Wednesday, July 4, 2007

What I am reading – From Certainty to Uncertainty by E. David Peat

I would rate this as the best ever layman’s guide to scientific thought of 20th century.
The book covers all the important scientific revelations that altered human thoughts towards the cosmos that we live in from the Theory of Relativity to Quantum Physics to String theory.
As the title suggests, the century (1900s) started with a common scientific feeling of certainty by the way of Newtonian/ Einsteinien theory which showcased that the length and breadth of the universe can be validated within a few scientific parameters and ended with an uncertainty theory in the form of Quantum Physics and String theory which has proven that indeed ‘reading’ the universe isn’t such an succinct task.
It’s really a compelling read with the author covering not only the scientific activities (read Physics) but also mathematical, literary, art, linguist theories that moved in sync with these thoughts.

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