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丕賱胤乇賯 毓賱賶 丕亘賵丕亘 丕賱爻賲丕
賲賳 卮兀賳 兀丨丿孬 丕賱鬲胤賵乇丕鬲 賮賷 毓賱賲 丕賱賮賷夭賷丕亍 兀賳 鬲丨孬賻賾賳丕 毓賱賶 兀賳 賳乇丕噩毓 賮賴賲賳丕 賱賱毓丕賱賲 賲乇丕噩毓丞賸 噩匕乇賷丞: 亘賳賿賷鬲賴貙 賵鬲胤賵乇賴貙 賵丕賱賯賵賶 丕賱兀爻丕爻賷丞 丕賱鬲賷 鬲丨乇賰賴. 賵賴匕丕 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 賷賯丿賽賾賲 賳馗乇丞 卮丕賲賱丞 賵爻賴賱丞 丕賱丕爻鬲賷毓丕亘 賱賴匕賴 丕賱鬲胤賵乇丕鬲.
鬲爻鬲賰卮賮 賱賷夭丕 乇丕賳丿賱 丿賵乇 賰賱賺賾 賲賳 丕賱賲禺丕胤乇丞 賵丕賱廿亘丿丕毓 賵丕賱卮賰 賵丕賱噩賲丕賱 賵丕賱丨賯賷賯丞 賮賷 丕賱鬲賮賰賷乇 丕賱毓賱賲賷貨 賵匕賱賰 毓亘乇 賲丨丕賵乇丕鬲 賲孬賷乇丞 賲毓 卮禺氐賷丕鬲 亘丕乇夭丞 賮賷 賲噩丕賱丕鬲 兀禺乇賶 (毓賱賶 睾乇丕乇 丕賱胤丕賴賷 丿賷賮賷丿 鬲卮丕賳噩貙 賵賳賷鬲 爻賷賱賮乇 丕賱賲賴鬲賲 亘賵囟毓 丕賱鬲賵賯毓丕鬲貙 賵賰丕鬲亘 丕賱爻賷賳丕乇賷賵 爻賰賵鬲 丿乇賷賰爻賵賳)貙 賵鬲賮爻賽賾乇 亘兀爻賱賵亘 乇卮賷賯 賵噩賻賱賽賷 兀丨丿孬 丕賱兀賮賰丕乇 賮賷 毓賱賲 丕賱賮賷夭賷丕亍 賵毓賱賲 丕賱賰賻賵賳賷丕鬲. 賰賲丕 鬲氐賮 賱賳丕 胤亘賷毓丞 賵兀賴丿丕賮 兀賰亘乇 賲丕賰賷賳丞 氐購賳毓賻鬲 毓賱賶 丕賱廿胤賱丕賯: 賲氐丕丿賲 丕賱賴丕丿乇賵賳丕鬲 丕賱賰亘賷乇 鈥� 賲毓噩賱 丕賱噩爻賷賲丕鬲 丕賱賴丕卅賱 丕賱丨噩賲 丕賱賯丕亘毓 兀爻賮賱 丕賱丨丿賵丿 丕賱賲卮鬲乇賰丞 亘賷賳 賮乇賳爻丕 賵爻賵賷爻乇丕 鈥� 賰賲丕 鬲爻鬲毓乇囟 丕賱賮賽賰賻乇 丕賱丨丿賷孬丞 丕賱禺丕氐丞 亘毓賱賲 丕賱賰賻賵賳賷丕鬲 賵丕賱鬲噩丕乇賽亘 丕賱丨丕賱賷丞 丕賱賲鬲毓賱賯丞 亘丕賱賲丕丿丞 丕賱賲馗賱賲丞.
廿賳 賴匕丕 丕賱賰鬲丕亘貙 丕賱匕賷 賷毓丿賴 丕賱賰孬賷乇賵賳 兀賰孬乇 丕賱賰鬲亘 丕賱毓賱賲賷丞 丕賱氐丕丿乇丞 賮賷 丕賱爻賳賵丕鬲 丕賱兀禺賷乇丞 卮賲賵賱賸丕 賵廿孬丕乇丞貙 賷亘乇夭 兀賰亘乇 丕賱兀爻卅賱丞 丕賱毓賱賲賷丞 丕賱鬲賷 賳賵丕噩賴賴丕貙 賵賷賵囟丨 賰賷賮 兀賳 丕賱廿噩丕亘丞 毓賳 賴匕賴 丕賱兀爻卅賱丞 賷賲賰賳 兀賳 鬲禺亘乇賳丕 賮賷 賳賴丕賷丞 丕賱賲胤丕賮 亘丕賱賰孬賷乇 毓賳 兀賳賮爻賳丕 賵毓賳 賳卮兀鬲賳丕.
鬲爻鬲賰卮賮 賱賷夭丕 乇丕賳丿賱 丿賵乇 賰賱賺賾 賲賳 丕賱賲禺丕胤乇丞 賵丕賱廿亘丿丕毓 賵丕賱卮賰 賵丕賱噩賲丕賱 賵丕賱丨賯賷賯丞 賮賷 丕賱鬲賮賰賷乇 丕賱毓賱賲賷貨 賵匕賱賰 毓亘乇 賲丨丕賵乇丕鬲 賲孬賷乇丞 賲毓 卮禺氐賷丕鬲 亘丕乇夭丞 賮賷 賲噩丕賱丕鬲 兀禺乇賶 (毓賱賶 睾乇丕乇 丕賱胤丕賴賷 丿賷賮賷丿 鬲卮丕賳噩貙 賵賳賷鬲 爻賷賱賮乇 丕賱賲賴鬲賲 亘賵囟毓 丕賱鬲賵賯毓丕鬲貙 賵賰丕鬲亘 丕賱爻賷賳丕乇賷賵 爻賰賵鬲 丿乇賷賰爻賵賳)貙 賵鬲賮爻賽賾乇 亘兀爻賱賵亘 乇卮賷賯 賵噩賻賱賽賷 兀丨丿孬 丕賱兀賮賰丕乇 賮賷 毓賱賲 丕賱賮賷夭賷丕亍 賵毓賱賲 丕賱賰賻賵賳賷丕鬲. 賰賲丕 鬲氐賮 賱賳丕 胤亘賷毓丞 賵兀賴丿丕賮 兀賰亘乇 賲丕賰賷賳丞 氐購賳毓賻鬲 毓賱賶 丕賱廿胤賱丕賯: 賲氐丕丿賲 丕賱賴丕丿乇賵賳丕鬲 丕賱賰亘賷乇 鈥� 賲毓噩賱 丕賱噩爻賷賲丕鬲 丕賱賴丕卅賱 丕賱丨噩賲 丕賱賯丕亘毓 兀爻賮賱 丕賱丨丿賵丿 丕賱賲卮鬲乇賰丞 亘賷賳 賮乇賳爻丕 賵爻賵賷爻乇丕 鈥� 賰賲丕 鬲爻鬲毓乇囟 丕賱賮賽賰賻乇 丕賱丨丿賷孬丞 丕賱禺丕氐丞 亘毓賱賲 丕賱賰賻賵賳賷丕鬲 賵丕賱鬲噩丕乇賽亘 丕賱丨丕賱賷丞 丕賱賲鬲毓賱賯丞 亘丕賱賲丕丿丞 丕賱賲馗賱賲丞.
廿賳 賴匕丕 丕賱賰鬲丕亘貙 丕賱匕賷 賷毓丿賴 丕賱賰孬賷乇賵賳 兀賰孬乇 丕賱賰鬲亘 丕賱毓賱賲賷丞 丕賱氐丕丿乇丞 賮賷 丕賱爻賳賵丕鬲 丕賱兀禺賷乇丞 卮賲賵賱賸丕 賵廿孬丕乇丞貙 賷亘乇夭 兀賰亘乇 丕賱兀爻卅賱丞 丕賱毓賱賲賷丞 丕賱鬲賷 賳賵丕噩賴賴丕貙 賵賷賵囟丨 賰賷賮 兀賳 丕賱廿噩丕亘丞 毓賳 賴匕賴 丕賱兀爻卅賱丞 賷賲賰賳 兀賳 鬲禺亘乇賳丕 賮賷 賳賴丕賷丞 丕賱賲胤丕賮 亘丕賱賰孬賷乇 毓賳 兀賳賮爻賳丕 賵毓賳 賳卮兀鬲賳丕.
475 pages, ebook
First published January 1, 2011
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4745 people want to read
About the author
Lisa Randall
15听books476听followersLISA RANDALL is Professor of Physics at Harvard University. She began her physics career at Stuyvesant High School in New York City. She was a finalist, and tied for first place, in the National Westinghouse Science Talent Search. She went on to Harvard where she earned the BS (1983) and PhD (1987) in physics. She was a President's Fellow at the University of California at Berkeley, a postdoctoral fellow at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory and a junior fellow at Harvard University. She joined the MIT faculty in 1991 as an assistant professor, was promoted to associate professor in 1995 and received tenure in 1997. Between 1998 and 2001 she had a joint appointment at Princeton and MIT as a full professor. She moved to Harvard as a full professor in 2001.
She was the 1st tenured woman in physics at Princeton; the 1st tenured woman theorist in science at Harvard and at MIT. She's the most cited theoretical physicist in the world in the last five years as of last autumn 鈥� a total of about 10,000 citations. In this regard, she is most known for two papers: "A Large mass Hierarchy From a Small Extra Dimension" (2500 citations); and and "An Alternative to Compactification" (about 2500 citations). Both concern "Warped Geometry/Spacetime" and show that infinite extra dimension and weakness of gravity can be explained with an extra dimension.
Lisa Randall鈥檚 research in theoretical high energy physics is primarily related to the question of what is the physics underlying the standard model of particle physics. This has involved studies of strongly interacting theories, supersymmetry, and most recently, extra dimensions of space. In this latter work, she investigates 鈥渨arped鈥� geometries. The focus of this work has been a particular class of theories based on five-dimensional AdS space which has the remarkable property that the graviton is localized and the space need not be compactified. Related work demonstrates that this theory yields a very natural resolution to the hierarchy problem of particle physics (the large ratio of the Planck and electroweak scales) and furthermore, is compatible with unification of gauge couplings. This latter class of theories suggests interesting experimental tests. The study of further implications of this work has involved string theory, holography, and cosmology. Lisa Randall also continues to work on supersymmetry and other beyond-the-standard-model physics.
Within a year of her work on extra dimensions, it was featured on the front page of the Science Times section of The New York Times. It has also been featured in the Economist, the New Scientist, Science,Nature, The Los Angeles Times, The Dallas Daily News, a BBC Horizons television program, BBC radio, and other news sources. She has also been also been interviewed because Science Watch and the ISI Essential Science Indicators have indicated her research as some of the best cited in all of science.
She was the 1st tenured woman in physics at Princeton; the 1st tenured woman theorist in science at Harvard and at MIT. She's the most cited theoretical physicist in the world in the last five years as of last autumn 鈥� a total of about 10,000 citations. In this regard, she is most known for two papers: "A Large mass Hierarchy From a Small Extra Dimension" (2500 citations); and and "An Alternative to Compactification" (about 2500 citations). Both concern "Warped Geometry/Spacetime" and show that infinite extra dimension and weakness of gravity can be explained with an extra dimension.
Lisa Randall鈥檚 research in theoretical high energy physics is primarily related to the question of what is the physics underlying the standard model of particle physics. This has involved studies of strongly interacting theories, supersymmetry, and most recently, extra dimensions of space. In this latter work, she investigates 鈥渨arped鈥� geometries. The focus of this work has been a particular class of theories based on five-dimensional AdS space which has the remarkable property that the graviton is localized and the space need not be compactified. Related work demonstrates that this theory yields a very natural resolution to the hierarchy problem of particle physics (the large ratio of the Planck and electroweak scales) and furthermore, is compatible with unification of gauge couplings. This latter class of theories suggests interesting experimental tests. The study of further implications of this work has involved string theory, holography, and cosmology. Lisa Randall also continues to work on supersymmetry and other beyond-the-standard-model physics.
Within a year of her work on extra dimensions, it was featured on the front page of the Science Times section of The New York Times. It has also been featured in the Economist, the New Scientist, Science,Nature, The Los Angeles Times, The Dallas Daily News, a BBC Horizons television program, BBC radio, and other news sources. She has also been also been interviewed because Science Watch and the ISI Essential Science Indicators have indicated her research as some of the best cited in all of science.
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August 27, 2018
鈥淭ry to remember that artists in these catastrophic times, along with the serious scientists, are the only salvation for us, if there is to be any.鈥�
鈥� William H. Gass
鈥淪cience certainly is not the static statement of universal laws we all hear about in elementary school. Nor is it a set of arbitrary rules. Science is an evolving body of knowledge. Many of the ideas we are currently investigating will prove to be wrong or incomplete. Scientific descriptions certainly change as we cross the boundaries that circumscribe what we know and venture into more remote territory where we can glimpse hints of the deeper truths beyond.鈥�
- Lisa Randall, Knocking on Heaven's Door
Loved it. In this book Lisa Randall writes about scale and science, while surveying the state of modern physics just as the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) was getting warmed up (2011).
Randall is a theoretical physicist working on both particle physics and cosmology. She teaches at Harvard and specializes in supersymmetry, the Standard Model, cosmological inflation, dark matter, etc. She is one of the most cited modern theoretical physicists and is yearly on the short-list for the Nobel Prize in Physics. She is also a bit of a Renaissance woman. Beyond her ability to scale from the super small to the super big, she enjoys art, literature, and the outdoors. There are some geniuses who seem to exist comfortably only in the small box they excel in. That is definitely not Lisa Randall. She seems to enjoy those spaces where literature, art, and the sciences overlap.
Lisa's collection of interests (beyond physics) is the prime reasons why she is such a gifted translator of theoretical physics. I'm a pretty smart guy, but would have been even more lost without her sharp metaphors and patient untangling of the bleeding edge of physics. I'm still pretty damn confused, but feel just a bit more confident WHERE I'm confused. I think her gift comes both from her varied interests, her wide friendships, and her basic humanity.
Amazingly, it was during a recent gift from the Universe that I met Lisa. Last year in August (on the 21st) a total eclipse of the sun was going to throw its umbral shadow over my sister-in-law's house in Southern Idaho. My brother Matt and I and his decided to do a . Soon, it wasn't just us three, but friends of friends, were on our way to Rigby, Idaho. asked if he could meet us, and soon he asked if his friend from Harvard could come. Lisa showed up with a couple friends (one was an artist from LA, , whose art is informed and influenced heavily by science) and we climbed up the South Menan Butte (owned by a Mormon Capitalist selling tickets) for a prime viewing spot. There we watched the shadow of the eclipse racing towards us.
Anyway, on this butte in Southern Idaho theoretical physicists, artists, writers, and a motley crue of naturalists, retirees, and Mormons were together humbled by the size of the Universe, the scale of what we know and don't know. We were also thrilled that, with the help of science, we knew where to be and together watched the moon's shadow roll over us. In some ways, it seemed a brief echo of how Lisa must have felt watching the LHC go online. Evidence would either show that the Standard Model worked or didn't work as far as the Higgs Boson particle (often called the "God Particle") was concerned. Shortly after this book was published in hard cover, and right before it came out in paperback, the LHC provided evidence that once again theoretical physicists were correct.
鈥� William H. Gass
鈥淪cience certainly is not the static statement of universal laws we all hear about in elementary school. Nor is it a set of arbitrary rules. Science is an evolving body of knowledge. Many of the ideas we are currently investigating will prove to be wrong or incomplete. Scientific descriptions certainly change as we cross the boundaries that circumscribe what we know and venture into more remote territory where we can glimpse hints of the deeper truths beyond.鈥�
- Lisa Randall, Knocking on Heaven's Door
Loved it. In this book Lisa Randall writes about scale and science, while surveying the state of modern physics just as the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) was getting warmed up (2011).
Randall is a theoretical physicist working on both particle physics and cosmology. She teaches at Harvard and specializes in supersymmetry, the Standard Model, cosmological inflation, dark matter, etc. She is one of the most cited modern theoretical physicists and is yearly on the short-list for the Nobel Prize in Physics. She is also a bit of a Renaissance woman. Beyond her ability to scale from the super small to the super big, she enjoys art, literature, and the outdoors. There are some geniuses who seem to exist comfortably only in the small box they excel in. That is definitely not Lisa Randall. She seems to enjoy those spaces where literature, art, and the sciences overlap.
Lisa's collection of interests (beyond physics) is the prime reasons why she is such a gifted translator of theoretical physics. I'm a pretty smart guy, but would have been even more lost without her sharp metaphors and patient untangling of the bleeding edge of physics. I'm still pretty damn confused, but feel just a bit more confident WHERE I'm confused. I think her gift comes both from her varied interests, her wide friendships, and her basic humanity.
Amazingly, it was during a recent gift from the Universe that I met Lisa. Last year in August (on the 21st) a total eclipse of the sun was going to throw its umbral shadow over my sister-in-law's house in Southern Idaho. My brother Matt and I and his decided to do a . Soon, it wasn't just us three, but friends of friends, were on our way to Rigby, Idaho. asked if he could meet us, and soon he asked if his friend from Harvard could come. Lisa showed up with a couple friends (one was an artist from LA, , whose art is informed and influenced heavily by science) and we climbed up the South Menan Butte (owned by a Mormon Capitalist selling tickets) for a prime viewing spot. There we watched the shadow of the eclipse racing towards us.
Anyway, on this butte in Southern Idaho theoretical physicists, artists, writers, and a motley crue of naturalists, retirees, and Mormons were together humbled by the size of the Universe, the scale of what we know and don't know. We were also thrilled that, with the help of science, we knew where to be and together watched the moon's shadow roll over us. In some ways, it seemed a brief echo of how Lisa must have felt watching the LHC go online. Evidence would either show that the Standard Model worked or didn't work as far as the Higgs Boson particle (often called the "God Particle") was concerned. Shortly after this book was published in hard cover, and right before it came out in paperback, the LHC provided evidence that once again theoretical physicists were correct.
February 28, 2014
Lisa Randall is a theoretical physicist at Harvard University. She is well known for her research in high-energy physics. You can view a . She is a very articulate speaker, and her writing is crystal clear.
The book is divided into five parts. The first part explores the philosophy of science, and gets into some aspects of the science-vs.-religion debate. Randall notes that some people turn to religion for answers that science cannot yet provide. People want to feel empowered, and they want a sense of belonging. Each individual must decide where more comfort and belonging can be found--in religion or in science. Randall concludes that a religious scientist must separate the "religious part" of his brain from the "scientific part", because they are incompatible.
The second part of the book discusses aspects of scale, starting from human-size scales, going down to the tiniest scales, and then goes to the galactic and cosmological scales. The third part of the book describes the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, straddling the border between Switzerland and France. I was very impressed by the clear explanations of how the LHC is constructed, how it works, and the giant detector experiments that are placed at locations around the ring.
The fourth part describes the search for the Higgs Boson (which had not yet been discovered at the time of publication of this book), and how the Higgs field is responsible for the masses of elementary particles. Randall explains how models are constructed, and various approaches to evaluating the "truth" of these models. The fifth part explores the largest scales, and deals with the expansion of the universe, and the connections between the smallest scales--particle physics--and the largest scales involved in cosmology. The sixth part is speculation about creativity and how it enters into scientific thinking. A quote from Pushkin, "Inspiration is needed in geometry, just as much as in poetry."
In the introduction, Randall describes how she and other scientists gave testimony at a congressional hearing about the importance of basic science. During this testimony, the scientists gave examples of some of the side benefits of basic science research. This included the development of the World Wide Web at CERN, medical applications such as PET scans, the development of superconducting magnets used for MRI's, and the application of general relativity to GPS navigation.
I really appreciated Randall's description of her own theoretical research. There is a certain physics problem called the "hierarchy" problem, which is associated with the puzzle of why the gravitational force is so weak in comparison with the other forces. Most hypotheses propose a large number of "extra" dimensions, and these hypotheses cannot be tested. However, Randall and Raman Sundrum proposed a hypothesis of a single extra dimension where space and time are exponentially rescaled. She claims that her hypothesis is testable at the LHC. That's what I like--an exotic theory that can be tested using available technology!
My favorite part of the book is Randall's description of the suspicion raised by some, that the LHC might produce black holes that could destroy the world. Just before the issue became a public controversy, Lisa Randall and Patrick Meade had been calculating the number of black holes that could possibly be produced by the LHC. They were not really concerned with dangerously big black holes, but only in small, harmless ones that would rapidly decay. They calculated that even small black holes would not be produced. Then the controversy broke and a lawsuit was filed. Nevertheless, Randall was not swayed. She writes:
You can tell that I enjoyed Randall's sense of humor. Once at a scientific conference, Randall was asked to start a "duel" between opening speakers. She was asked to be detailed and technical, and simultaneously to make her arguments basic and understandable by the layman. So, she "did what any rational person would do in the face of such contradictory and impossible-to-satisfy advice: procrastinate." Randall sums up the searches for exotic particles, dark mass and dark matter in a line from a Beatles song, "Got to be good-looking 'cause he's so hard to see."
The book is divided into five parts. The first part explores the philosophy of science, and gets into some aspects of the science-vs.-religion debate. Randall notes that some people turn to religion for answers that science cannot yet provide. People want to feel empowered, and they want a sense of belonging. Each individual must decide where more comfort and belonging can be found--in religion or in science. Randall concludes that a religious scientist must separate the "religious part" of his brain from the "scientific part", because they are incompatible.
The second part of the book discusses aspects of scale, starting from human-size scales, going down to the tiniest scales, and then goes to the galactic and cosmological scales. The third part of the book describes the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, straddling the border between Switzerland and France. I was very impressed by the clear explanations of how the LHC is constructed, how it works, and the giant detector experiments that are placed at locations around the ring.
The fourth part describes the search for the Higgs Boson (which had not yet been discovered at the time of publication of this book), and how the Higgs field is responsible for the masses of elementary particles. Randall explains how models are constructed, and various approaches to evaluating the "truth" of these models. The fifth part explores the largest scales, and deals with the expansion of the universe, and the connections between the smallest scales--particle physics--and the largest scales involved in cosmology. The sixth part is speculation about creativity and how it enters into scientific thinking. A quote from Pushkin, "Inspiration is needed in geometry, just as much as in poetry."
In the introduction, Randall describes how she and other scientists gave testimony at a congressional hearing about the importance of basic science. During this testimony, the scientists gave examples of some of the side benefits of basic science research. This included the development of the World Wide Web at CERN, medical applications such as PET scans, the development of superconducting magnets used for MRI's, and the application of general relativity to GPS navigation.
I really appreciated Randall's description of her own theoretical research. There is a certain physics problem called the "hierarchy" problem, which is associated with the puzzle of why the gravitational force is so weak in comparison with the other forces. Most hypotheses propose a large number of "extra" dimensions, and these hypotheses cannot be tested. However, Randall and Raman Sundrum proposed a hypothesis of a single extra dimension where space and time are exponentially rescaled. She claims that her hypothesis is testable at the LHC. That's what I like--an exotic theory that can be tested using available technology!
My favorite part of the book is Randall's description of the suspicion raised by some, that the LHC might produce black holes that could destroy the world. Just before the issue became a public controversy, Lisa Randall and Patrick Meade had been calculating the number of black holes that could possibly be produced by the LHC. They were not really concerned with dangerously big black holes, but only in small, harmless ones that would rapidly decay. They calculated that even small black holes would not be produced. Then the controversy broke and a lawsuit was filed. Nevertheless, Randall was not swayed. She writes:
In the end, black holes don't pose any danger. But just in case, I'll promise to take full responsibility if the LHC creates a black hole that gobbles up the planet.Randall then devoted a chapter to the subject of risk, and how people often do not properly account for relative risks. She gives examples of bad risk assessments, such as the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and the financial machinations of AIG Financial Products, and the subprime mortgage crisis. She draws an interesting analogy between the danger of black holes and the real "black-hole risk" of the financial crisis. On a radio show, Randall was asked
"whether I would proceed with an experiment--no matter how potentially interesting--if it had a chance of endangering the entire world. To the chagrin of the mostly conservative radio audience, my response was that we are already doing such an experiment with carbon emissions.
You can tell that I enjoyed Randall's sense of humor. Once at a scientific conference, Randall was asked to start a "duel" between opening speakers. She was asked to be detailed and technical, and simultaneously to make her arguments basic and understandable by the layman. So, she "did what any rational person would do in the face of such contradictory and impossible-to-satisfy advice: procrastinate." Randall sums up the searches for exotic particles, dark mass and dark matter in a line from a Beatles song, "Got to be good-looking 'cause he's so hard to see."
August 29, 2018
I found the writing style very off-putting with its chit-chatty name-dropping: I have a third cousin who knows an NBA player named Noah who is tall, and I will use that to talk about scale for the fiftieth time, because tallness is a good example of what scale is not about. ?????????????? If the idea is that this will entice someone about to read People or check a gossip website to instead learn about science, then that's a good thing. Beyond that, I don't know who this book is for, but it's not for me.
I think one could do better reading Cosmos (not Cosmo) to understand scale.
When I was young, I read science books by Isaac Asimov that were way better than this. O tempora, o mores.
I think one could do better reading Cosmos (not Cosmo) to understand scale.
When I was young, I read science books by Isaac Asimov that were way better than this. O tempora, o mores.
June 25, 2012
I love physics. I love that we know so much about physics, and that we still have so much left to learn! I love reading about how far we have come from Ptolemaic ideas of geocentricity to mapping the cosmic microwave background radiation itself. And don鈥檛 get me started about the Large Hadron Collider: 7 TeV? Really? Up to 14 TeV in the next few years? Various atrocious self-help books claim they鈥檒l help you unlock 鈥渢he secrets of the universe鈥�. The scientists and engineers at CERN are quite literally doing that as we speak. Science is awesome.
Lisa Randall is a good companion to have along for a ride on the 鈥渟cience-is-awesome鈥� rollercoaster. Her enthusiasm is inescapable as she explains everything from effective theories to the mystery of missing antimatter鈥攊t鈥檚 clear that Randall is more than a science writer, that she not only studies these topics for a living but loves them too. This makes the book so much more enjoyable, which is a must for something so steeped in particle physics.
Knocking on Heaven鈥檚 Door has something of a chimeric feel to it. At first it seems like a standard popular science book. Randall begins with an exploration of scale from the subatomic end: 鈥淭he universe is big! Atoms are small! Protons are smaller! Quarks are smaller still!鈥� It鈥檚 fascinating and, for the neophyte, probably enlightening, but it was nothing I hadn鈥檛 seen before. When she does branch out, she branches out into tangents 鈥� she spends an entire chapter talking about the 2008 economic crisis, risk management and analysis, etc., and comparing it to how scientists do their research. If I want to read a book about why short-sighted and greedy bankers caused the economic crisis, I鈥檇 do that. I came here for particle physics, Randall! And call me an expert snob, but I prefer to read about economics from economists and physics from physicists鈥擱andall鈥檚 attempts at some kind of comparison or syncretism leave much to be desired and feel like a stretch.
The rest of the philosophy part of this book varies greatly, from somewhat flat to outright inspirational. While I agree with a lot of what Randall says about the science versus religion quagmire, she鈥檚 not really saying anything new. On the other hand, I loved her discussion of Galileo鈥檚 contributions to science and her explanation for why scientific thinking and inquiry is valuable. In particular, her explanation of effective theories and domains of validity remind me a lot of Hawking and Mlodinow鈥檚 discussions of model-dependent reality in .
Randall clears up some of the confusion that seems to accumulate as a result of the annual tradition known as 鈥渆verything you learned in last year鈥檚 science class is wrong 鈥� here鈥檚 how it actually works鈥�. She mentions this phenomenon herself, and I hated it when I was in school. Obviously I don鈥檛 expect us to try using the same kind of language to describe the universe to small children as we do to adults, but that鈥檚 no reason we need to perpetuate things like the solar-system model of the atom without even mentioning that it鈥檚 rather inaccurate. I鈥檓 a fairly enthusiastic and literate person when it comes to science, and if I鈥檓 working very hard in my spare time to undo the misunderstandings I鈥檝e inherited from formal education, I can only imagine the harm done to my peers who aren鈥檛 on a similar quest. Hence, I once again wish philosophy were a more explicit part of the curriculum, for learning about science requires the ability to think like a scientist (and maybe a little bit like a philosopher).
The bulk of Knocking on Heaven鈥檚 Door is an explanation of the workings and goals of the Large Hadron Collider. The former will make even the most devoted engineer鈥檚 eyes glaze over鈥攏onetheless, Randall succeeds in conveying the impressive sense of scale and achievement that the LHC represents. It鈥檚 the largest machine we鈥檝e built, and it鈥檚 designed to look at the smallest things we can imagine! So the technical details can be a bit much at times, but Randall certainly clarifies each detector鈥檚 role in the experiments, as well as how particle accelerators in general worked. I liked hearing her explanations of when one would want to collide a particle and its antiparticle versus a particle and itself. However, I would have liked to learn more about how the LHC might provide insight into the matter/antimatter asymmetry.
I was quite pleased by the opening of this book in terms of its accessibility to various audiences. Now I鈥檓 not so sure to whom I would recommend it. Parts of it are too simple for most science geeks, while others are too complicated unless one pretty much has a degree in the subject. This unevenness of difficulty level means that Knocking on Heaven鈥檚 Door, while comprehensive, is not likely to be uniformly enjoyable by anyone. It鈥檚 one of the most detailed physics books I鈥檝e encountered, and when I did understand them, Randall鈥檚 explanations were enlightening. Plus, it provides very cogent explanations of how particle accelerators operate. If this sounds like your cup of tea, check it out. Otherwise, I suspect there are plenty of other popular physics texts that replicate much of these explanations and ideas.
Lisa Randall is a good companion to have along for a ride on the 鈥渟cience-is-awesome鈥� rollercoaster. Her enthusiasm is inescapable as she explains everything from effective theories to the mystery of missing antimatter鈥攊t鈥檚 clear that Randall is more than a science writer, that she not only studies these topics for a living but loves them too. This makes the book so much more enjoyable, which is a must for something so steeped in particle physics.
Knocking on Heaven鈥檚 Door has something of a chimeric feel to it. At first it seems like a standard popular science book. Randall begins with an exploration of scale from the subatomic end: 鈥淭he universe is big! Atoms are small! Protons are smaller! Quarks are smaller still!鈥� It鈥檚 fascinating and, for the neophyte, probably enlightening, but it was nothing I hadn鈥檛 seen before. When she does branch out, she branches out into tangents 鈥� she spends an entire chapter talking about the 2008 economic crisis, risk management and analysis, etc., and comparing it to how scientists do their research. If I want to read a book about why short-sighted and greedy bankers caused the economic crisis, I鈥檇 do that. I came here for particle physics, Randall! And call me an expert snob, but I prefer to read about economics from economists and physics from physicists鈥擱andall鈥檚 attempts at some kind of comparison or syncretism leave much to be desired and feel like a stretch.
The rest of the philosophy part of this book varies greatly, from somewhat flat to outright inspirational. While I agree with a lot of what Randall says about the science versus religion quagmire, she鈥檚 not really saying anything new. On the other hand, I loved her discussion of Galileo鈥檚 contributions to science and her explanation for why scientific thinking and inquiry is valuable. In particular, her explanation of effective theories and domains of validity remind me a lot of Hawking and Mlodinow鈥檚 discussions of model-dependent reality in .
Randall clears up some of the confusion that seems to accumulate as a result of the annual tradition known as 鈥渆verything you learned in last year鈥檚 science class is wrong 鈥� here鈥檚 how it actually works鈥�. She mentions this phenomenon herself, and I hated it when I was in school. Obviously I don鈥檛 expect us to try using the same kind of language to describe the universe to small children as we do to adults, but that鈥檚 no reason we need to perpetuate things like the solar-system model of the atom without even mentioning that it鈥檚 rather inaccurate. I鈥檓 a fairly enthusiastic and literate person when it comes to science, and if I鈥檓 working very hard in my spare time to undo the misunderstandings I鈥檝e inherited from formal education, I can only imagine the harm done to my peers who aren鈥檛 on a similar quest. Hence, I once again wish philosophy were a more explicit part of the curriculum, for learning about science requires the ability to think like a scientist (and maybe a little bit like a philosopher).
The bulk of Knocking on Heaven鈥檚 Door is an explanation of the workings and goals of the Large Hadron Collider. The former will make even the most devoted engineer鈥檚 eyes glaze over鈥攏onetheless, Randall succeeds in conveying the impressive sense of scale and achievement that the LHC represents. It鈥檚 the largest machine we鈥檝e built, and it鈥檚 designed to look at the smallest things we can imagine! So the technical details can be a bit much at times, but Randall certainly clarifies each detector鈥檚 role in the experiments, as well as how particle accelerators in general worked. I liked hearing her explanations of when one would want to collide a particle and its antiparticle versus a particle and itself. However, I would have liked to learn more about how the LHC might provide insight into the matter/antimatter asymmetry.
I was quite pleased by the opening of this book in terms of its accessibility to various audiences. Now I鈥檓 not so sure to whom I would recommend it. Parts of it are too simple for most science geeks, while others are too complicated unless one pretty much has a degree in the subject. This unevenness of difficulty level means that Knocking on Heaven鈥檚 Door, while comprehensive, is not likely to be uniformly enjoyable by anyone. It鈥檚 one of the most detailed physics books I鈥檝e encountered, and when I did understand them, Randall鈥檚 explanations were enlightening. Plus, it provides very cogent explanations of how particle accelerators operate. If this sounds like your cup of tea, check it out. Otherwise, I suspect there are plenty of other popular physics texts that replicate much of these explanations and ideas.
February 18, 2015
丕賳鬲賴賷鬲 賲賳 賯乇丕亍丞 賰鬲丕亘 丕賱胤乇賯 毓賱賶 兀亘賵亘 丕賱爻賲丕亍 - 賱賷夭丕 乇丕賳丿賱 貙 賴賵 兀賰孬乇 賰鬲丕亘 亘爻胤 賱賶 賮賷夭賷丕亍 丕賱噩爻賷賲丕鬲 貙 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 兀爻賱賵亘賴 爻賴賱 噩丿丕賸 賵爻賱爻 乇睾賲 氐毓賵亘丞 賲賵囟賵毓丕鬲賴 賮賲賵囟賵毓丕鬲賴 賴賶 亘賱丕 卮賰 兀氐毓亘 賲賵囟賵毓丕鬲 鬲賵氐賱 賱賴丕 丕賱毓賱賲 賯丕胤亘丞
丕賱賰鬲丕亘 賷卮乇丨 鬲噩乇亘丞 爻賷乇賳 亘丕賱鬲賮氐賷賱 賵賱丕 賷卮乇丨 兀睾乇丕囟 鬲噩乇亘丞 爻賷乇賳 賮賯胤 賵賱賰賳賴 兀賷囟丕賸 賷卮乇丨 丕賱鬲乇賰賷亘 丕賱賮賳賶 賱鬲噩乇亘丞 爻賷乇賳 賵丕賱毓賯亘丕鬲 丕賱鬲賶 賯丕亘賱鬲賴丕 賵丕賱丨賵丕丿孬 丕賱鬲賶 丨氐賱鬲 賵丕賱賲禺丕賵賮 貙 賵丌賱賷丕鬲 廿賰鬲卮丕賮 丕賱噩爻賷賲丕鬲 丕賱噩丿賷丿丞 賵丕賱賲毓乇賵賮丞 賮賶 鬲噩乇亘丞 爻賷乇賳
賲賳 丕賱兀卮賷丕亍 丕賱鬲賶 賱賮鬲鬲 賳乇賶 兀賳 丿乇噩丞 丨乇丕乇丞 鬲噩乇亘丞 爻賷乇賳 賴賶 兀毓賱賶 賲賳 丕賱氐賮乇 丕賱賲胤賱賯 亘丿乇噩鬲賷賳 鬲賯乇賷亘丕賸 丕賶 1.9 賰賱賮賳 賵賴賶 兀亘乇丿 賲賳胤賯丞 賮賶 丕賱賰賵賳 賰賱賴 賱丿乇噩丞 兀賳 丕賱賲賮丕毓賱 賷鬲胤賱亘 卮賴乇 賰丕賲賱 賲賳 丕賱鬲亘乇賷丿 亘賲卅丕鬲 丕賱兀胤賳丕賳 賲賳 丕賱賳賷鬲乇賵噩賷賳 賵丕賱賴賷賱賷賵賲 賱賱賵氐賵賱 賱賴匕賴 丕賱亘乇賵丿丞
賰賲丕 兀賳 丕賱賲賮丕毓賱 賷賳鬲噩 賲毓賱賵賲丕鬲 亘賲賯丿丕乇 賲賱賷丕乇 賲毓賱賵賲丞 賮賶 丕賱孬丕賳賷丞 丕賱賵丕丨丿丞 兀孬賳丕 丕賱鬲卮睾賷賱 賵丕賱廿賳卮胤丕乇
丕賱賰鬲丕亘 兀賷囟丕賸 賷卮乇丨 賰賷賮 賷鬲賲 廿賰鬲卮丕賮 丕賱噩爻賷賲丕鬲 丕賱匕乇賷丞 賵賷卮乇丨 丕賱賳賲賵匕噩 丕賱賯賷丕爻賶 丕賱丨丕賱賶 賵丕賱賳賲丕匕噩 丕賱賯賷丕爻賷丞 丕賱賲賯鬲乇丨丞 賲賳 賯亘賱 丕賱毓賱賲丕亍 賵賷鬲丨丿孬 亘廿爻鬲賮丕囟丞 毓賳 丕賱賲丕丿丞 丕賱賲毓鬲賲丞 賵毓賳 賲噩丕賱 賴賷噩夭 賵噩爻賷賲 賴賷噩夭 賵兀賴賲賷鬲賴 賰賲丕 兀賳賴 賷鬲丨丿孬 亘兀爻賱賵亘 噩賲賷賱 毓賳 毓賱丕賯丞 賰賱 賴匕丕 亘毓賱賲 丕賱賰賵賳賷丕鬲
賲賱丨賵馗丞 貙 鬲噩乇亘丞 爻賷乇賳 鬲賰賱賮鬲賴丕 丨鬲賶 丕賱丌賳 兀賰孬乇 賲賳 9 賲賱賷丕乇 丿賵賱丕乇 賵賴賶 兀賰亘乇 賵兀禺胤乇 賵兀賴賲 鬲噩乇亘丞 賮賶 鬲丕乇賷禺 丕賱亘卮乇賷丞 賵賷卮丕乇賰 賮賷賴丕 丨賵丕賱賶 9000 毓丕賱賲 賵亘丕丨孬
賵丕賱賰丕鬲亘賴 賱丿賷賴丕 兀爻賱賵亘 噩賲賷賱 賮賶 丕賱賰鬲丕亘賴 賷卮毓乇賰 兀賳賴丕 兀丿賷亘賴 兀丨賷丕賳丕賸 賵賮噩兀賴 鬲賳賯賱賰 賱毓賲賯 賮賷夭賷丕亍 丕賱噩爻賷賲丕鬲 亘賲賳鬲賴賶 丕賱乇賵毓賴
兀賳氐丨賰賲 亘賯乇丕亍丞 丕賱賰鬲丕亘
丕賱賰鬲丕亘 賷卮乇丨 鬲噩乇亘丞 爻賷乇賳 亘丕賱鬲賮氐賷賱 賵賱丕 賷卮乇丨 兀睾乇丕囟 鬲噩乇亘丞 爻賷乇賳 賮賯胤 賵賱賰賳賴 兀賷囟丕賸 賷卮乇丨 丕賱鬲乇賰賷亘 丕賱賮賳賶 賱鬲噩乇亘丞 爻賷乇賳 賵丕賱毓賯亘丕鬲 丕賱鬲賶 賯丕亘賱鬲賴丕 賵丕賱丨賵丕丿孬 丕賱鬲賶 丨氐賱鬲 賵丕賱賲禺丕賵賮 貙 賵丌賱賷丕鬲 廿賰鬲卮丕賮 丕賱噩爻賷賲丕鬲 丕賱噩丿賷丿丞 賵丕賱賲毓乇賵賮丞 賮賶 鬲噩乇亘丞 爻賷乇賳
賲賳 丕賱兀卮賷丕亍 丕賱鬲賶 賱賮鬲鬲 賳乇賶 兀賳 丿乇噩丞 丨乇丕乇丞 鬲噩乇亘丞 爻賷乇賳 賴賶 兀毓賱賶 賲賳 丕賱氐賮乇 丕賱賲胤賱賯 亘丿乇噩鬲賷賳 鬲賯乇賷亘丕賸 丕賶 1.9 賰賱賮賳 賵賴賶 兀亘乇丿 賲賳胤賯丞 賮賶 丕賱賰賵賳 賰賱賴 賱丿乇噩丞 兀賳 丕賱賲賮丕毓賱 賷鬲胤賱亘 卮賴乇 賰丕賲賱 賲賳 丕賱鬲亘乇賷丿 亘賲卅丕鬲 丕賱兀胤賳丕賳 賲賳 丕賱賳賷鬲乇賵噩賷賳 賵丕賱賴賷賱賷賵賲 賱賱賵氐賵賱 賱賴匕賴 丕賱亘乇賵丿丞
賰賲丕 兀賳 丕賱賲賮丕毓賱 賷賳鬲噩 賲毓賱賵賲丕鬲 亘賲賯丿丕乇 賲賱賷丕乇 賲毓賱賵賲丞 賮賶 丕賱孬丕賳賷丞 丕賱賵丕丨丿丞 兀孬賳丕 丕賱鬲卮睾賷賱 賵丕賱廿賳卮胤丕乇
丕賱賰鬲丕亘 兀賷囟丕賸 賷卮乇丨 賰賷賮 賷鬲賲 廿賰鬲卮丕賮 丕賱噩爻賷賲丕鬲 丕賱匕乇賷丞 賵賷卮乇丨 丕賱賳賲賵匕噩 丕賱賯賷丕爻賶 丕賱丨丕賱賶 賵丕賱賳賲丕匕噩 丕賱賯賷丕爻賷丞 丕賱賲賯鬲乇丨丞 賲賳 賯亘賱 丕賱毓賱賲丕亍 賵賷鬲丨丿孬 亘廿爻鬲賮丕囟丞 毓賳 丕賱賲丕丿丞 丕賱賲毓鬲賲丞 賵毓賳 賲噩丕賱 賴賷噩夭 賵噩爻賷賲 賴賷噩夭 賵兀賴賲賷鬲賴 賰賲丕 兀賳賴 賷鬲丨丿孬 亘兀爻賱賵亘 噩賲賷賱 毓賳 毓賱丕賯丞 賰賱 賴匕丕 亘毓賱賲 丕賱賰賵賳賷丕鬲
賲賱丨賵馗丞 貙 鬲噩乇亘丞 爻賷乇賳 鬲賰賱賮鬲賴丕 丨鬲賶 丕賱丌賳 兀賰孬乇 賲賳 9 賲賱賷丕乇 丿賵賱丕乇 賵賴賶 兀賰亘乇 賵兀禺胤乇 賵兀賴賲 鬲噩乇亘丞 賮賶 鬲丕乇賷禺 丕賱亘卮乇賷丞 賵賷卮丕乇賰 賮賷賴丕 丨賵丕賱賶 9000 毓丕賱賲 賵亘丕丨孬
賵丕賱賰丕鬲亘賴 賱丿賷賴丕 兀爻賱賵亘 噩賲賷賱 賮賶 丕賱賰鬲丕亘賴 賷卮毓乇賰 兀賳賴丕 兀丿賷亘賴 兀丨賷丕賳丕賸 賵賮噩兀賴 鬲賳賯賱賰 賱毓賲賯 賮賷夭賷丕亍 丕賱噩爻賷賲丕鬲 亘賲賳鬲賴賶 丕賱乇賵毓賴
兀賳氐丨賰賲 亘賯乇丕亍丞 丕賱賰鬲丕亘
March 14, 2012
I鈥檓 not sure how this book came about, but it鈥檚 the kind of mish-mash that suggests the work of a committee. First, there鈥檚 the title Knocking on Heaven's Door: How Physics and Scientific Thinking Illuminate the Universe and the Modern World, which bears no resemblance to the content of the book. Then, there鈥檚 the subject matter itself. The book begins with an overly involved discussion of scale, and how scientists select the scale of their observations depending on the type of phenomenon they are studying. That鈥檚 fine, but it鈥檚 a very simple point that is easy to understand. Does anyone think an auto mechanic is concerned about quantum effects when working on your car engine? Next there鈥檚 a short discussion of the compatibility of science and religion where words are chosen ever so carefully so as not to break any eggshells. Later there鈥檚 sort of an oddly apropos-of-nothing discussion of risk analysis using the notion that physics experiments could create black holes that would destroy the earth (they won鈥檛) and a discussion of scientific vs artistic beauty that Steven Weinberg largely covered in Dreams of a Final Theory (and it wasn鈥檛 all that interesting the first time).
Eventually, the book seems to settle on a theme 鈥� and we learn that it happens to be about the large hadron collider located in France and Switzerland and operated by CERN! Well, that鈥檚 a nice surprise, I鈥檓 not sure why we were keeping it a secret. I鈥檓 guessing this is the topic Randall wanted to write about all along since this seems to be where her enthusiasm lies. The book describes some of the underlying physics of supercolliders and the types of things scientists hope to discover. She also goes into details of the construction of the unit and some of the problems encountered along the way that you may recall having heard about on the news.
Following a description of the collider we're treated to tedious details about particle physics and collision byproducts. Unfortunately it鈥檚 a confusing muddle because Randall fails to provide the background needed to understand the material. Hearing that two W bosons radiate off incoming quarks and then fuse to make a Higgs boson which subsequently decays to two tau leptons a stale bit of pizza crust and half a garden gnome (the bottom half), will leave most yawning and scratching their heads. Finally, she throws in some astrophysics, probably because someone was washing dishes and the kitchen sink wasn鈥檛 available.
You have to wonder who the book is geared for. In the first part of the book in the discussion of size and scale, the material is written for a 3rd grader, while the particle theory requires graduate level coursework in physics. This is an all-too common mistake that occurs when scientists with a poor understanding of their audience attempt to write popular books.
Eventually, the book seems to settle on a theme 鈥� and we learn that it happens to be about the large hadron collider located in France and Switzerland and operated by CERN! Well, that鈥檚 a nice surprise, I鈥檓 not sure why we were keeping it a secret. I鈥檓 guessing this is the topic Randall wanted to write about all along since this seems to be where her enthusiasm lies. The book describes some of the underlying physics of supercolliders and the types of things scientists hope to discover. She also goes into details of the construction of the unit and some of the problems encountered along the way that you may recall having heard about on the news.
Following a description of the collider we're treated to tedious details about particle physics and collision byproducts. Unfortunately it鈥檚 a confusing muddle because Randall fails to provide the background needed to understand the material. Hearing that two W bosons radiate off incoming quarks and then fuse to make a Higgs boson which subsequently decays to two tau leptons a stale bit of pizza crust and half a garden gnome (the bottom half), will leave most yawning and scratching their heads. Finally, she throws in some astrophysics, probably because someone was washing dishes and the kitchen sink wasn鈥檛 available.
You have to wonder who the book is geared for. In the first part of the book in the discussion of size and scale, the material is written for a 3rd grader, while the particle theory requires graduate level coursework in physics. This is an all-too common mistake that occurs when scientists with a poor understanding of their audience attempt to write popular books.
April 3, 2012
I will admit defeat. As much as I love popular physics books I just cannot bear to finish this one. The author is obviously brilliant, knows her field well, and has an infectious enthusiasm for science. Unfortunately, she seems to have fallen into the trap that some brilliant people do: she assumes her intelligence and acumen in the field of physics means that her insights outside of that field are similarly brilliant. Alas, this is not so. Repeatedly, she discusses the financial world and does so with breathtaking na茂vet茅. And, even more unfortunately, ignorance. She makes several serious factual errors - such as her laughably incorrect description of what I assume she thinks is high frequency trading - and draws incredibly unsophisticated conclusions about the workings of the financial markets. I find these unnecessary and often incorrect asides to be terribly distracting from her fundamentally fascinating discussions of physics. (I also suspect a political aspect to these discussions which are even more alienating in a book purportedly about the wonders of physics.)
Ultimately, I'm glad I slogged through these errors to get to the wonderful description of the Large Hadron Collider. But I cannot go further.
Ultimately, I'm glad I slogged through these errors to get to the wonderful description of the Large Hadron Collider. But I cannot go further.
March 11, 2013
What I don鈥檛 know about particle physics amounts to an enormous trove of data. Before reading this book, I had no idea just how much I didn鈥檛 know. Now, however, I have a much better idea about what the parameters of what I don鈥檛 know might be. I can鈥檛 visualize them, but through the process of examining what I do know, the conspicuous absences in the shadows of my knowledge subtly hint at vast deserts of unknowable terrain. Fluctuations of confusion, blackness, and chaos are sometimes the only indicators that the things that I don鈥檛 know actually exist. This book has helped me to measure those indicators.
Lisa Randall has sent streams of data about particle physics on a collision course with my mind. My mind, unable to absorb this data, shatters it into thousands of pieces that are only recoverable as words, punctuation, syllables, and basic grammatical notions. It is from this disarticulated soup of words that I am able 鈥� with great effort 鈥� to discover this underlying truth: I don鈥檛 know jack about particle physics.
Lisa Randall has sent streams of data about particle physics on a collision course with my mind. My mind, unable to absorb this data, shatters it into thousands of pieces that are only recoverable as words, punctuation, syllables, and basic grammatical notions. It is from this disarticulated soup of words that I am able 鈥� with great effort 鈥� to discover this underlying truth: I don鈥檛 know jack about particle physics.
March 29, 2019
Knocking on Heaven鈥檚 Door
By Lisa Randall
Linda Randall is a scientist specialised in particle physics.
She is also an excellent author who is trying to open up a generally closed door to the broader public.
Written in the first person, the author engagingly and wittingly offers the reader a conversation about the history of science and the road to today's knowledge.
The first chapter about science from the 17th century to today is a compelling appeal to read history from Copernic to Galileo, to Descartes and Newton.
Most importantly to this study is the demonstration and understanding of scales.
From visible distances measured in meters, kilometres and further up in light years into the opposite direction from small millimetres to even smaller micrometres, to nanometers, to picometer, to femtometer and many more to finally reach the bottom of the Planck length.
It seems that the visible side of the scale looking up into the stars, even to the end of the Univers is more natural to imagine.
The Underground scale is increasingly hard to grasp.
The second half of the book is describing the birth and development of the extraordinary European scientific machine the LHC or Large Hadron Collider serving as an explorer of the small scientific scale, a region beyond present human knowledge.
Linda Randall seems to know every little detail of the history and technical, operational and functioning of the tool. She also knows what new knowledge to hope for and expect in the years to come.
However, it is hard to agree with those critics who define this book as great and easy to understand work.
By Lisa Randall
Linda Randall is a scientist specialised in particle physics.
She is also an excellent author who is trying to open up a generally closed door to the broader public.
Written in the first person, the author engagingly and wittingly offers the reader a conversation about the history of science and the road to today's knowledge.
The first chapter about science from the 17th century to today is a compelling appeal to read history from Copernic to Galileo, to Descartes and Newton.
Most importantly to this study is the demonstration and understanding of scales.
From visible distances measured in meters, kilometres and further up in light years into the opposite direction from small millimetres to even smaller micrometres, to nanometers, to picometer, to femtometer and many more to finally reach the bottom of the Planck length.
It seems that the visible side of the scale looking up into the stars, even to the end of the Univers is more natural to imagine.
The Underground scale is increasingly hard to grasp.
The second half of the book is describing the birth and development of the extraordinary European scientific machine the LHC or Large Hadron Collider serving as an explorer of the small scientific scale, a region beyond present human knowledge.
Linda Randall seems to know every little detail of the history and technical, operational and functioning of the tool. She also knows what new knowledge to hope for and expect in the years to come.
However, it is hard to agree with those critics who define this book as great and easy to understand work.
April 9, 2016
兀鬲賲賲鬲賴 賰鬲丕亘 鈥�#鈥徹з勜坟辟俖毓賱賶_丕亘賵丕亘_丕賱爻賲丕亍鈥� 賱 鈥�#鈥徺勝娯藏乇丕賳丿丕鈥� ( 賵兀禺賷乇丕 小屑邪泄谢懈泻 芦smile禄 )
鬲賯賷賷賲賷 丕賱卮禺氐賷 賱賱賰鬲丕亘
( 賰 賰鬲丕亘 毓賱賲賷 ) : 4.5 賲賳 5
( 賰 賰鬲丕亘 孬賯丕賮賷) : 3 賲賳 5
丕匕丕 賲丕 賰賳鬲 賵夭賷乇丕 賱賱鬲乇亘賷丞 賵丕賱鬲毓賱賷賲 賱亘賱丕丿賷 賱兀賲乇鬲 亘丨乇賯 噩賲賷毓 賰鬲丕亘 丕賱賮賷夭賷丕亍 賲賳 丕賱氐賮賵賮 丕賱丕毓丿丕丿賷丞 賵丕賱孬丕賳賵賷丞 賵兀賷囟丕 丕賱噩丕賲毓賷丞 ..... 賵賱丕爻鬲亘丿賱鬲賴丕 亘賴匕丕 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 !
賷毓鬲亘乇 賰鬲丕亘 #賱賷夭丕_乇丕賳丿丕 賯賳亘賱丞 賲賵賯賵鬲丞 賲賳 丕賱賲毓賱賵賲丕鬲 丕賱毓賱賲賷賴 丕賱鬲賷 賱丕 鬲賳賮賰 毓賳 丕賱馗賴賵乇 賮賷 賰賱 氐賮丨賴 賵爻胤乇 亘賷賳 孬賳丕賷丕 賴匕丕 丕賱賰鬲丕亘. 賮毓賱賶 睾乇丕乇 賲毓乇賮鬲賷 丕賱鬲賷 賱賷爻鬲 亘丕賱賵丕賴賳丞 賮賷 賲噩丕賱 丕賱賮賷夭賷丕亍 ( 賰賴丕賵 賱賱賮賷夭賷丕亍) 廿賱丕 兀賳 賴匕丕 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 賯丿賲 賱賷 賮賷 孬賳丕賷丕賴 賰賲賷丞 賲鬲丿賮賯賴 賲賳 丕賱賲毓賱賵賲丕鬲 丕賱鬲賷 賱賲 兀賰丿 兀賮賰乇 賯胤 賮賷 賵噩賵丿賴丕 賮賷 丨賷丕鬲賳丕 賵賮賷 賰賵賰亘賳丕 丕賱毓馗賷賲 !
賮賮賷 賴匕丕 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 兀禺匕鬲 噩賵賱賴 賲賮氐賱賴 賵乇丕卅毓賴 丕賱噩賵丕賳亘 亘賷賳 孬賳丕賷丕 丨丕賮丞 丕賱賰賵賳 .. 賮 丕賱鬲賯賷鬲 鬲丕乇丞 亘 乇賷鬲卮丕乇丿 賮丕賷乇賲丕賳 賵鬲丕乇丞 兀禺乇賶 亘賳賷賰賵賱丕 鬲賷爻賱丕貙 賵 賮囟賱丕 毓賳 丕賱亘乇鬲 丕賷賳卮鬲丕賷賳 貙 亘丕賷 亘丕賱 貙 噩丕賱賷賱賷賵 噩賷賱賷 貙 賴賷噩夭貙 乇丕匕乇賮賵乇丿 貙 廿爻丨丕賯 賳賷賵鬲賳 貙 賵兀賷囟丕 鬲卮丕乇賱夭 丿丕乇賵賳 !
丕賰孬乇 賲 丌孬丕乇 丕賴鬲賲丕賲賷 賮賷 賴匕丕 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 賴賵 賰賲賷丞 丕賱賲毓賱賵賲丕鬲 賵丕賱卮乇丨 丕賱賲賮氐賱 賵丕賱乇爻賵賲 丕賱鬲賳賵賷乇賷丞 丕賱鬲賷 鬲胤乇賯鬲 丕賱賷賴丕 丕賱賰丕鬲亘丞 賮賷 廿胤丕乇 卮乇丨賴丕 賱賱匕乇丞 賵鬲賰賵賷賳賴丕. 賮賴賷 賱賲 鬲鬲胤乇賯 賮賯胤 廿賱賶 賲噩爻賲 丕賱匕乇丞 丕賱賲鬲毓丕乇賮 毓賱賷賴 賲賳 亘乇賵鬲賵賳 賵賳賷賵鬲乇賵賳丕鬲 賵丕賱賰鬲乇賵賳丕鬲貙 亘賱 廿賳賴丕 兀禺匕鬲 丕賱賯乇丕亍 廿賱賶 賲丕 賵乇丕亍 毓丕賱賲 丕賱匕乇丞 亘賲乇丕丨賱 .. 賮 丕爻鬲毓乇囟鬲 噩賵丕賳亘 丕賱匕乇丞 丕賱睾丕賲囟丞 賲賳 賰賵丕乇賰丕鬲 亘丕賳賵丕毓賴丕 丕賱爻賮賱賷賴 賵丕賱毓賱賵賷賴 賵丕賱睾乇賷亘賴 賵丕賱爻丕丨乇賴 賵丕賱賯丕毓賷賴 賵丕賱賯賲賷賴貙 賵兀賷囟丕 丕爻鬲毓乇囟鬲 噩賵丕賳亘 丕賱匕乇賴 丕賱兀賰孬乇 睾賲囟丕 賵丕賱賲鬲賲孬賱賴 賮賷 丕賱賱亘鬲賵賳丕鬲 丕賱賲卮丨賵賳賴 賵丕賱賲鬲毓丕丿賱賴 賲賳 丕賱賰鬲乇賵賳丕鬲 賵噩爻賷賲 丕賱賳賷賵鬲乇賵賳賵 賵丕賱賲賷賵賵賳 賵丕賱鬲丕賵賳.. 賵賱賲 鬲鬲賵賯賮 毓賳丿 匕賱賰 丕賱丨丿 賯胤貙 亘賱 廿賳賴丕 鬲胤乇賯鬲 廿賱賶 兀賰孬乇 兀噩夭丕亍 丕賱匕乇丞 鬲毓賯賷丿丕 賵爻賱亘丕 賱賱丕亘丿丕毓 丕賱毓賱賲賷 丕賱丕賵賴賷 丕賱亘賵夭賵賳丕鬲 丕亘鬲丿丕亍丕 亘 丕賱賮賵鬲賵賳丕鬲 賵 丕賱噩賵锟斤拷賵賳丕鬲 丕賱乇丕亘胤賴 賱賱賰賵丕乇賰丕鬲 賵丕賳鬲賴丕亍丕 亘亘賵夭賵賳 鈥�#鈥徺囐娯测€�.
兀賷囟丕 賲賳 兀賰孬乇 賲丕 爻賷孬賷乇 丕賱賴丕賲 丕賱賯丕乇卅 賱賴匕丕 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 賴賵 丕賱鬲胤乇賯 賵丕賱賴賵賵爻 丕賱毓噩賷亘 賵丕賱賲賳賯胤毓 丕賱賳馗賷乇 賲賳 賯亘賱 #賱賷夭丕_乇丕賳丿丕 賱 賲氐丕丿賲丕鬲 丕賱匕乇丞 .... 賵匕賱賰 賱兀賳 丕賱賰丕鬲亘賴 鬲胤乇賯鬲 賱賴匕丕 丕賱賲賵囟賵毓 亘兀賰孬乇 賲賳 200 氐賮丨賴 賲賳 賰鬲丕亘賴丕 ..... 賮 卮乇毓鬲 亘爻乇丿 賯氐賴 亘賳丕亍 丕賵賱 賲氐丕丿賲 匕乇丕鬲 亘丕賱毓丕賱賲 賵丕賳鬲賴丕亍 亘 賲氐丕丿賲 丕賱賴賷丿乇賵丕賳丕鬲 丕賱賲爻賲賶 亘 賲氐丕丿賲 丕賱賴賷丿乇賵丕賳丕鬲 丕賱賵丕賯毓 賮賷 賲毓賲賱 爻賷乇賳.
丕賱賰鬲丕亘 賷囟賲 6 兀噩夭丕亍 賲賯爻賲丞 毓賱賶 丨丿丕 賵毓賱賶 丕賱賳丨賵 丕賱鬲丕賱賷 :
鈥�#鈥徹з勜藏丕賱丕賵賱鈥� 賷爻鬲毓乇囟 :
*丕賱囟卅賷賱 賮賷 賳馗乇賰 囟禺賲 賮賷 賳馗乇賷
*賰卮賮 丕賱兀爻乇丕乇
*丕賱毓賷卮 賮賷 毓丕賱賲 賲丕丿賷
*丕賱亘丨孬 毓賳 丕噩賵亘丞
鈥�#鈥徹з勜藏丕賱孬丕賳賷鈥� 賷爻鬲毓乇囟 :
*丕賱乇丨賱丞 丕賱睾丕賲囟丞 丕賱爻丕丨乇丞
*丕賱廿賷賲丕賳 亘賲丕 (賳乇丕賴)
*丨丕賮丞 丕賱賰賵賳
鈥�#鈥徹з勜藏丕賱孬丕賱孬鈥� 賷爻鬲毓乇囟 :
*丕賱丨賱賯丞 丕賱丨丕賰賲丞
*毓賵丿丞 丕賱丨賯賱 賱賱毓賲賱
*孬賯賵亘 爻賵丿丕亍 鬲亘鬲賱毓 丕賱毓丕賱賲
*毓賲賱 賲丨賮賵賮 亘丕賱賲禺丕胤乇
*丕賱賯賷丕爻 賵丕賱卮賰
*鬲噩乇亘鬲丕 丕賱賱賵賱亘 丕賱賲乇賰亘 賱賱賲賷賵賳丕鬲 賵賰丕卮賮 兀胤賱爻
*丕賱鬲毓乇賮 毓賱賶 丕賱噩爻賷賲丕鬲
鈥�#鈥徹з勜藏丕賱乇丕亘毓鈥� 賷爻鬲毓乇囟 :
*丕賱丨賯賷賯丞 賵丕賱噩賲丕賱 賵賲賮丕賴賷賲 毓賱賲賷賴 禺丕胤卅丞 兀禺乇賶
*亘亘賵夭賵賳 賴賷噩夭
*兀賮囟賱 丕賱賳賲丕匕噩 丕賱賲丨鬲賲賱丞
*丕賱兀爻賱賵亘 丕賱鬲氐丕毓丿賷 賮賷 賲賯丕亘賱 丕賱鬲賳丕夭賱賷
鈥�#鈥徹з勜藏丕賱禺丕賲爻鈥� 賷爻鬲毓乇囟 :
*乇丨賱丞 賳丨賵 丕賱禺丕乇噩
*丕賱囟禺賲 賮賷 賳馗乇賰 囟卅賷賱 賮賷 賳馗乇賷
*夭賵丕乇 賲賳 丕賱噩丕賳亘 丕賱賲馗賱賲
鈥�#鈥徹з勜藏丕賱爻丕丿爻鈥� 賷爻鬲毓乇囟 : ( 丕賱賲賮囟賱 賱丿賷 )
*丕賱鬲賮賰賷乇 毓賱賲賷丕 賵丕賱毓賲賱 賲丨賱賷丕.
賷爻鬲毓乇囟 賴匕丕 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 賰賷賮 賷丨丿丿 賮賷夭賷丕卅賷賵 丕賱胤丕賯丞 丕賱毓丕賱賷丞 賵毓賱賲丕亍 丕賱賰賵賳賷丕鬲 胤乇賷賯賴賲 賮賷 丕賱賵賯鬲 丕賱丨丕賱賷貙 賵賰賷賮 兀賳 丕賱噩賲毓 亘賷賳 丕賱賳馗乇賷丞 賵丕賱鬲噩乇賷亘 賷賲賰賳 兀賳 賷購賱賯賷 丕賱囟賵亍 毓賱賶 亘毓囟 丕賱兀爻卅賱丞 丕賱兀爻丕爻賷丞 賵丕賱毓賲賷賯丞. 賮鬲氐賮 賳馗乇賷丞 丕賱丕賳賮噩丕乇 丕賱毓馗賷賲 丕賱鬲賲丿 貙 賱賰賳賴丕 鬲鬲乇賰 亘丿賵賳 廿噩丕亘丞 丕賱兀爻卅賱丞 丕賱賲鬲毓賱賯丞 亘賲丕 丨丿孬 賯亘賱 丕賱丕賳賮噩丕乇貙 賮囟賱丕 毓賳 丕賱兀爻卅賱丞 丕賱賲鬲毓賱賯丞 亘胤亘賷毓丞 丕賱胤丕賯丞 丕賱賲馗賱賲丞 賵丕賱賲丕丿丞 丕賱賲馗賱賲丞. 賷鬲賳亘賻賾兀. 丕賷囟丕 丕賱賳賲賵匕噩 丕賱賯賷丕爻賷 亘丕賱鬲賮丕毓賱丕鬲
賺賾 亘賷賳 丕賱噩爻賷賲丕鬲 丕賱兀賵賱賷丞貙 賱賰賳賴 賷鬲乇賰 亘丿賵賳 丨賱 賻 丕賱兀爻卅賱丞 賻 丕賱賲鬲毓賱賯丞 亘丕賱兀爻亘丕亘 賵乇丕亍 賲丕 鬲鬲氐賮 亘賴 賴匕賴 丕賱鬲賮丕毓賱丕鬲 賲賳 禺氐丕卅氐. 賷賲賰賳 兀賳 鬲賰賵賳 丕賱賲丕丿丞 丕賱賲馗賱賲丞 賵亘賵夭賵賳 賴賷噩夭 賯乇賷亘賷賳 賲賳賻賾丕 賱賱睾丕賷丞貙 賵賰匕丕 丕賱兀丿賱丞 毓賱賶 丕賱鬲賳丕馗乇丕鬲 丕賱夭賲賰丕賳賷丞 兀賵 丨鬲賶 丕賱兀亘毓丕丿 丕賱噩丿賷丿丞 賱賱賮囟丕亍.
賸 丕爻鬲毓乇囟 賴匕丕 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 兀賷囟丕 丕賱鬲賵賯毓丕鬲 亘卮兀賳 亘毓囟 丕賱兀賮賰丕乇 丕賱兀賰孬乇 氐毓賵亘丞 賮賷 丕禺鬲亘丕乇 氐丨鬲賴丕貙 賵亘丕賱乇睾賲 賲賳 兀賳賴丕 鬲賵爻毓 賳胤丕賯 丕賱禺賷丕賱貙 賵賷賲賰賳 兀賳 鬲乇鬲亘胤 賮賷 丕賱賳賴丕賷丞 亘丕賱賵丕賯毓貙 賮賯丿 鬲亘賯賶賸 兀賷囟丕 賮賷 賳胤丕賯 丕賱賮賱爻賮丞 兀賵 丕賱丿賷賳. 賱賳 賷丿丨囟 丕賱毓賱賲 賮賰乇丞 丕賱兀賰賵丕賳 丕賱賲鬲毓丿丿丞 鈥� 兀賵 丕賱廿賱賴 賮賷 賸 賴匕賴 丕賱丨丕賱丞 鈥� 賱賰賳賴 賱賳 賷孬亘鬲 氐丨鬲賴丕 兀賷囟丕 毓賱賶 丕賱兀乇噩丨貙 賵賲毓 匕賱賰 賮廿賳 亘毓囟 噩賵丕賳亘 賮賰乇丞 丕賱兀賰賵丕賳 丕賱賲鬲毓丿丿丞 鈥� 賲孬賱 鬲賱賰 丕賱鬲賷 賷賲賰賳賴丕 鬲賮爻賷乇 丕賱鬲爻賱爻賱 丕賱賴乇賲賷 鈥� 賱賴丕 鬲亘毓丕鬲 賷賲賰賳 丕禺鬲亘丕乇 氐丨鬲賴丕貙 賵賷乇噩毓 丕賱賯乇丕乇 賱賱毓賱賲丕亍 賮賷 丿乇丕爻丞 匕賱賰 兀賵 丕爻鬲亘毓丕丿賴. 賲賳 丕賱毓賳丕氐乇 丕賱兀禺乇賶 丕賱乇卅賷爻賷丞 賮賷 賴匕丕 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 賲賮丕賴賷賲 毓賱賶 睾乇丕乇 丕賱賳胤丕賯貙 賵丕賱卮賰貙賵丕賱廿亘丿丕毓貙 賵丕賱丕爻鬲賳鬲丕噩 丕賱賳賯丿賷 丕賱毓賯賱丕賳賷貙 賵賴賷 賲賮丕賴賷賲 賲賳 卮兀賳賴丕 兀賳 鬲賳賷乇 丕賱胤乇賷賯 兀賲丕賲 賽賾 丕賱鬲賮賰賷乇 丕賱毓賱賲賷. 賮賷賲賰賳 兀賳 賳丐賲賳 亘兀賳 丕賱毓賱賲 爻賷丨賯賯 鬲賯丿賸賲丕 賮賷 丕賱鬲賵氐賱 廿賱賶 丕賱廿噩丕亘丕鬲貙 賵兀賳賺 丕賱鬲毓賯賷丿 賯丿 賷賳卮兀 亘賲乇賵乇 丕賱賵賯鬲貙 丨鬲賶 賯亘賱 兀賳 賳氐賱 廿賱賶 鬲賮爻賷乇 賵丕賮 賮賯丿 鬲賰賵賳 丕賱廿噩丕亘丕鬲 賲毓賯丿丞貙 賱賰賳 匕賱賰 賱丕 賷亘乇賽賾乇 丕賱鬲禺賱賷 毓賳 丕賱廿賷賲丕賳 亘丕賱毓賯賱 賵丕賱賲賳胤賯.
鈥�#鈥徺呝勜ж肛┾赌�
賷毓鬲亘乇 賰鬲丕亘 #丕賱胤乇賯_毓賱賶_丕亘賵丕亘_丕賱爻賲丕亍 賱 #賱賷夭丕_乇丕賳丿丕 賲賳 兀賰孬乇 丕賱賰鬲亘 丕賱鬲賷 兀禺匕鬲 賲賳賷 賵賯鬲 賮賷 丕賱賯乇丕亍丞 .... 賮賴賵 毓賱賶 睾乇丕乇 丕賱賲鬲毓賴 丕賱鬲賷 鬲賰賲賳 賮賷 孬賳丕賷丕賴 廿賱丕 兀賳賴 賷鬲胤賱亘 匕賴賳 氐丕賮 賵毓賯賱 賵丕毓 賵鬲乇賰賷夭 睾賷乇 賲鬲丿丕毓 賱賰賷 賷鬲賵氐賱 丕賱賯丕乇卅 賮賴賲 鬲賮氐賷賱賷 賱賴匕丕 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 .. 賵毓賱賶 丕賱乇睾賲 兀賳 賴匕丕 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 賲賳 丕賱賲爻鬲丨賷賱 兀賳 賷鬲賲 賮賴賲賴 賮賴賲 鬲丕賲 賲賳 睾賷乇 兀賷 賱睾賵胤丕鬲 兀賵 鬲賳胤毓丕鬲.
賮 賯亘賱 兀賳 兀睾乇賯 賮賷 爻亘賵乇 賵 孬賳丕賷丕 賴匕丕 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 賰丕賳鬲 丕賱兀爻卅賱丞 丕賱鬲賷 鬲乇丕賵丿賳賷 賮賷 毓丕賱賲賳丕 賵賮賷 賰賵賳賳丕 丕賱賲胤賱賯 鬲賳丨氐乇 囟賲賳 丕賱毓卮乇丕鬲 貨 賵賱賰賲 亘毓丿 賯乇丕亍鬲賷 賰鬲丕亘 #賱賷夭丕_乇丕賳丿丕 乇丕賳丿賱 賮 兀爻鬲胤賷毓 丕賱噩夭賲 亘兀賳賴賲 賯丿 鬲毓丿賵丕 丕賱賲卅丕鬲 賲賳 丕賱鬲爻丕丐賱丕鬲 賵丕賱兀賮賰丕乇 丕賱睾賷乇 賲賮爻乇丞 賵賲賳賯丨賴 毓賱賲賷丕 !
賱賰賱 賲賳 賷亘丨孬 毓賳 乇丨賱丞 賲賵噩夭丞 賮賷 丕賱賮賷夭賷丕亍 亘丕賳賵丕毓賴丕 賮 賴匕丕 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 賱賰 ...
鈥�#鈥徹з嗀地璤亘賴_賵亘卮丿丞鈥� :))
鬲賯賷賷賲賷 丕賱卮禺氐賷 賱賱賰鬲丕亘
( 賰 賰鬲丕亘 毓賱賲賷 ) : 4.5 賲賳 5
( 賰 賰鬲丕亘 孬賯丕賮賷) : 3 賲賳 5
丕匕丕 賲丕 賰賳鬲 賵夭賷乇丕 賱賱鬲乇亘賷丞 賵丕賱鬲毓賱賷賲 賱亘賱丕丿賷 賱兀賲乇鬲 亘丨乇賯 噩賲賷毓 賰鬲丕亘 丕賱賮賷夭賷丕亍 賲賳 丕賱氐賮賵賮 丕賱丕毓丿丕丿賷丞 賵丕賱孬丕賳賵賷丞 賵兀賷囟丕 丕賱噩丕賲毓賷丞 ..... 賵賱丕爻鬲亘丿賱鬲賴丕 亘賴匕丕 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 !
賷毓鬲亘乇 賰鬲丕亘 #賱賷夭丕_乇丕賳丿丕 賯賳亘賱丞 賲賵賯賵鬲丞 賲賳 丕賱賲毓賱賵賲丕鬲 丕賱毓賱賲賷賴 丕賱鬲賷 賱丕 鬲賳賮賰 毓賳 丕賱馗賴賵乇 賮賷 賰賱 氐賮丨賴 賵爻胤乇 亘賷賳 孬賳丕賷丕 賴匕丕 丕賱賰鬲丕亘. 賮毓賱賶 睾乇丕乇 賲毓乇賮鬲賷 丕賱鬲賷 賱賷爻鬲 亘丕賱賵丕賴賳丞 賮賷 賲噩丕賱 丕賱賮賷夭賷丕亍 ( 賰賴丕賵 賱賱賮賷夭賷丕亍) 廿賱丕 兀賳 賴匕丕 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 賯丿賲 賱賷 賮賷 孬賳丕賷丕賴 賰賲賷丞 賲鬲丿賮賯賴 賲賳 丕賱賲毓賱賵賲丕鬲 丕賱鬲賷 賱賲 兀賰丿 兀賮賰乇 賯胤 賮賷 賵噩賵丿賴丕 賮賷 丨賷丕鬲賳丕 賵賮賷 賰賵賰亘賳丕 丕賱毓馗賷賲 !
賮賮賷 賴匕丕 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 兀禺匕鬲 噩賵賱賴 賲賮氐賱賴 賵乇丕卅毓賴 丕賱噩賵丕賳亘 亘賷賳 孬賳丕賷丕 丨丕賮丞 丕賱賰賵賳 .. 賮 丕賱鬲賯賷鬲 鬲丕乇丞 亘 乇賷鬲卮丕乇丿 賮丕賷乇賲丕賳 賵鬲丕乇丞 兀禺乇賶 亘賳賷賰賵賱丕 鬲賷爻賱丕貙 賵 賮囟賱丕 毓賳 丕賱亘乇鬲 丕賷賳卮鬲丕賷賳 貙 亘丕賷 亘丕賱 貙 噩丕賱賷賱賷賵 噩賷賱賷 貙 賴賷噩夭貙 乇丕匕乇賮賵乇丿 貙 廿爻丨丕賯 賳賷賵鬲賳 貙 賵兀賷囟丕 鬲卮丕乇賱夭 丿丕乇賵賳 !
丕賰孬乇 賲 丌孬丕乇 丕賴鬲賲丕賲賷 賮賷 賴匕丕 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 賴賵 賰賲賷丞 丕賱賲毓賱賵賲丕鬲 賵丕賱卮乇丨 丕賱賲賮氐賱 賵丕賱乇爻賵賲 丕賱鬲賳賵賷乇賷丞 丕賱鬲賷 鬲胤乇賯鬲 丕賱賷賴丕 丕賱賰丕鬲亘丞 賮賷 廿胤丕乇 卮乇丨賴丕 賱賱匕乇丞 賵鬲賰賵賷賳賴丕. 賮賴賷 賱賲 鬲鬲胤乇賯 賮賯胤 廿賱賶 賲噩爻賲 丕賱匕乇丞 丕賱賲鬲毓丕乇賮 毓賱賷賴 賲賳 亘乇賵鬲賵賳 賵賳賷賵鬲乇賵賳丕鬲 賵丕賱賰鬲乇賵賳丕鬲貙 亘賱 廿賳賴丕 兀禺匕鬲 丕賱賯乇丕亍 廿賱賶 賲丕 賵乇丕亍 毓丕賱賲 丕賱匕乇丞 亘賲乇丕丨賱 .. 賮 丕爻鬲毓乇囟鬲 噩賵丕賳亘 丕賱匕乇丞 丕賱睾丕賲囟丞 賲賳 賰賵丕乇賰丕鬲 亘丕賳賵丕毓賴丕 丕賱爻賮賱賷賴 賵丕賱毓賱賵賷賴 賵丕賱睾乇賷亘賴 賵丕賱爻丕丨乇賴 賵丕賱賯丕毓賷賴 賵丕賱賯賲賷賴貙 賵兀賷囟丕 丕爻鬲毓乇囟鬲 噩賵丕賳亘 丕賱匕乇賴 丕賱兀賰孬乇 睾賲囟丕 賵丕賱賲鬲賲孬賱賴 賮賷 丕賱賱亘鬲賵賳丕鬲 丕賱賲卮丨賵賳賴 賵丕賱賲鬲毓丕丿賱賴 賲賳 丕賱賰鬲乇賵賳丕鬲 賵噩爻賷賲 丕賱賳賷賵鬲乇賵賳賵 賵丕賱賲賷賵賵賳 賵丕賱鬲丕賵賳.. 賵賱賲 鬲鬲賵賯賮 毓賳丿 匕賱賰 丕賱丨丿 賯胤貙 亘賱 廿賳賴丕 鬲胤乇賯鬲 廿賱賶 兀賰孬乇 兀噩夭丕亍 丕賱匕乇丞 鬲毓賯賷丿丕 賵爻賱亘丕 賱賱丕亘丿丕毓 丕賱毓賱賲賷 丕賱丕賵賴賷 丕賱亘賵夭賵賳丕鬲 丕亘鬲丿丕亍丕 亘 丕賱賮賵鬲賵賳丕鬲 賵 丕賱噩賵锟斤拷賵賳丕鬲 丕賱乇丕亘胤賴 賱賱賰賵丕乇賰丕鬲 賵丕賳鬲賴丕亍丕 亘亘賵夭賵賳 鈥�#鈥徺囐娯测€�.
兀賷囟丕 賲賳 兀賰孬乇 賲丕 爻賷孬賷乇 丕賱賴丕賲 丕賱賯丕乇卅 賱賴匕丕 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 賴賵 丕賱鬲胤乇賯 賵丕賱賴賵賵爻 丕賱毓噩賷亘 賵丕賱賲賳賯胤毓 丕賱賳馗賷乇 賲賳 賯亘賱 #賱賷夭丕_乇丕賳丿丕 賱 賲氐丕丿賲丕鬲 丕賱匕乇丞 .... 賵匕賱賰 賱兀賳 丕賱賰丕鬲亘賴 鬲胤乇賯鬲 賱賴匕丕 丕賱賲賵囟賵毓 亘兀賰孬乇 賲賳 200 氐賮丨賴 賲賳 賰鬲丕亘賴丕 ..... 賮 卮乇毓鬲 亘爻乇丿 賯氐賴 亘賳丕亍 丕賵賱 賲氐丕丿賲 匕乇丕鬲 亘丕賱毓丕賱賲 賵丕賳鬲賴丕亍 亘 賲氐丕丿賲 丕賱賴賷丿乇賵丕賳丕鬲 丕賱賲爻賲賶 亘 賲氐丕丿賲 丕賱賴賷丿乇賵丕賳丕鬲 丕賱賵丕賯毓 賮賷 賲毓賲賱 爻賷乇賳.
丕賱賰鬲丕亘 賷囟賲 6 兀噩夭丕亍 賲賯爻賲丞 毓賱賶 丨丿丕 賵毓賱賶 丕賱賳丨賵 丕賱鬲丕賱賷 :
鈥�#鈥徹з勜藏丕賱丕賵賱鈥� 賷爻鬲毓乇囟 :
*丕賱囟卅賷賱 賮賷 賳馗乇賰 囟禺賲 賮賷 賳馗乇賷
*賰卮賮 丕賱兀爻乇丕乇
*丕賱毓賷卮 賮賷 毓丕賱賲 賲丕丿賷
*丕賱亘丨孬 毓賳 丕噩賵亘丞
鈥�#鈥徹з勜藏丕賱孬丕賳賷鈥� 賷爻鬲毓乇囟 :
*丕賱乇丨賱丞 丕賱睾丕賲囟丞 丕賱爻丕丨乇丞
*丕賱廿賷賲丕賳 亘賲丕 (賳乇丕賴)
*丨丕賮丞 丕賱賰賵賳
鈥�#鈥徹з勜藏丕賱孬丕賱孬鈥� 賷爻鬲毓乇囟 :
*丕賱丨賱賯丞 丕賱丨丕賰賲丞
*毓賵丿丞 丕賱丨賯賱 賱賱毓賲賱
*孬賯賵亘 爻賵丿丕亍 鬲亘鬲賱毓 丕賱毓丕賱賲
*毓賲賱 賲丨賮賵賮 亘丕賱賲禺丕胤乇
*丕賱賯賷丕爻 賵丕賱卮賰
*鬲噩乇亘鬲丕 丕賱賱賵賱亘 丕賱賲乇賰亘 賱賱賲賷賵賳丕鬲 賵賰丕卮賮 兀胤賱爻
*丕賱鬲毓乇賮 毓賱賶 丕賱噩爻賷賲丕鬲
鈥�#鈥徹з勜藏丕賱乇丕亘毓鈥� 賷爻鬲毓乇囟 :
*丕賱丨賯賷賯丞 賵丕賱噩賲丕賱 賵賲賮丕賴賷賲 毓賱賲賷賴 禺丕胤卅丞 兀禺乇賶
*亘亘賵夭賵賳 賴賷噩夭
*兀賮囟賱 丕賱賳賲丕匕噩 丕賱賲丨鬲賲賱丞
*丕賱兀爻賱賵亘 丕賱鬲氐丕毓丿賷 賮賷 賲賯丕亘賱 丕賱鬲賳丕夭賱賷
鈥�#鈥徹з勜藏丕賱禺丕賲爻鈥� 賷爻鬲毓乇囟 :
*乇丨賱丞 賳丨賵 丕賱禺丕乇噩
*丕賱囟禺賲 賮賷 賳馗乇賰 囟卅賷賱 賮賷 賳馗乇賷
*夭賵丕乇 賲賳 丕賱噩丕賳亘 丕賱賲馗賱賲
鈥�#鈥徹з勜藏丕賱爻丕丿爻鈥� 賷爻鬲毓乇囟 : ( 丕賱賲賮囟賱 賱丿賷 )
*丕賱鬲賮賰賷乇 毓賱賲賷丕 賵丕賱毓賲賱 賲丨賱賷丕.
賷爻鬲毓乇囟 賴匕丕 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 賰賷賮 賷丨丿丿 賮賷夭賷丕卅賷賵 丕賱胤丕賯丞 丕賱毓丕賱賷丞 賵毓賱賲丕亍 丕賱賰賵賳賷丕鬲 胤乇賷賯賴賲 賮賷 丕賱賵賯鬲 丕賱丨丕賱賷貙 賵賰賷賮 兀賳 丕賱噩賲毓 亘賷賳 丕賱賳馗乇賷丞 賵丕賱鬲噩乇賷亘 賷賲賰賳 兀賳 賷購賱賯賷 丕賱囟賵亍 毓賱賶 亘毓囟 丕賱兀爻卅賱丞 丕賱兀爻丕爻賷丞 賵丕賱毓賲賷賯丞. 賮鬲氐賮 賳馗乇賷丞 丕賱丕賳賮噩丕乇 丕賱毓馗賷賲 丕賱鬲賲丿 貙 賱賰賳賴丕 鬲鬲乇賰 亘丿賵賳 廿噩丕亘丞 丕賱兀爻卅賱丞 丕賱賲鬲毓賱賯丞 亘賲丕 丨丿孬 賯亘賱 丕賱丕賳賮噩丕乇貙 賮囟賱丕 毓賳 丕賱兀爻卅賱丞 丕賱賲鬲毓賱賯丞 亘胤亘賷毓丞 丕賱胤丕賯丞 丕賱賲馗賱賲丞 賵丕賱賲丕丿丞 丕賱賲馗賱賲丞. 賷鬲賳亘賻賾兀. 丕賷囟丕 丕賱賳賲賵匕噩 丕賱賯賷丕爻賷 亘丕賱鬲賮丕毓賱丕鬲
賺賾 亘賷賳 丕賱噩爻賷賲丕鬲 丕賱兀賵賱賷丞貙 賱賰賳賴 賷鬲乇賰 亘丿賵賳 丨賱 賻 丕賱兀爻卅賱丞 賻 丕賱賲鬲毓賱賯丞 亘丕賱兀爻亘丕亘 賵乇丕亍 賲丕 鬲鬲氐賮 亘賴 賴匕賴 丕賱鬲賮丕毓賱丕鬲 賲賳 禺氐丕卅氐. 賷賲賰賳 兀賳 鬲賰賵賳 丕賱賲丕丿丞 丕賱賲馗賱賲丞 賵亘賵夭賵賳 賴賷噩夭 賯乇賷亘賷賳 賲賳賻賾丕 賱賱睾丕賷丞貙 賵賰匕丕 丕賱兀丿賱丞 毓賱賶 丕賱鬲賳丕馗乇丕鬲 丕賱夭賲賰丕賳賷丞 兀賵 丨鬲賶 丕賱兀亘毓丕丿 丕賱噩丿賷丿丞 賱賱賮囟丕亍.
賸 丕爻鬲毓乇囟 賴匕丕 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 兀賷囟丕 丕賱鬲賵賯毓丕鬲 亘卮兀賳 亘毓囟 丕賱兀賮賰丕乇 丕賱兀賰孬乇 氐毓賵亘丞 賮賷 丕禺鬲亘丕乇 氐丨鬲賴丕貙 賵亘丕賱乇睾賲 賲賳 兀賳賴丕 鬲賵爻毓 賳胤丕賯 丕賱禺賷丕賱貙 賵賷賲賰賳 兀賳 鬲乇鬲亘胤 賮賷 丕賱賳賴丕賷丞 亘丕賱賵丕賯毓貙 賮賯丿 鬲亘賯賶賸 兀賷囟丕 賮賷 賳胤丕賯 丕賱賮賱爻賮丞 兀賵 丕賱丿賷賳. 賱賳 賷丿丨囟 丕賱毓賱賲 賮賰乇丞 丕賱兀賰賵丕賳 丕賱賲鬲毓丿丿丞 鈥� 兀賵 丕賱廿賱賴 賮賷 賸 賴匕賴 丕賱丨丕賱丞 鈥� 賱賰賳賴 賱賳 賷孬亘鬲 氐丨鬲賴丕 兀賷囟丕 毓賱賶 丕賱兀乇噩丨貙 賵賲毓 匕賱賰 賮廿賳 亘毓囟 噩賵丕賳亘 賮賰乇丞 丕賱兀賰賵丕賳 丕賱賲鬲毓丿丿丞 鈥� 賲孬賱 鬲賱賰 丕賱鬲賷 賷賲賰賳賴丕 鬲賮爻賷乇 丕賱鬲爻賱爻賱 丕賱賴乇賲賷 鈥� 賱賴丕 鬲亘毓丕鬲 賷賲賰賳 丕禺鬲亘丕乇 氐丨鬲賴丕貙 賵賷乇噩毓 丕賱賯乇丕乇 賱賱毓賱賲丕亍 賮賷 丿乇丕爻丞 匕賱賰 兀賵 丕爻鬲亘毓丕丿賴. 賲賳 丕賱毓賳丕氐乇 丕賱兀禺乇賶 丕賱乇卅賷爻賷丞 賮賷 賴匕丕 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 賲賮丕賴賷賲 毓賱賶 睾乇丕乇 丕賱賳胤丕賯貙 賵丕賱卮賰貙賵丕賱廿亘丿丕毓貙 賵丕賱丕爻鬲賳鬲丕噩 丕賱賳賯丿賷 丕賱毓賯賱丕賳賷貙 賵賴賷 賲賮丕賴賷賲 賲賳 卮兀賳賴丕 兀賳 鬲賳賷乇 丕賱胤乇賷賯 兀賲丕賲 賽賾 丕賱鬲賮賰賷乇 丕賱毓賱賲賷. 賮賷賲賰賳 兀賳 賳丐賲賳 亘兀賳 丕賱毓賱賲 爻賷丨賯賯 鬲賯丿賸賲丕 賮賷 丕賱鬲賵氐賱 廿賱賶 丕賱廿噩丕亘丕鬲貙 賵兀賳賺 丕賱鬲毓賯賷丿 賯丿 賷賳卮兀 亘賲乇賵乇 丕賱賵賯鬲貙 丨鬲賶 賯亘賱 兀賳 賳氐賱 廿賱賶 鬲賮爻賷乇 賵丕賮 賮賯丿 鬲賰賵賳 丕賱廿噩丕亘丕鬲 賲毓賯丿丞貙 賱賰賳 匕賱賰 賱丕 賷亘乇賽賾乇 丕賱鬲禺賱賷 毓賳 丕賱廿賷賲丕賳 亘丕賱毓賯賱 賵丕賱賲賳胤賯.
鈥�#鈥徺呝勜ж肛┾赌�
賷毓鬲亘乇 賰鬲丕亘 #丕賱胤乇賯_毓賱賶_丕亘賵丕亘_丕賱爻賲丕亍 賱 #賱賷夭丕_乇丕賳丿丕 賲賳 兀賰孬乇 丕賱賰鬲亘 丕賱鬲賷 兀禺匕鬲 賲賳賷 賵賯鬲 賮賷 丕賱賯乇丕亍丞 .... 賮賴賵 毓賱賶 睾乇丕乇 丕賱賲鬲毓賴 丕賱鬲賷 鬲賰賲賳 賮賷 孬賳丕賷丕賴 廿賱丕 兀賳賴 賷鬲胤賱亘 匕賴賳 氐丕賮 賵毓賯賱 賵丕毓 賵鬲乇賰賷夭 睾賷乇 賲鬲丿丕毓 賱賰賷 賷鬲賵氐賱 丕賱賯丕乇卅 賮賴賲 鬲賮氐賷賱賷 賱賴匕丕 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 .. 賵毓賱賶 丕賱乇睾賲 兀賳 賴匕丕 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 賲賳 丕賱賲爻鬲丨賷賱 兀賳 賷鬲賲 賮賴賲賴 賮賴賲 鬲丕賲 賲賳 睾賷乇 兀賷 賱睾賵胤丕鬲 兀賵 鬲賳胤毓丕鬲.
賮 賯亘賱 兀賳 兀睾乇賯 賮賷 爻亘賵乇 賵 孬賳丕賷丕 賴匕丕 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 賰丕賳鬲 丕賱兀爻卅賱丞 丕賱鬲賷 鬲乇丕賵丿賳賷 賮賷 毓丕賱賲賳丕 賵賮賷 賰賵賳賳丕 丕賱賲胤賱賯 鬲賳丨氐乇 囟賲賳 丕賱毓卮乇丕鬲 貨 賵賱賰賲 亘毓丿 賯乇丕亍鬲賷 賰鬲丕亘 #賱賷夭丕_乇丕賳丿丕 乇丕賳丿賱 賮 兀爻鬲胤賷毓 丕賱噩夭賲 亘兀賳賴賲 賯丿 鬲毓丿賵丕 丕賱賲卅丕鬲 賲賳 丕賱鬲爻丕丐賱丕鬲 賵丕賱兀賮賰丕乇 丕賱睾賷乇 賲賮爻乇丞 賵賲賳賯丨賴 毓賱賲賷丕 !
賱賰賱 賲賳 賷亘丨孬 毓賳 乇丨賱丞 賲賵噩夭丞 賮賷 丕賱賮賷夭賷丕亍 亘丕賳賵丕毓賴丕 賮 賴匕丕 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 賱賰 ...
鈥�#鈥徹з嗀地璤亘賴_賵亘卮丿丞鈥� :))
January 11, 2012
Eminent theoretical physicist Lisa Randall regards her new book "Knocking on Heaven's Door" as a "prequel" to her earlier "Warped Passages". But it is much more than that, as a clearly written statement by a distinguished scientist explaining how science works to an interested, if substantially scientific illiterate, public. While there are other books, such as those written by her high school and college classmate, physicist Brian Greene, which emphasize the state-of-the-art thinking in theoretical physics, Randall's is one that still deserves a wide readership, especially for its emphasis on how scientists conduct their scientific research, and in noting how the public often misinterprets it. These aspects of science, and the public's understanding of it, are the most important reasons why "Knocking of Heaven's Door" is an important contribution to popular scientific literature.
The notion of scaling - or rather, scale - is one of the most important concepts which Randall returns to again and again in "Knocking on Heaven's Door". She argues persuasively that, on a macroscopic scale, Newton's laws of motion are still relevant in explaining the motions of large objects such as planets and moons in the Solar System; it is only at atomic and subatomic scales that quantum mechanics does a much better job in explaining motions of subatomic particles. In other words, in plain English, Newtonian classical mechanics has become merely a subset of modern theoretical physics. A similar analogy exists for biology, with regards to the Darwin/Wallace Theory of Evolution via Natural Selection, now subsumed within the Modern Synthesis Theory of Evolution; the latter also incorporates population genetics and some aspects of both developmental biology and paleobiology (As an aside, I also recommend her reminder that evolution denialism isn't a problem only for religious conservatives, by recounting at the end of Chapter Three, an airplane conversation she had with a Hollywood actor trained in molecular biology, an Obama supporter, who rejects the biological evolution of humans since it is contrary to his religious views.).
Probabilistic thought is something which Randall also stresses throughout much of "Knocking on Heaven's Door". While she does not explain probability theory at any great length, she does explain via probability, why science is by very nature, a very tentative process in which there are no clearly defined answers that can be answered in the affirmative or negative with utmost certainty. This very underlying theme is one which underscores her conversations with noted Hollywood screenwriters and New York City dance choreographers that she cites as notable examples of misconceptions about the nature of science widely shared by the public. A firm understanding of probability theory is required for determining risk, which is discussed at length late in "Knocking on Heaven's Door" (Chapter Eleven). In a similar vein, I found equally rewarding her discussion of uncertainty as it pertains to both risk and experimental design (Chapter Twelve).
Most readers will appreciate her extensive discussion on the building and ongoing operation of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN's Swiss research facility. She eloquently ties that into current theoretical models in particle physics and cosmology, as well as to the two overarching themes of scale and probability that the reader encounters repeatedly throughout "Knocking on Heaven's Door". However, as compelling as that discussion is, the reader shouldn't forget that hers is a book which conveys to the general public, the very nature of science as seen through the eyes of this distinguished physicist.
The notion of scaling - or rather, scale - is one of the most important concepts which Randall returns to again and again in "Knocking on Heaven's Door". She argues persuasively that, on a macroscopic scale, Newton's laws of motion are still relevant in explaining the motions of large objects such as planets and moons in the Solar System; it is only at atomic and subatomic scales that quantum mechanics does a much better job in explaining motions of subatomic particles. In other words, in plain English, Newtonian classical mechanics has become merely a subset of modern theoretical physics. A similar analogy exists for biology, with regards to the Darwin/Wallace Theory of Evolution via Natural Selection, now subsumed within the Modern Synthesis Theory of Evolution; the latter also incorporates population genetics and some aspects of both developmental biology and paleobiology (As an aside, I also recommend her reminder that evolution denialism isn't a problem only for religious conservatives, by recounting at the end of Chapter Three, an airplane conversation she had with a Hollywood actor trained in molecular biology, an Obama supporter, who rejects the biological evolution of humans since it is contrary to his religious views.).
Probabilistic thought is something which Randall also stresses throughout much of "Knocking on Heaven's Door". While she does not explain probability theory at any great length, she does explain via probability, why science is by very nature, a very tentative process in which there are no clearly defined answers that can be answered in the affirmative or negative with utmost certainty. This very underlying theme is one which underscores her conversations with noted Hollywood screenwriters and New York City dance choreographers that she cites as notable examples of misconceptions about the nature of science widely shared by the public. A firm understanding of probability theory is required for determining risk, which is discussed at length late in "Knocking on Heaven's Door" (Chapter Eleven). In a similar vein, I found equally rewarding her discussion of uncertainty as it pertains to both risk and experimental design (Chapter Twelve).
Most readers will appreciate her extensive discussion on the building and ongoing operation of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN's Swiss research facility. She eloquently ties that into current theoretical models in particle physics and cosmology, as well as to the two overarching themes of scale and probability that the reader encounters repeatedly throughout "Knocking on Heaven's Door". However, as compelling as that discussion is, the reader shouldn't forget that hers is a book which conveys to the general public, the very nature of science as seen through the eyes of this distinguished physicist.
April 15, 2013
I have to admit that I'm really not sure who this book is for. It is written very simply overall which makes me assume it is for the general public. However, the author includes complicated scientific details without explaining them thoroughly. I have a BS in physics and I know enough to understand what she describes IF she gave enough information. I was also annoyed by her incessant name dropping and how much she talked about her accomplishments. In general I have no problem with an author talking about their work, but the way Dr. Randall does it just comes across as the writing of someone who likes to toot their own horn. I do agree with her general premise about the importance of science and scientific thinking. And I may just not be her target audience, but this book simply didn't work for me.
October 27, 2011
Once I had a guitar. I worked really, really hard on learning how to play, but never got the hang of it. I put it away. Ten years later I took it out of the closet, thinking to myself, I've been listening to a lot of music, and it's been ten years, I should be much better at this. That's right, I wasn't.
I'm interested in cosmology and physics in much the same way I'm interested in Buddhism, and a bit more than I was actually interested in the guitar. Let's take Buddhism first. I've read lots of books on the subject, and can carry on a decent conversation, but it wasn't until I started actually practicing that I understood anything - really, any thing - about it. Cosmology and physics. Fascinating. I've read a bunch of books. I keep thinking if I just read one more book I'll get what the hell these people are talking about - I mean, really get it. So, I picked up "Knocking on Heaven's Door." I admit, being a Dylan nut, the title got me, and I thought that anyone who would use a Dylan lyric (apt by the way) as a title, and other song titles as chapters would be able to give it to me in a way I'd understand. Nope. And I'm not blaming anyone but me, that's why I've given this book five stars. I don't want anyone to turn away from its possibilities just because I'm a dolt.
What I did learn, and this is important to me - it's all a matter of scale. Just because a neutrino can defy the laws of physics and move, at least momentarily, faster than light doesn't mean that anything bigger than said neutrino can do the same. So all you time travelers can unfasten your seat belts, you're still stuck. By the way, the jury is still out on whether said neutrino actually did break the speed limit. And, this book has nothing to do with said neutrino, I'm just using it as an example of how scale is important.
The other thing I got - scientists are still more connected to reality than theologians. Good science is willing to test and expand theory until it's no longer theory. Even the best theologians think the rock is solid, and god damn anyone who doesn't.
Anyway, Knocking on Heaven's Door, was ultimately too much for me - too much science that I plain couldn't get my pea brain around. That doesn't mean you shouldn't check it out.
I'm interested in cosmology and physics in much the same way I'm interested in Buddhism, and a bit more than I was actually interested in the guitar. Let's take Buddhism first. I've read lots of books on the subject, and can carry on a decent conversation, but it wasn't until I started actually practicing that I understood anything - really, any thing - about it. Cosmology and physics. Fascinating. I've read a bunch of books. I keep thinking if I just read one more book I'll get what the hell these people are talking about - I mean, really get it. So, I picked up "Knocking on Heaven's Door." I admit, being a Dylan nut, the title got me, and I thought that anyone who would use a Dylan lyric (apt by the way) as a title, and other song titles as chapters would be able to give it to me in a way I'd understand. Nope. And I'm not blaming anyone but me, that's why I've given this book five stars. I don't want anyone to turn away from its possibilities just because I'm a dolt.
What I did learn, and this is important to me - it's all a matter of scale. Just because a neutrino can defy the laws of physics and move, at least momentarily, faster than light doesn't mean that anything bigger than said neutrino can do the same. So all you time travelers can unfasten your seat belts, you're still stuck. By the way, the jury is still out on whether said neutrino actually did break the speed limit. And, this book has nothing to do with said neutrino, I'm just using it as an example of how scale is important.
The other thing I got - scientists are still more connected to reality than theologians. Good science is willing to test and expand theory until it's no longer theory. Even the best theologians think the rock is solid, and god damn anyone who doesn't.
Anyway, Knocking on Heaven's Door, was ultimately too much for me - too much science that I plain couldn't get my pea brain around. That doesn't mean you shouldn't check it out.
September 23, 2016
The first 2/3 of this book was a 3 star. Randall was all over the place with analogies and subject matter. It was hard to keep track of the points she was trying to make and for my desires it was a bit too light on the physics I was looking for. The last 1/3 completely made up for it. Good material on sub-atomic particles, the LHC, expansion of the universe, dark matter and a bit of string theory. Mostly over my head but I did feel my hair move in the breeze.
3.5 stars rounded down because too much of the book was a bit scattered. I would recommend or for a better focused and detailed survey of crazy physics.
3.5 stars rounded down because too much of the book was a bit scattered. I would recommend or for a better focused and detailed survey of crazy physics.
June 23, 2016
脫tima descri莽茫o de como funciona o LHC, como foi constru铆do e o que 茅 pesquisado l谩. 脡 impressionante pensar no volume dessa empreitada, o n煤mero de pesquisadores envolvidos e a pr贸pria escala do que 茅 feito l谩. O livro em si vai bem mais al茅m disso, 茅 voltado para quem n茫o tem familiaridade com a ci锚ncia. Ent茫o ela explica desde o processo cient铆fico 脿 v谩rias teorias cient铆ficas e quest玫es atuais que devem ser investigadas. Cobre bem do "bem-vindo 脿 ci锚ncia" ao conhecimento atual sobre quarks, gl煤ons e componentes da mat茅ria. Um pouco redundante com o , da mesma autora (gostei mais do Dark Matter) e para logo antes de descobrirem o B贸son de Higgs, ent茫o ficou um pouco desatualizado, embora nada que prejudique.
October 7, 2011
This "prequel" to Randall's other book, , is quite good.
Her writing style is (thankfully) much improved.
She talks a lot about scale and model dependent realism.
She tactfully tackles the topic of religion vs. science.
Her thesis is that these activities involve incompatible brain processes.
It's a neat insight, but she avoids stomping on religion's plethora of poor predictions.
My wife and I played a drinking game where we took a shot every time the book uses the word "phenomena".
We got quite drunk, indeed!
The useful part of this book to me isn't the philosophizing, but the technical descriptions of the LHC.
Not just the LHC hardware, but the theory and reasoning behind its operational goals.
As usual with this author, I learned a lot.
Her writing style is (thankfully) much improved.
She talks a lot about scale and model dependent realism.
She tactfully tackles the topic of religion vs. science.
Her thesis is that these activities involve incompatible brain processes.
It's a neat insight, but she avoids stomping on religion's plethora of poor predictions.
My wife and I played a drinking game where we took a shot every time the book uses the word "phenomena".
We got quite drunk, indeed!
The useful part of this book to me isn't the philosophizing, but the technical descriptions of the LHC.
Not just the LHC hardware, but the theory and reasoning behind its operational goals.
As usual with this author, I learned a lot.
March 4, 2012
This was quite a mish-mash of topics and quality. I really enjoyed some of the super-symmetry/particle physics discussion. The LHC motivation/justification seemed to be the main topic of this book, however, my impression was that this really should have been broken up into three or four separate books. There was some good physics and LHC background motivation. There was a totally disconnected chapter on the financial crises and climate change. There was a good proportion of this book on the philosophy of science (not at all really related to the LHC). I found the gratuitous name-dropping to be very annoying.
If you have not read "Warped Passages" -- go read that book instead (it is better). This is billed as a "prequel" to that book, but I found it be more of a mish-mash of ideas. A good editor (and maybe a well defined audience) seemed to be missing.
If you have not read "Warped Passages" -- go read that book instead (it is better). This is billed as a "prequel" to that book, but I found it be more of a mish-mash of ideas. A good editor (and maybe a well defined audience) seemed to be missing.
January 5, 2016
Lisa Randall is one of my all time favorite scientists and this book has become on of my favorite books. I noticed that of individuals who gave this book low ratings, the following critiques were often included in their reviews:
1) Randall does not write for the layperson/is too technical
2) This book seems a mashup hodgepodge of unrelated topics
3) Nothing new here- just cut and paste of her other books
To the first critique, while I agree that Randall has a more formal style (to me something necessary for one of the very few women in the boys club field of physics), she provides some of the simplest, most complete, and easy to understand examples of extremely complicated phenomenon, which I will detail when discussing the hodgepodge critique.
Secondly, when looked at on the whole, this book is not at all a hodgepodge of topics. The purpose of the book was to ask questions such as, "How can we do science?", "What gets in the way?", and "Who is doing science?". The book is structured by discussing the following:
- What often stands in the way of science? Religion. Randall unapologetically shares her concern for the role religion plays in encouraging individuals to suspend their critical thinking skills. She discusses why she believes that religion (as we currently practice it around the world) and science can never be compatible.
- What are some of the things science is trying to figure out? Great discussions of the role in theoretical and experimental physics on defining reality. Top notch.
- How can we conduct experiments to understand the nature of particles, how they get their mass, and other related questions? We can build atom smashers like CERN.
- Are there concerns about atom smashers (ie., will they create black holes that will swallow Earth)? The atoms smashers are safe and Randall is clear about why.
- Should society be more concerned about other dangers to Earth? Yes, global warming and the financial crisis. It takes a lot of money to run atom smashers. We need to make choices about where our government's dollars go. Is funding science just for fun or does it have practical implications?
- Once we fund and conduct experiments in atom smashers, how can we understand what we find? You must understand methods, statistics, probability, the scientific process, etc. If you don't understand these things, you will have trouble making heads or tails of any finding, be it in studies in the hard sciences or even in psychology or any other social science.
- She ends by talking about passionate people. Who are scientists? What drives them? Why do we even ask deep questions?
Lastly, to the 3rd critique, yes Randall includes information from all her previous books. In fact, Heaven's Door (Which should have been titled, "Get the Hell Out of My Way and Let Me Do Awesome, Exciting Science") treats readers to incredible summaries of her previous books. Want to know the take home message from Warped Passages or Higgs? Randall *must* include these summaries if you are to get the whole picture. She doesn't simply focus on extra dimensions and does not exclusively focus on the role of the Higgs. She focuses on how the many questions in physics/cosmology today are being investigated. Her summaries are excellent and concise and serve to remind the reader of their importance in understanding reality in general.
This book is aimed at the educated layperson. I do not hold a degree in physics but was easily able to follow each discussion. Just as I love Nick Lane's books, which discuss the energy demands and availability for life to have arisen on Earth, Randall discusses the energy requirements for the universe to arise and expand. Nick Lane's books are far less accessible, but somehow, (maybe because he is a dude?) he doesn't get slammed for going over people's heads as often as Randall does, even though she writes in a way that is far more accessible. Her discussions of matter and anti matter were boiled down to the simplest math possible, something a middle schooler could comprehend. Her discussion of dark matter was equally elementary, yet shockingly complex, because she excels in explaining things in a way that many of her colleagues don't. I have read so many books on similar topics. By far Randall does the best job of explaining how to look at matter and antimatter by simply looking at charges, or dark matter simply by understanding gravitational pull and interaction with light, or how gravity itself works on branes based on position of brane and particles stuck to that brane.
I have watched her talks, and many of them are aimed at physics students. Even those given at public libraries tend to be a bit difficult to follow, only because these are difficult subjects to convey, since they are difficult to even think about. She is much better at conveying her ideas in a book. (Though her lectures are amazing and completely worth watching).
I am extremely excited for her book on Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs. She is the first to point out that we need to be cautious when examining and interpreting the data, but that asking questions that help us map out how the universe works, from its inception to now and beyond, is always a great place to start. I feel certain her review of the data will be extremely balanced.
My score for this book = A++
1) Randall does not write for the layperson/is too technical
2) This book seems a mashup hodgepodge of unrelated topics
3) Nothing new here- just cut and paste of her other books
To the first critique, while I agree that Randall has a more formal style (to me something necessary for one of the very few women in the boys club field of physics), she provides some of the simplest, most complete, and easy to understand examples of extremely complicated phenomenon, which I will detail when discussing the hodgepodge critique.
Secondly, when looked at on the whole, this book is not at all a hodgepodge of topics. The purpose of the book was to ask questions such as, "How can we do science?", "What gets in the way?", and "Who is doing science?". The book is structured by discussing the following:
- What often stands in the way of science? Religion. Randall unapologetically shares her concern for the role religion plays in encouraging individuals to suspend their critical thinking skills. She discusses why she believes that religion (as we currently practice it around the world) and science can never be compatible.
- What are some of the things science is trying to figure out? Great discussions of the role in theoretical and experimental physics on defining reality. Top notch.
- How can we conduct experiments to understand the nature of particles, how they get their mass, and other related questions? We can build atom smashers like CERN.
- Are there concerns about atom smashers (ie., will they create black holes that will swallow Earth)? The atoms smashers are safe and Randall is clear about why.
- Should society be more concerned about other dangers to Earth? Yes, global warming and the financial crisis. It takes a lot of money to run atom smashers. We need to make choices about where our government's dollars go. Is funding science just for fun or does it have practical implications?
- Once we fund and conduct experiments in atom smashers, how can we understand what we find? You must understand methods, statistics, probability, the scientific process, etc. If you don't understand these things, you will have trouble making heads or tails of any finding, be it in studies in the hard sciences or even in psychology or any other social science.
- She ends by talking about passionate people. Who are scientists? What drives them? Why do we even ask deep questions?
Lastly, to the 3rd critique, yes Randall includes information from all her previous books. In fact, Heaven's Door (Which should have been titled, "Get the Hell Out of My Way and Let Me Do Awesome, Exciting Science") treats readers to incredible summaries of her previous books. Want to know the take home message from Warped Passages or Higgs? Randall *must* include these summaries if you are to get the whole picture. She doesn't simply focus on extra dimensions and does not exclusively focus on the role of the Higgs. She focuses on how the many questions in physics/cosmology today are being investigated. Her summaries are excellent and concise and serve to remind the reader of their importance in understanding reality in general.
This book is aimed at the educated layperson. I do not hold a degree in physics but was easily able to follow each discussion. Just as I love Nick Lane's books, which discuss the energy demands and availability for life to have arisen on Earth, Randall discusses the energy requirements for the universe to arise and expand. Nick Lane's books are far less accessible, but somehow, (maybe because he is a dude?) he doesn't get slammed for going over people's heads as often as Randall does, even though she writes in a way that is far more accessible. Her discussions of matter and anti matter were boiled down to the simplest math possible, something a middle schooler could comprehend. Her discussion of dark matter was equally elementary, yet shockingly complex, because she excels in explaining things in a way that many of her colleagues don't. I have read so many books on similar topics. By far Randall does the best job of explaining how to look at matter and antimatter by simply looking at charges, or dark matter simply by understanding gravitational pull and interaction with light, or how gravity itself works on branes based on position of brane and particles stuck to that brane.
I have watched her talks, and many of them are aimed at physics students. Even those given at public libraries tend to be a bit difficult to follow, only because these are difficult subjects to convey, since they are difficult to even think about. She is much better at conveying her ideas in a book. (Though her lectures are amazing and completely worth watching).
I am extremely excited for her book on Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs. She is the first to point out that we need to be cautious when examining and interpreting the data, but that asking questions that help us map out how the universe works, from its inception to now and beyond, is always a great place to start. I feel certain her review of the data will be extremely balanced.
My score for this book = A++
March 3, 2020
Randall combines a decent overview of physics and CERN with a good account of scientific thinking (scale, effective theory, probability, etc.).
October 8, 2013
I don't give many books five stars before I read them in their entirety, but I am so impressed with Lisa Randall and her philosophical arguments in the first part of this very timely book. Namely she tackles the issue of religious thinking vs. scientific thinking head on.
While she is clearly prejudiced in favor of the latter, being an honored Theoretical Physicist and Professor, she covers many salient points that concern both and manages to assert her understandings of the arguments without being condescending and disrespectful of the religious viewpoint. She does express surprise and confusion at encounters with people who feel they can reconcile the two viewpoints, but she does so with an understanding of the history of scientific thought and how it has evolved over the centuries from dogmatic thinking to more open ended theorizing.
This is merely an introduction to the real subject of the book which is the development of the large Hadron collider in Cern, Switzerland and the ideas that lead to its construction, but her observations are pointed and focused enough that you sense she understands the human need for certainty when approaching the subject of science.
I will have to return this to the Public Library eventually, but I'm hoping that despite the dry subject matter, Randall's engaging text and discussion will help me delve deeper into this subject before my loan expires.
While she is clearly prejudiced in favor of the latter, being an honored Theoretical Physicist and Professor, she covers many salient points that concern both and manages to assert her understandings of the arguments without being condescending and disrespectful of the religious viewpoint. She does express surprise and confusion at encounters with people who feel they can reconcile the two viewpoints, but she does so with an understanding of the history of scientific thought and how it has evolved over the centuries from dogmatic thinking to more open ended theorizing.
This is merely an introduction to the real subject of the book which is the development of the large Hadron collider in Cern, Switzerland and the ideas that lead to its construction, but her observations are pointed and focused enough that you sense she understands the human need for certainty when approaching the subject of science.
I will have to return this to the Public Library eventually, but I'm hoping that despite the dry subject matter, Randall's engaging text and discussion will help me delve deeper into this subject before my loan expires.
April 6, 2013
Lisa Randall's book is another attempt in a long line of books about contemporary physics which is aimed at the interested buy not scientifically educated public. It must be extremely difficult to explain highly sophisticated, highly-mathematically oriented concepts to the lay reader while maintaining his or her interest. We should thank these brilliant and gifted scientists for making the effort to help us understand these often non-intuitive concepts without the use of the difficult math which underlies them.
On the other hand we need to recognize that these scientists need to keep us taxpayers mentally engaged while they ask for funding for evermore increasing costly equipment both on the ground and in space. In these difficult economic times with limited government spending around the world, austerity is hitting the scientific community and taxpayers and politicians alike are increasingly challenging spending on projects they barely understand. Politicians and policy-makers are asking questions like how these enormously expensive experiments will affect the daily lives of their constituents who are already suffering from unemployment and government austerity measures.
Ms. Randall does a credible job in trying to make her case for this type of scientific pursuit. We hope she succeeds.
On the other hand we need to recognize that these scientists need to keep us taxpayers mentally engaged while they ask for funding for evermore increasing costly equipment both on the ground and in space. In these difficult economic times with limited government spending around the world, austerity is hitting the scientific community and taxpayers and politicians alike are increasingly challenging spending on projects they barely understand. Politicians and policy-makers are asking questions like how these enormously expensive experiments will affect the daily lives of their constituents who are already suffering from unemployment and government austerity measures.
Ms. Randall does a credible job in trying to make her case for this type of scientific pursuit. We hope she succeeds.
February 12, 2016
丕賱胤乇賯 毓賱賷 丕亘賵丕亘 丕賱爻賲丕亍
賰賷賮 鬲賳賷乇 丕賱賮賷夭賷丕亍 賵 丕賱鬲賮賰賷乇 丕賱毓賱賲賷 丕賱賰賵賳 賵 丕賱毓丕賱賲 丕賱賲毓丕氐乇
鬲丕賱賷賮 / 賱賷夭丕 乇丕賳丿賱
.........................
賰鬲丕亘 氐毓亘 賰丕賱毓丕丿丞 貙 賱丕賳賳賷 賯賱賷賱 丕賱丕胤賱丕毓 毓賱賷 賰鬲亘 丕賱毓賱賵賲 . 賷鬲丨丿孬 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 毓賳 亘丨賵孬 丕賱賮賷夭賷丕卅賷賷賳 賵 毓賱賲丕亍 丕賱賮賱賰 賵 賰賷賮 鬲胤賵乇鬲 亘丨賵孬賴賲 丕賱賷 丨丿 賲匕賴賱 貨 賮賯丿 賵氐賱賵丕 賱丕賳卮丕亍 賵 亘賳丕亍 " 賲氐丕丿賲 丕賱賴賷丿乇賵賳丕鬲 丕賱賰亘賷乇 " !!!.
賵 賷丿賵乇 噩夭亍 賰亘賷乇 賲賳 賲賵囟賵毓 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 毓賳 賲氐丕丿賲 丕賱賴賷丿乇賵賳丕鬲 丕賱賰亘賷乇 賵 丕賱丕賳噩丕夭丕鬲 丕賱毓賱賲賷丞 丕賱賲鬲賵賯毓丞 賲賳 賵乇丕亍 鬲卮睾賷賱賴 .
賷丨鬲賵賷 賲氐丕丿賲 丕賱賴賷乇賵賳丕鬲 丕賱賰亘賷乇 毓賱賷 賳賮賯 丨賱賯賷 ( 毓賱賷 卮賰賱 丨賱賯丞 ) 囟禺賲 賷亘賱睾 胤賵賱賴 6,26 賰賲 貙 賵 賷賲鬲丿 丕賱賷 毓賲賯 賰亘賷乇 鬲丨鬲 丕賱丕乇囟 賵 賷賲乇 亘丕賱丨丿賵丿 丕賱賮乇賳爻賷丞 丕賱爻賵賷爻乇賷丞 . 賵 鬲毓賲賱 丕賱賲噩丕賱丕鬲 丕賱賰賴乇亘丕卅賷丞 丿丕禺賱 賴匕丕 丕賱賳賮賯 毓賱賷 鬲毓噩賷賱 丨夭賲鬲賷 噩爻賷賲丕鬲 鬲鬲賰賵賳 賰賱 賲賳賴賲丕 賲賳 賲賱賷丕乇丕鬲 丕賱亘乇賵鬲賵賳丕鬲 ( 丕賱鬲賷 鬲賳鬲賲賷 丕賱賷 賮卅丞 丕賱賴賷丿乇賵賳丕鬲 ) 亘丨賷孬 鬲丿賵乇丕賳 丿丕禺賱 丕賱賳賮賯 丕賱丨賱賯賷 亘賲毓丿賱 11 丕賱賮 丿賵乇丞 賮賷 丕賱孬丕賳賷丞 丕賱賵丕丨丿丞 . 賵 丕賱賴丿賮 賲賳賴 丕噩乇丕亍 丿乇丕爻丕鬲 毓賳 亘賳賷丞 丕賱賲丕丿丞 毓賳丿 賲爻丕賮丕鬲 賱賲 賷爻亘賯 賯賷丕爻賴丕 賯胤 .
賷丨鬲賵賷 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 毓賱賷 賮氐賵賱 賵 賲毓賱賵賲丕鬲 鬲鬲胤乇賯 丕賱賷 丕賱毓賱丕賯丞 亘賷賳 丕賱毓賱賲 賵 丕賱丿賷賳 賵 鬲賲爻 賮賷 亘毓囟 丨丿賷孬賴丕 賲賵囟賵毓 丕賱賮賳 賵 丕賱賳馗乇丞 丕賱賮賳賷丞 賱賱毓丕賱賲 賵 丕賱賳馗乇丞 丕賱毓賱賲賷丞 賱賴 貙 賵 賲丕 賷亘丨孬 賮賷賴 丕賱丿賷賳 賵 賲丕 賷亘丨孬 賮賷賴 丕賱毓賱賲 . 賵 賰賷賮 丕賳鬲賴賷 丕賱毓賱賲 丕賱賷 丕賱賳馗乇 丕賱賷 丕賱噩賲丕賱 賮賷 丕賱賳馗乇賷丕鬲 丕賱毓賱賲賷丞 丕賱噩丿賷丿丞 賵 賰賷賮 丕氐亘丨 噩賲丕賱 丕賱賳馗乇賷丞 丕丨丿 毓賵丕賲賱 丕賯鬲賳丕毓 丕賱毓丕賱賲 亘賴丕 .
丕賱賰鬲丕亘 卮丿賷丿 丕賱丿爻丕賲丞 賵 卮丿賷丿 丕賱氐毓賵亘丞 禺氐賵氐丕 賱賲賳 賯賱鬲 賯乇丕亍鬲賴 丕賱毓賱賲賷丞 賱丕賳賴 爻賷噩丿 賮賷賴 賲氐胤賱丨丕鬲 賵 賲賵囟賵毓丕鬲 卮丿賷丿丞 丕賱睾乇丕亘丞 . 賱賰賳 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 賮賷 丕賱賳賴丕賷丞 賴丕賲 噩丿丕 賵 丕賳氐丨 亘賯乇丕亍鬲賴.
賰賷賮 鬲賳賷乇 丕賱賮賷夭賷丕亍 賵 丕賱鬲賮賰賷乇 丕賱毓賱賲賷 丕賱賰賵賳 賵 丕賱毓丕賱賲 丕賱賲毓丕氐乇
鬲丕賱賷賮 / 賱賷夭丕 乇丕賳丿賱
.........................
賰鬲丕亘 氐毓亘 賰丕賱毓丕丿丞 貙 賱丕賳賳賷 賯賱賷賱 丕賱丕胤賱丕毓 毓賱賷 賰鬲亘 丕賱毓賱賵賲 . 賷鬲丨丿孬 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 毓賳 亘丨賵孬 丕賱賮賷夭賷丕卅賷賷賳 賵 毓賱賲丕亍 丕賱賮賱賰 賵 賰賷賮 鬲胤賵乇鬲 亘丨賵孬賴賲 丕賱賷 丨丿 賲匕賴賱 貨 賮賯丿 賵氐賱賵丕 賱丕賳卮丕亍 賵 亘賳丕亍 " 賲氐丕丿賲 丕賱賴賷丿乇賵賳丕鬲 丕賱賰亘賷乇 " !!!.
賵 賷丿賵乇 噩夭亍 賰亘賷乇 賲賳 賲賵囟賵毓 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 毓賳 賲氐丕丿賲 丕賱賴賷丿乇賵賳丕鬲 丕賱賰亘賷乇 賵 丕賱丕賳噩丕夭丕鬲 丕賱毓賱賲賷丞 丕賱賲鬲賵賯毓丞 賲賳 賵乇丕亍 鬲卮睾賷賱賴 .
賷丨鬲賵賷 賲氐丕丿賲 丕賱賴賷乇賵賳丕鬲 丕賱賰亘賷乇 毓賱賷 賳賮賯 丨賱賯賷 ( 毓賱賷 卮賰賱 丨賱賯丞 ) 囟禺賲 賷亘賱睾 胤賵賱賴 6,26 賰賲 貙 賵 賷賲鬲丿 丕賱賷 毓賲賯 賰亘賷乇 鬲丨鬲 丕賱丕乇囟 賵 賷賲乇 亘丕賱丨丿賵丿 丕賱賮乇賳爻賷丞 丕賱爻賵賷爻乇賷丞 . 賵 鬲毓賲賱 丕賱賲噩丕賱丕鬲 丕賱賰賴乇亘丕卅賷丞 丿丕禺賱 賴匕丕 丕賱賳賮賯 毓賱賷 鬲毓噩賷賱 丨夭賲鬲賷 噩爻賷賲丕鬲 鬲鬲賰賵賳 賰賱 賲賳賴賲丕 賲賳 賲賱賷丕乇丕鬲 丕賱亘乇賵鬲賵賳丕鬲 ( 丕賱鬲賷 鬲賳鬲賲賷 丕賱賷 賮卅丞 丕賱賴賷丿乇賵賳丕鬲 ) 亘丨賷孬 鬲丿賵乇丕賳 丿丕禺賱 丕賱賳賮賯 丕賱丨賱賯賷 亘賲毓丿賱 11 丕賱賮 丿賵乇丞 賮賷 丕賱孬丕賳賷丞 丕賱賵丕丨丿丞 . 賵 丕賱賴丿賮 賲賳賴 丕噩乇丕亍 丿乇丕爻丕鬲 毓賳 亘賳賷丞 丕賱賲丕丿丞 毓賳丿 賲爻丕賮丕鬲 賱賲 賷爻亘賯 賯賷丕爻賴丕 賯胤 .
賷丨鬲賵賷 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 毓賱賷 賮氐賵賱 賵 賲毓賱賵賲丕鬲 鬲鬲胤乇賯 丕賱賷 丕賱毓賱丕賯丞 亘賷賳 丕賱毓賱賲 賵 丕賱丿賷賳 賵 鬲賲爻 賮賷 亘毓囟 丨丿賷孬賴丕 賲賵囟賵毓 丕賱賮賳 賵 丕賱賳馗乇丞 丕賱賮賳賷丞 賱賱毓丕賱賲 賵 丕賱賳馗乇丞 丕賱毓賱賲賷丞 賱賴 貙 賵 賲丕 賷亘丨孬 賮賷賴 丕賱丿賷賳 賵 賲丕 賷亘丨孬 賮賷賴 丕賱毓賱賲 . 賵 賰賷賮 丕賳鬲賴賷 丕賱毓賱賲 丕賱賷 丕賱賳馗乇 丕賱賷 丕賱噩賲丕賱 賮賷 丕賱賳馗乇賷丕鬲 丕賱毓賱賲賷丞 丕賱噩丿賷丿丞 賵 賰賷賮 丕氐亘丨 噩賲丕賱 丕賱賳馗乇賷丞 丕丨丿 毓賵丕賲賱 丕賯鬲賳丕毓 丕賱毓丕賱賲 亘賴丕 .
丕賱賰鬲丕亘 卮丿賷丿 丕賱丿爻丕賲丞 賵 卮丿賷丿 丕賱氐毓賵亘丞 禺氐賵氐丕 賱賲賳 賯賱鬲 賯乇丕亍鬲賴 丕賱毓賱賲賷丞 賱丕賳賴 爻賷噩丿 賮賷賴 賲氐胤賱丨丕鬲 賵 賲賵囟賵毓丕鬲 卮丿賷丿丞 丕賱睾乇丕亘丞 . 賱賰賳 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 賮賷 丕賱賳賴丕賷丞 賴丕賲 噩丿丕 賵 丕賳氐丨 亘賯乇丕亍鬲賴.
May 10, 2014
I really enjoyed this book: I'd love to give it 5 stars but three things prevent it for me:
(1) I didn't understand the narrative flow, although I enjoyed each chapter. I couldn't quite follow the thread, robbing me of the final satisfaction of seeing it "all come together". Maybe the chapters weren't intended to build on each other (much) and I only imagined that they should?
(2) In several cases, I *almost* understood the physics but wished that she had used just one more example, or substituted a few smaller words to convey an even bigger idea.
And (3) it's not Randall's fault, but so much of the book was about the Higgs boson and what MIGHT be discovered--the book would have been 10% shorter (and less hypothetical) if published just **one year later** after confirmation of the Higgs discovery. I hope she has a second edition in the works that doesn't just ADD a chapter about the Higgs, but instead SHORTENS and removes those what-ifs.
(1) I didn't understand the narrative flow, although I enjoyed each chapter. I couldn't quite follow the thread, robbing me of the final satisfaction of seeing it "all come together". Maybe the chapters weren't intended to build on each other (much) and I only imagined that they should?
(2) In several cases, I *almost* understood the physics but wished that she had used just one more example, or substituted a few smaller words to convey an even bigger idea.
And (3) it's not Randall's fault, but so much of the book was about the Higgs boson and what MIGHT be discovered--the book would have been 10% shorter (and less hypothetical) if published just **one year later** after confirmation of the Higgs discovery. I hope she has a second edition in the works that doesn't just ADD a chapter about the Higgs, but instead SHORTENS and removes those what-ifs.
December 1, 2018
Wonderful book about particle physics. Lisa Randall takes you on a very exciting journey as she explains how the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) works, where the the idea for it came from and what interpretations will be made out of experimental data. She takes the time to talk a bit about the Higgs particle (it was not discovered yet when the book was written). As we get to the end, she also discusses our current status in cosmology and the enigma surrounding dark matter and dark energy and why we are so confident that they exist. There's also a section where the compatibility between religion and science is looked at.
It's a very interesting book. Highly recommended even if you're not familiar with particle physics. I certainly got so much insight out of it.
It's a very interesting book. Highly recommended even if you're not familiar with particle physics. I certainly got so much insight out of it.
July 1, 2022
My problems with this book start with the blurb: 鈥淗ow physics and scientific thinking illuminate the universe and the modern world.鈥� What is not meant is that scientific thinking led to the invention of the light bulb. What is meant (I think) is that scientific thinking eventually changes the laymen鈥檚 thinking. Even hardcore creationist believe that the earth revolves around the sun. That is progress. But the concept of evolution has not yet managed to illuminate our world entirely. And how many people do you know who tell you that everything is relative? Or who mumble something about the uncertainty principle? But okay, so maybe learning that there is dark matter (or physicists think there is) or that there is something called technicolor somehow illuminates our modern world. But even if this were the case, this book certainly does not tell us how the illumination works.
And even granted that the modern world gets illuminated in what sense of the word will the universe be illuminated by physics? Maybe you can think of some obscure metaphorical sense. But at best the blurb is a bad mixture of metaphors. But probably it is just nonsense.
Okay, maybe I should not blame Randall for the blurb. What about the book? What is it really about? Something about the Large Hadron Collider, that is for sure. There is a lot of (to me boring) technical detail and I think she is trying to tell us why the LHC is important and what kinds of discoveries (like the Higgs boson) are to be expected. And so she tries to give some historical background and tries to tell us what the questions are that contemporary physicists want to answer.
The problem is that she is not a good explainer. And she jumps back and forth and sometimes I have no idea what her intentions might be. For example she contrasts scientific with religious thinking but I do not get what it is she wants to tell us. She does include an excellent quote from Augustine that I did not know: 鈥淚t is [...] offensive and disgraceful for an unbeliever to hear a Christian talk nonsense about such things [the motions of the stars e.g.] claiming that what he is saying is base in Scripture.鈥�
This is great, but I do not understand the context.
Then she is talking a lot about economists. How they are responsible for so much misery. How stupid they are and how bad it is that they (meaning the banks) do get all the money whereas the brilliant scientists in the US must live with the fact that LHC was built in Europe. Being jealous is only human but to put this in a book is bad style.
So whereas the predictions of economists are bad we can trust the physicists. When it comes to dangers in connection with LHC. There are none. And if they are 鈥� if black holes are created that destroy the earth e.g.鈥� she takes full responsibility. An attempt at humour.
Well, not that I am afraid of LHC, but certainly not because I trust Randall. And here I come to problems at the micro-level. Just two examples. She talks about Harvey and how he discovered blood circulation. And in passing she mentions Malpighi discovering the capillary system 鈥渙nly in 1661鈥�. But she never mentions when Harvey made his discoveries. Was it 10 years earlier? 50? Are we supposed to already know that? Is it not important?
Or how about this: 鈥淭he NBA player Joakim Noah is a friend of my cousin. [...] Joakim is mesmerizingly tall. But the fact is, he is only about 15% taller that the average human being...鈥� (p. 71)
Wouldn鈥檛 it be nice if she just told us how tall this guy is? Or to give us the average height so that we could calculate his height? Now, the fact is the guy is 211 cm tall. Amazing. Amazing that this is supposed to be 15% taller than the average human being. I could not get an exact number but the height of the average American Male is about 177 cm. My guess is that the average height of an adult human being cannot be more than 170 cm. Which means Joakim is at least 25% taller.
It is not so much the mistake I hold against her (maybe it is even a typo) but the fact that she does not give us the figures. Which means, I do not trust her.
So maybe she is brilliant. Maybe she gets her Nobel price (for being able not only to think out of the box, as she modestly tells us, but outside of our dimensions). But this is a poorly written book that (except for the Augustine quotes) has next to no merits.
And even granted that the modern world gets illuminated in what sense of the word will the universe be illuminated by physics? Maybe you can think of some obscure metaphorical sense. But at best the blurb is a bad mixture of metaphors. But probably it is just nonsense.
Okay, maybe I should not blame Randall for the blurb. What about the book? What is it really about? Something about the Large Hadron Collider, that is for sure. There is a lot of (to me boring) technical detail and I think she is trying to tell us why the LHC is important and what kinds of discoveries (like the Higgs boson) are to be expected. And so she tries to give some historical background and tries to tell us what the questions are that contemporary physicists want to answer.
The problem is that she is not a good explainer. And she jumps back and forth and sometimes I have no idea what her intentions might be. For example she contrasts scientific with religious thinking but I do not get what it is she wants to tell us. She does include an excellent quote from Augustine that I did not know: 鈥淚t is [...] offensive and disgraceful for an unbeliever to hear a Christian talk nonsense about such things [the motions of the stars e.g.] claiming that what he is saying is base in Scripture.鈥�
This is great, but I do not understand the context.
Then she is talking a lot about economists. How they are responsible for so much misery. How stupid they are and how bad it is that they (meaning the banks) do get all the money whereas the brilliant scientists in the US must live with the fact that LHC was built in Europe. Being jealous is only human but to put this in a book is bad style.
So whereas the predictions of economists are bad we can trust the physicists. When it comes to dangers in connection with LHC. There are none. And if they are 鈥� if black holes are created that destroy the earth e.g.鈥� she takes full responsibility. An attempt at humour.
Well, not that I am afraid of LHC, but certainly not because I trust Randall. And here I come to problems at the micro-level. Just two examples. She talks about Harvey and how he discovered blood circulation. And in passing she mentions Malpighi discovering the capillary system 鈥渙nly in 1661鈥�. But she never mentions when Harvey made his discoveries. Was it 10 years earlier? 50? Are we supposed to already know that? Is it not important?
Or how about this: 鈥淭he NBA player Joakim Noah is a friend of my cousin. [...] Joakim is mesmerizingly tall. But the fact is, he is only about 15% taller that the average human being...鈥� (p. 71)
Wouldn鈥檛 it be nice if she just told us how tall this guy is? Or to give us the average height so that we could calculate his height? Now, the fact is the guy is 211 cm tall. Amazing. Amazing that this is supposed to be 15% taller than the average human being. I could not get an exact number but the height of the average American Male is about 177 cm. My guess is that the average height of an adult human being cannot be more than 170 cm. Which means Joakim is at least 25% taller.
It is not so much the mistake I hold against her (maybe it is even a typo) but the fact that she does not give us the figures. Which means, I do not trust her.
So maybe she is brilliant. Maybe she gets her Nobel price (for being able not only to think out of the box, as she modestly tells us, but outside of our dimensions). But this is a poorly written book that (except for the Augustine quotes) has next to no merits.
January 31, 2018
This was one of the best science divulgation books I've read. Lisa Randall makes excellent comments of the latest advances in physics, masterfully explaining relevant aspects about the weirdly interesting new discoveries and theories in Quantum Mechanics, and the new insights regarding the macro-structure of the Cosmos as told by modern Cosmology. She dedicates a good part of the book to tell us about the LHC history, perfectly illustrating it's importance. It's not only one of, if no the, biggest experiments ever conceived and executed by humanity, but one of the more solid proves that collaboration is essential for scientific progress. Science is difficult, and few things demonstrate it better than the LHC, from construction to operation to data analysis; every step of the way wasn't only difficult, but required huge amounts of international collaboration and effort of those involved.
The most impressive aspect of the book is how inspiring it can be, especially for young scientists as myself. She provides an incredible view of what science is, and how difficult and satisfying it can be to be part of it. Scientists are people as any other, without magical powers or superhuman intellects (maybe with the exception of a particularly big curiosity ever present). Their discoveries require as much hard work and creativity as any other work, and a good bit of collaboration is always necessary, aspects too often forgotten by the academia. Paths are often difficult to follow, and answers usually are not clear and come from unexpected places, when they get to us. As scientists "we don't necessarily always know where we are headed (...). Preparation and skill, concentration and perseverance, asking the right questions, and cautiously trusting our imaginations will all help us in our search for understanding. So will open minds, conversations with others, wanting to do better than our predecessors or peers, and believing there are answers."
The most impressive aspect of the book is how inspiring it can be, especially for young scientists as myself. She provides an incredible view of what science is, and how difficult and satisfying it can be to be part of it. Scientists are people as any other, without magical powers or superhuman intellects (maybe with the exception of a particularly big curiosity ever present). Their discoveries require as much hard work and creativity as any other work, and a good bit of collaboration is always necessary, aspects too often forgotten by the academia. Paths are often difficult to follow, and answers usually are not clear and come from unexpected places, when they get to us. As scientists "we don't necessarily always know where we are headed (...). Preparation and skill, concentration and perseverance, asking the right questions, and cautiously trusting our imaginations will all help us in our search for understanding. So will open minds, conversations with others, wanting to do better than our predecessors or peers, and believing there are answers."
February 12, 2018
Some of the contents in this book are quite complicated that I need to read the whole book twice in order to absorb what's in it.
I've read quite a number of books on the impacts of science on the society and the critical role it plays, which is discussed again in Knocking on Heaven's Door, but what differentiates this book from others is that, the author gives quite a detailed information regarding the intricate working mechanism of the LHC and the other important machines at CERN. Readers will also learn about the history of CERN as well from its formation to the event before the discovery of the Higgs boson.
I overall enjoyed learning new things from it, and for those who would like to know more about CERN, I would recommend Knocking on Heaven's Door.
I've read quite a number of books on the impacts of science on the society and the critical role it plays, which is discussed again in Knocking on Heaven's Door, but what differentiates this book from others is that, the author gives quite a detailed information regarding the intricate working mechanism of the LHC and the other important machines at CERN. Readers will also learn about the history of CERN as well from its formation to the event before the discovery of the Higgs boson.
I overall enjoyed learning new things from it, and for those who would like to know more about CERN, I would recommend Knocking on Heaven's Door.
April 1, 2022
I expected that book includes just information from different Physics areas that explains Universe under the hood. However, there is too much extra boring information: the relationship between science and religion, how physics is doing their research, and many pages just about LHC.
October 20, 2018
CERN'de olan biteni merak ediyorsan谋z harika bir kaynak. Basit bir dili var ancak fizik alan谋na az bu莽uk hakim olmak gerekiyor. Yoksa i莽inden 莽谋k谋lamaz bir hal alabilir. Ayr谋ca bilimsel d眉艧眉nme ve hayata bak谋艧 a莽谋s谋 y枚n眉nden de g眉zel bir i莽eri臒e sahip.
April 2, 2016
This is really a combination of two books; one is a simple explanation of scientific method and worldview and the other is a description of the Large Hadron Collider and what it may find. The explanation of how science works is good if fairly basic; the most important part is discussing scales and effective theories. Unfortunately she mixes it with a weak-kneed criticism of religion, which annoys me in books of popular science -- I haven't taken religion seriously since I was eleven, and I doubt if many people past high school are actually undecided on the question, while those who believe by faith will not be convinced by rational argument -- they have to stop wanting to believe first, so why waste space on this?
The material on the LHC on the other hand is fascinating, and I wish she had focused just on this. It is the largest and most expensive (and every other superlative) facility ever built, and it is interesting that it was built for pure scientific research. If aliens should visit Earth some time after we destroy ourselves and our environment with politics and greed, this is one of the few artifacts that might impress them with our species. It also marks the return of scientific supremacy to Europe after decades of American domination. But mainly, the design and instrumentation is very fascinating.
She then goes on to explain the science that the LHC is designed to explore -- first of all, the Higgs boson (which she points out in the preface, added in 2012, may have been discovered, although the interpretation is controversial.) She explains something of the Higgs mechanism and why it is important if it is verified. She then goes into cosmology, to explain dark matter, which may also be found in the LHC if it is in the form of WIMPS (weakly interacting massive particles) and their energy is in the right range, as some theories predict.
There was a lot in the book that I found interesting. Unfortunately, she is not always the clearest writer. She says that this book was intended as a "prequel" to her earlier book Warped Passages, so I may look for that later.
The material on the LHC on the other hand is fascinating, and I wish she had focused just on this. It is the largest and most expensive (and every other superlative) facility ever built, and it is interesting that it was built for pure scientific research. If aliens should visit Earth some time after we destroy ourselves and our environment with politics and greed, this is one of the few artifacts that might impress them with our species. It also marks the return of scientific supremacy to Europe after decades of American domination. But mainly, the design and instrumentation is very fascinating.
She then goes on to explain the science that the LHC is designed to explore -- first of all, the Higgs boson (which she points out in the preface, added in 2012, may have been discovered, although the interpretation is controversial.) She explains something of the Higgs mechanism and why it is important if it is verified. She then goes into cosmology, to explain dark matter, which may also be found in the LHC if it is in the form of WIMPS (weakly interacting massive particles) and their energy is in the right range, as some theories predict.
There was a lot in the book that I found interesting. Unfortunately, she is not always the clearest writer. She says that this book was intended as a "prequel" to her earlier book Warped Passages, so I may look for that later.
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