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The Quest for Unity: The Adventure of Physics
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by Etienne Klein, Marc Lachieze-Rey, and Axel Reisinger
Sales Rank: 2044128
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List Price: $45.00
$45.00
At Amazon
on 12-6-2008
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Hardcover: 176 pages
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; 1 edition May 13, 1999
Language: English
ISBN-10: 019512085X
ISBN-13: 978-0195120851
Product Dimensions:
9.6 x 6.4 x 0.7 inches
Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
From Publishers Weekly
According to French physicists Klein and Lachi?ze-Rey, the desire to find similarities among seemingly disparate phenomena has long formed the backbone of scientific inquiry. To prove their point, the authors survey historyAfrom the ancient Greek fascination with primordial elements to today's search for the Theory of EverythingAto demonstrate the integral role of unity to the scientific method. Throughout the book, they exhibit an unusual ability to honor the claims of both holists, who see reductionism as a form of life-denying asceticism, and zealots, who believe the universe can be described in four equations. However, the authors themselves often fail to properly balance the abstract and the specific. Many of the book's sections are too cursory and lack all-important context, so they only make sense to readers already familiar with the field. Typical of this problem is the discussion of the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen paradox: the authors rigorously develop EPR in logical and philosophical termsAa novel tackAbut the absence of any example of the paradox at work leaves the reader grappling for better understanding. Klein and Lachi?ze-Rey do help illuminate the way ideas in physics evolve, but their hit-or-miss execution makes their argument at once unwieldy and incomplete. This small volume is really an extended essay, awkward in its execution despite the provocative ideas on which it touches.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Product Review
The Quest for Unityis a refreshing look at this tension between unity and diversity in physics, and places it in a useful historical perspective. The book touches on many issues o finterest in the pilosophy of science[it] clearly and concisely outlines the unifications lready achieved by physics. -- Geroge Ellis, Nature, October 1999
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The Quest for Unity: The Adventure of Physics
Available from Amazon
Price: $45.00
Updated on 12-6-2008
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