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More copies of this ISBNeBook editionsPhysics on the Fringe: Smoke Rings, Circlons, and Alternative Theories of Everythingby Margaret Wertheim
Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments:"Gravity is not the result of things falling down but of the earth falling up," according to a trailer park owner named Jim Carter. He believes everything is constantly expanding and the earth itself is doubling in size every 19 minutes-thus, the ground is rushing up to meet whatever you drop. For many years acclaimed science writer Margaret Wertheim has collected the works of "outsider physicists," most without formal training and all convinced they have discovered an alternative theory of relativity, the origin of the universe, and so on. Fifteen years ago she became fascinated by Jim's theories because of his do-it-yourself attitude, the totality of his thinking, and his sense of humor. To build a model to illustrate his theory that "circlon rings" rather than atoms are nature's building blocks, he needed to observe how 3-foot wide smoke rings interacted. His first failed effort to make large smoke rings involved a dog bowl and a sack of gunpowder! Learning from each failure, six months later, with the neighbors gathered in the yard, Jim used a rented disco smoke machine, a huge piece of rubber sheeting, and a rope to send giant white smoke rings sailing across the yard, some of them colliding and bouncing apart like billiard balls. Their movement confirmed his prediction of how his theoretical circlons would behave. Regardless of whether any of Jim's theories are right or not, his story and that of other outsider physicists is fundamental to our understanding of the evolution of science--from natural philosophers who puzzled out the laws of nature using observation and experimentation, to modern professional scientists whose work has grown theoretical and inscrutable, and back to outsider physicists whose creative theories strive to make complicated science accessible to the masses. Review:"With insight, wit, and warmth, Wertheim (Pythagoras' Trousers) offers a look into the hearts and minds of the 'outsider' physicists: solitary figures who, usually with little or no formal training, strive to explain our world. Wertheim builds the book around the affable Jim Carter, explorer, self-taught physicist, trailer park owner, and proponent of circlon synchronicity, with atoms shaped like tiny circles of coiled spring. Carter is one of thousands of outsider theorists with their own books and papers often patterned ' an abundant use of CAPITAL LETTERS and exclamation points!!!' Those included in this special breed of scientist feel alienated by accepted physics, from gravity to the space-time continuum. Often their work recreates or builds upon concepts proposed and discarded hundreds of years ago. A chapter is dedicated to A Budget of Paradoxes, a collection of alternative science theories compiled in the 18th century by mathematician Augustus De Morgan. NASA's brief Breakthrough Propulsion Physics Project even hoped to exploit outsider ideas, whereas the complex wonderland of mainstream string theories seems to echo the work of fringe theorists. Readers may hope for a deeper look into outsider theories past and present, but this sympathetic portrayal of one outsider's work offers an entry point into a fascinating corner of pseudoscience." Publishers Weekly Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved. Synopsis:For the past fifteen years, acclaimed science writer Margaret Wertheim has been collecting the works of "outsider physicists," many without formal training and all convinced that they have found true alternative theories of the universe. Jim Carter, the Einstein of outsiders, has developed his own complete theory of matter and energy and gravity that he demonstrates with experiments in his backyard‚-with garbage cans and a disco fog machine he makes smoke rings to test his ideas about atoms. Captivated by the imaginative power of his theories and his resolutely DIY attitude, Wertheim has been following Carter's progress for the past decade. Centuries ago, natural philosophers puzzled out the laws of nature using the tools of observation and experimentation. Today, theoretical physics has become mathematically inscrutable, accessible only to an elite few. In rejecting this abstraction, outsider theorists insist that nature speaks a language we can all understand. Through a profoundly human profile of Jim Carter, Wertheim's exploration of the bizarre world of fringe physics challenges our conception of what science is, how it works, and who it is for. About the AuthorMargaret Wertheim has advanced degrees in pure and applied physics and in matchematics and computer science. She is a science writer, commentator, and a regular contributor to the Los Angeles Times. She's the author of Pythagoras' Trousers and The Pearly Gates of Cyberspace. As founder and director of the nonprofit Institute For Figuring, she and her sister have organized the "Hyperbolic Crochet Reef" project, which has toured internationally and draws attention to global warming's effect on coral reefs. What Our Readers Are SayingBe the first to add a comment for a chance to win!Product Details
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Languages » Foreign Languages » Spanish » Science and Mathematics » Physics » General
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