2007-09-23

Reading The Universe in a Nutshell (2007-09-14/18)

I have several scientific friends so I like to stay informed of recent theories. My physics familiarity extends from Newtonian mechanics to special and general relativity, but not beyond--and there have been more theories since I was in school. Consequently I selected one of Stephen Hawking's latest books, The Universe in a Nutshell.

I find I prefer science I can observe. Quantum scales are too small and relativistic scales are too large for me to see. (Though Arthur Eddington has observed the effects of general relativity.) In most of my life--except perhaps the night sky--classical theory is fine.

Nevertheless The Universe in a Nutshell was entertaining. I'm caught up, and relieved that superstring theory--which I missed entirely--may be superseded by M-theory anyway. I now know a generalist's overview of theoretical physics.