. On the other hand, I'm sure that I would have been lost or irritated had Wilczek gone too crazy with details that didn't interest me, and there are a few times (such as an exploration of Pythagorean acoustics) where he strikes just the right balance of economy and depth - just the amount needed to appreciate the genuine structure of a given phenomenon, without too badly taxing the attention of a less-interested reader.
Overall, the book is a beautiful mess -- replete with joy, excitement, and yes, beauty, even as it ultimately fails as a narrative or an argument. Probably read best not as a single piece, but rather as a source of extended meditations on great realizations from the first geometry to the wildest dreams of modern physicists. As an ode to the (often-underrated) ways in which science can be good for the soul, it succeeds; it may not convince you that the universe is beautiful for any reason, but it should at least remind you that, yes, it's probably worth looking around once in a while.
While the "question" Wilczek explores in this book is a compelling one, its pull is somewhat diminished by the foregone nature of the book's conclusion: Wilczek himself declares that quantum theory is a "definite answer 'yes'" just 8 pages in. With the drama of the hunt somewhat deflated by this bizarre spoiler, Beautiful Question goes from the advertised quest to something more like a meditation on the remarkable ability of scientists, from Pythagoras to Einstein, to uncover layer after layer of the stunning structure and complex design. And that journey, moving less towards beauty than into it, is a hypnotic and illuminating one -- more than once I found myself meaning to polish off a chapter only to lookup more than an hour later having gotten through hundreds of years of scientific progress.
That said, as a contemplation, the book does often fails to live up to its promise. The prose is efficient but far from stunning, and too often seems wrapped up in its own satisfaction with possessing what it presents as "the answer." Many sections are frustratingly vague; the book seems stuck somehow between popular science and a legitimate exploration of the issues, often bringing up advanced topics I had never heard of (such as the "Platonic" structures of many algae and viruses) but only skimming the surface of an actual explanation. On the other hand, I'm sure that I would have been lost or irritated had Wilczek gone too crazy with details that didn't interest me, and there are a few times (such as an exploration of Pythagorean acoustics) where he strikes just the right balance of economy and depth - just the amount needed to appreciate the genuine structure of a given phenomenon, without too badly taxing the attention of a less-interested reader.
Overall, the book is a beautiful mess -- replete with joy, excitement, and yes, beauty, even as it ultimately fails as a narrative or an argument. Probably read best not as a single piece, but rather as a source of extended meditations on great realizations from the first geometry to the wildest dreams of modern physicists. As an ode to the (often-underrated) ways in which science can be good for the soul, it succeeds; it may not convince you that the universe is beautiful for any reason, but it should at least remind you that, yes, it's probably worth looking around once in a while.
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