The Dancing Wu Li Masters: An Overview of the New Physics Author: Gary Zukav | Language: English | ISBN:
1559276436 | Format: EPUB
The Dancing Wu Li Masters: An Overview of the New Physics Description
Particle physics is a science that few of us really understand. Indeed, it can be an intimidating, confusing study. Or it can be, as it is in The Dancing Wu Li Masters, a comprehensible, awe-inspiring world of absolute wonder and enchantment. In beautifully clear, often poetic language, with no mathematical equations, Gary Zukav presents this carefully abridged edition of his bestseller to open our minds to ideas that embrace the nature of the universe, and to help us gain intellectual and spiritual access to this often-baffling world.
With the skill of a Zen master -- who, rather than tell us about a subject leads us to understand the experience of it -- Mr. Zukav discusses the essence of physics with the sense of fascination and inspiration we all feel when we look at the vastness of our universe. He probes its simplicity and its magic -- the universal dance of everything from stars and immense galaxies to invisible, sub-atomic particles -- and leads us to see and appreciate all of it with new eyes.
- Audio CD
- Publisher: Macmillan Audio; Abridged edition (January 13, 2001)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1559276436
- ISBN-13: 978-1559276436
- Product Dimensions: 5.4 x 5.8 x 1 inches
- Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
Unfortunately, the first book by Gary Zukav that I read was 'Seat of the Soul.' That was a mistake. I was disappointed because he offered no background, or justification, or source for his ideas. he simply laid them out pedantically, as fait accompli.
This book is much better. I can see why it achieved critical acclaim. It is a clear attempt to explain physics to the layman in terms that he will understand. It still has some faults, but generally he does an excellent job.
Well, maybe not faults--just misplaced emphasis. For example, he goes on at great length explaining the connection between wavelength and frequency and amplitude, charting them and talking them to death, although they are very simple, easy to understand concepts. He does the same thing with three-dimensional coordinates. But, when he comes to difficult material to grasp, he often slides into incomprehensible language, for example:
"In a quantum mechanical experiment, the observed system, traveling undisturbed between the region of preparation and the region of measurement, develops according to the Schrodinger wave equation. During this time, all of the allowed things that could happen to it unfold as a developing wave function. However, as soon as it interacts with a measuring device (the observing system), one of those possibilities actualizes and the rest cease to exist. The quantum leap is from a multifaceted potentiality to a single actuality." (Page 75).
Pretty turgid prose. What he is talking about is the firing of a photon through a shield with two slits in it, at a wall where the hits were registered.
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