Night Thoughts of a Classical Physicist

Rating:
Summary: Not an easy read, but thought provoking.
Review: Did you know that before quantum physics or atomic physics, classical physics maintained that there was a world ether through which light waves traveled? I had no idea what the struggle this old physicist was having because I did't even know that what he was losing had ever existed. However, I learned a lot, not only about the history of physics, but about a German scientist's view of science and his home land. If you would like a challenge, try this one, but don't take it to the beach.

Rating:
Summary: trapped in shifting paradigms
Review: Victor Jakob, an aging German physicist in 1918 faces the destruction of Germany after World War I, but even more, tries to salvage something from the realization that his life's work has been in vain. He realizes that his personal search for the world-ether has been as hopeless as the Reich's effort at domination. After a century of living with the implications of quantum mechanics and general relativity, and in a time when string theory attempts to explain it all, it's difficult to understand the unsettling options that bewildered physicists at the turn of the century
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An interesting analogy is given by the old physicist, which takes even greater relevance with the discoveries in superstring theory that emerged after this book was written:
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This novel is sadly lyric and brings together musings on many fundamental themes.

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