How the Universe Got its Spots
When is a doughnut the same thing as a coffee cup? Is the universe infinite or just really big?
Janna Levin sets out to answer these questions and many more in her book How the Universe Got its Spots: Diary of a Finite Time in a Finite Space. She writes about important scientists and theories of complex geometries and strings – including a fantastic section where she makes use of Flatland by Edwin Abbott Abbott (discussed in one of our lectures).
But the book captivates primarily through the way the author goes about transmitting her message. The explanations of chaos and background radiation are thrown in amongst accounts of her personal life with its love woes and frequent relocations.
She also discusses how scientists are viewed (badly dressed, white lab coats and glasses) and is realistic about the degree of subjectivity innate in scientific research (theories “fall out of favour” or are “all the rage”). Actually the book itself renders a moving and accurate picture of what being a scientist is all about.
Although this book rides the popularity wave created by writer-physicists such as Stephen Hawking, it is very different in tone. Janna Levin succeeds in conveying the beauty of physics in a manner that is alternatingly poetic and wryly humorous. All this makes the book a lovely read for people interested in theoretical physics but put off by the degree of dry technical content in some popular science books.
Inspired? Buy the book or become a cosmologist yourself.
2 comments:
Alex, this really makes me want to read the book! Sounds like a great mix of the personal with head-twisting physics. I have a theory that personal accounts are the/a way forward in popular science - most people are interested in people, and stories about people. You only have to think of books like 'The Double Helix' to see how gripping autobiographical works can be.
I hope she also credits Kipling at some point for her title...
... we'll talk about "biographies" of popular science in a week or so in class, Sarah isn't the only person to have this theory :)
I remember reading bits of this book years ago when I first started studying pop sci, before it came out I think (our tutor must have had an advance copy) - it's been on my "to read" list ever since, but I never got around to it.
Didn't Levin spend some time at Imperial?
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