Hidden Unity in Nature's Laws

ISBN: 9780521659383 出版年：2001 页码：506 Taylor Cambridge University Press

This is a book for those with some familiarity with physics. It implicitly assumes a knowledge of many concepts one learns as a physics undergraduate. For example, the introduction to circular polarization on p 136 is very rapid. My views about this book varied as I read it. When I began it I was very enthusiastic, then about half way through, I was rather disappointed. However, towards the end of the book my enthusiasm returned. My loss of enthusiasm was at least in part due to several very poor diagrams and to errors one would not expect in a book such as this. For example, on page 14 it is stated that the earth rotates at a rate of 2.5 degrees per minute, which, as every school boy used to know, is 10 times too fast, and on p 258 it is stated that electrons `hop' in metals when a current flows, though this is rectified in a later chapter. Some of the diagrams are aesthetically unpleasing, but others are confusing, e.g. figure 8.2, which purports to show the behaviour of a wave function. These faults in material with which one is familiar make one wonder how reliable are the descriptions and figures in areas where one is unfamiliar. However, to be fair, my impression is that in the later chapters, as far as I can tell, there are no such faults. I hope that Taylor will go carefully through the book and eliminate these errors, in which case the second edition of this book will be a very good book indeed. The first half of the book is largely introductory. The book really comes to life in the second half with a tour de force description of recent developments in fundamental physics, including particle physics and the origins of the universe, with surprising connections with the theory of superconductivity. I certainly felt that I was getting fresh insight into such topics as inflation in the early universe. The final chapter, `Queries', is a summary of several speculative ideas, including the evergreen magnetic monopole. This book provides excellent insight into recent developments in physics: I think the author has achieved the aim implicit in the title. He also shows that predictions that the end of physics is in sight are premature. Encourage your library to buy this book, and when the second edition appears, buy a copy for yourself. P H Borcherds