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The book covers much of the same material he does in his course but explains it somewhat different. Two explanations of the same thing helps me to understand some rather counter intuitive events. Great book recommended to me by Prof. Apparently much of this material is rather difficult to explain. A good companion to "The History of Time." Mark Whittle, professor of astrophysics at the University of Virginia. I am a Teaching Company student of his DVD course.
He is refreshing, with a good sense of humor and a whimsical streak. Frank Wilczek's present effort goes over my head at times. But Frank really plunges pretty deep, including quite a few equations expressing quark variants and other esoteric matters. Dr. The greatest challenge -- for me -- may be figuring out how to pronounce Dr. This is well explained, and totally opened some doors to me.
But there have been times when I'm not sure if he is having fun with us, or strictly on the level. Some are a plodding refresher scaled at the level of a high-school freshman. His books are very worthwhile. I also found great enlightenment in Wilczek's discussion of what he calls the "Matrix," which is his term for the "vacuum" of empty space that figures so importantly in quantum mechanics. Dr. I took the book down again, and continued to read it. Why do I rate the book positively. How can the gluons and quarks in a proton, all of very minimal mass, combine to provide the proton's total mass, which is hundreds or thousands of times greater.
Then others are more challenging. Wilczek's last name. He writes very well, is a respected scientist, and is very clear. I have read a couple of layman's science books by Michio Kaku recently. His chapters explaining the source of proton mass were totally fascinating. When I first chanced across this book, I was waiting for a friend in a large bookstore.
Wilczek did an amazing job of explaining the sourcing of particle mass. In some of these cutting edge fields, a five-year old book may be outdated. A week or two later, once again I was marking time in the bookstore. I'm a bit beyond those. The title was intriguing, and so I took the book down and began to read it.
While I have seen this stated over the years, I never understood the nature of the force. Frank Wilczek's writing style is both a blessing and a curse. This lightens the book and adds a refreshing human touch. Wilczek has a Nobel Prize, and seems to be an expert on various esoteric aspects of quantum mechanics, especially quantum chromodynamics. This was a guided tour par excellance, and explains the virtual pair generation, various "condensates," and the infrequent, spontaneous generation of rather massive particles.Dr.
When it was time to go, I was quite intrigued. He seems to have had personal experience in experiment and professional collaborations with many of the quantum phenomena that he discusses in his book. Moreover, there are so many various particles, to include quarks of nine varieties, gluons, mesons, and more, that a certain "overkill" creeps into my noodle. You may very possibly find sections that seem to go over your head. Wilczek also explains the peculiar attractive force that keeps quarks inside of protons. But this book is very provocative and genuinely interesting. Then they become quite complex and sprawling, with a dozen or more variables, and I just give up.
This book is not an easy read. I put up a good fight -- and have read several of the chapters more than once. Moveover, the book has just appeared, and so has the freshest information. On my third visit to the bookstore, I bought the book. How can a force increase in intensity as particles draw FARTHER APART. The equations begin in a simple way, and I seem to follow. These science books for laymen can be scaled at different levels.
Then there's a very challenging level of science book, such as the current volume.
i.e QCD and quantum-duality are both wrong but useful if you want to publish popular papers and keep your $$$ research contract. This concept is popular nonsense; a charming scientific circus. Einstein, Irwin Schroedinger and Milo Wolff disagree that discreet particles exist.
5 Stars hands down. I'd say this is a very good read for someone thats interested in getting a alternative perspective on how you think of space and the demension we live in. Right now i am just getting into physics and this book kept me interested the entire time. Even though some parts are a little mathmatical, it didn't take away from the overall story.
His presentation is not speculative norhigh brow to the point of being incomprehensible. Nobel prize winner (2004)Wilczek is refreshing and noteworthy in this confusing age of String Theory. SUSI is tested and works well in particle physics experiments in the accelerators.From the Physics Professor who coined the term "STRING THEORY" in 1972 to describe matter. String theory is good mathematics, butit is NOT physics that can be emperically tested and never will be. He gives an outstanding picture of current physics using Supersymmetry and reviving the notion that "empty space" is NEVER empty. That indeed it is an ocean of"dark substance" that continually foams energy.
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