Customer Reviews

The Pearly Gates of Cyberspace: A History of Space from Dante to the Internet

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I am the author of this book and I would like to agree with the gist of many of the reviews here. The first half of the book - which traces the cultural history of Western concepts of space - is the real meat of the text and is by far the strongest part. The final part of the book, which deals with cyberspace, is weak by comparison. Actually when I wrote the book, I only wanted to write the first part, with a final short and tentative reflection on the then emerging realm of cyberspace. But the publisher - who thought cyberspace was a hip topic - pressed me to make cyberspace a bigger part of the exercise. I too feel that these final chapters have to a large degree been superceded by the development of the Net since 2000. But the real story of the book is the first 5 chapters which trace a critical transition in Western culture's conception of what it means to be a human embedded in a wider spatial scheme. It is this part of the book - which the European reviewers especially praised - that stands as the real achievement and that I would still urge apon readers.

The ground that this book is trying to cover is certainly expansive, and it's no wonder that some of the topic areas get short shrift. The initial chapters on our conceptions of space are fantastic: I was aware of how our conceptions have changed from absolute space to relativistic and beyond, but Wertheim did an excellent job of demonstrating how much of this change was conceptual rather than purely a change of scientific theory. More importantly, she shows how these changes affect our world-view and spiritual beliefs, and how these affect science and art in turn. For example, she argues that the flat & "unreal" nature of early religious paintings is a reflection of the idea of heaven being outside of normal space. Thus the adoption of three-dimension perspective drawing techniques signaled a shift towards the dominance of physical space. For anyone seeking good examples of changes in scientific paradigms, this book is an excellent place to start.

After recording a history of space to date, Wertheim tries to describe cyberspace as being the next significant shift in our conception of space. To most steeped in our current physicalist tradition, the concept of cyberspace as being an actual space is pretty way-out, but it does make sense in light of the previous world-views described by Wertheim. However, Wertheim characterises cyberspace as a place we enter, but in many ways it is the opposite- the projection of another space into our own. Viewed this way, the radical conclusions Wertheim makes seem rather far-fetched.

Where I was most disappointed was in Wertheim's treatment of "cyber-soul-space". The idea of uploading our selves into a virtual world is an enticing one, but too many of the complicated issues of self and consciousness are given a skimpy treatment, skipped over almost breathlessly as Wertheim races towards her conclusion. Many of these issues have been dealt with extensively in other books, but I was keen to see Wertheim's particular slant, as there are many interesting parallels between these issues and some of the medieval theologies discussed earlier. Overall, I enjoyed this book, but was disappointed that the initial rigour and detail of the first half was not followed through, but this is an inherent danger of writing a book with such a wide scope.

I have always wanted to read a cultural history of space, something that would help me understand how humans have conceived and poeticized the nature of the dimensions that surround them. Wertheim's book gave me all I wanted, and more. Wertheim shows us that space is part of a story that we humans are always telling ourselves about where and who we are. Unlike most science writers, Wertheim navigates the dire straits between science and the cultural imagination with intelligence and grace....._The Pearly Gates of Cyberspace_ isnt just longago history. In the closing chapters, Wertheim uses her fascinating tale to help us understand the psychological and even spiritual motivations that draw so many people to the Internet and electronic communications. Wertheim's basic argument -- that modern science banished the phantasms of the "soul" from our surroundings, and that those powerful images and yearnings are now returning inside the synthetic "space" of electronic information -- both acknoweldges the metaphysical yearnings expressed by cyberspace and refuses to give in to naive cyberhype. She ends her tale with some strong moral arguments rooted in both the eternal realities of the human imagination and the pressing historical demands of our time.

Forget the title - the real story here is in the subtitle "A History of Space from Dante to the Internet". That's what attracted me, and it lives up to the promise. In less than 200 pages Wertheim gives us the story of space from the middle ages to today. The medieval space of the afterlife, Renaissance perspective space, Copernicus' discovery of astronomical space, Einstein's relativistic space, and todays theories of cyberspace -- Wertheim connects the dots as if she is solving a complex historical puzzle. Even if you don't give a damn about cyberspace this is an amazing book. After reading this you will never take the word "space" for granted again. As Wertheim shows, there is a never-ending morphing of this quintessiential concept.

This book is really divided into 3 parts: history of expression of space through paintings, history of physics, and Wertheim's views on cyberspace. The first two sections are top notch research articles, comprehensive, easy to follow, and very accurate. These two sections alone could have be made into a book. The last section, however, is quite subjective. It basically states that cyberspace will replace the Christian heaven, becoming New Jerusalem, where all will be good, and none shall die. It is where our bodily restraints shall be no more, and we can live with a new image, created through our likings. This is all well in theory, but there are too many problems with utopians created by man. There is also mention of downloading our souls into cyberspace, where we can live after our bodies die. Quite far fetched, and it presents problems as well. Nothing is wrong with new ideas being presented, but wishes for the impossible will never be granted. Living human beings belong to the physical world, and without a body one cannot really be called human...

The first near-half of this books was fascinating: an analysis of how the concept of "space" developed in the West as Europe moved from the medieval era and into the Renaissance. Wertheim examines the concept of space as perceived through the art, science, and philosophies of the era in enough depth have been worth the read, if not as much depth as one might desire.

The second half is something of a loss. The chapters on 20th-century science read like nothing more than a condensed re-hash of most popular physics books of the last 10 years. The final chapters -- where we reach the long-promised "cyberspace" -- say nothing more than her introduction: that there are similarities between utopian visions of the digital future and the Christian conception of heaven. Similarities between a utopia and heaven? Not exactly a shocking thesis and even less shocking as a conclusion.

Margaret Wertheim has an uncanny ability to weave art, science, religion and literature into a solid analysis of culture and it's impact on how we interpret our reality. Her account of the history of our perception of space is fascinating on it's own, exploring as it does the struggle between the physical and the spiritual. However, I thought the final chapters, which examined reasons for the Net's popularity, the possibilities that people claim for it and the limitations of the virtual world were extremely insightful and well worth a read.

virtual connections to the holy space traced in this historic survey is an interesting perspective worth reading.

Even if the world needed a book on this theme, this is not the one!

One thread of this book is the notion of collision between scientific thinking and theology--a collision which in my view is not forced by anything observable or reasonably thinkable.

In early chapters, the author makes dogmatic statements about what was on the minds of numerous famous authors--statements for which no justification is given, and for thoughts which arguably have milder and more flattering interpretations: e.g., that Dante and other mediaevals took a certain spatial view of heaven and hell literally. In this case, the milder interpretation might recognize that writing anything likely to offend certain Churchmen risked persecution--so that what authors expressed might often left out subtle and careful thinking.

The chapters on what's going on since the mid-1980's read like a journalist's hasty pastiche of things written and thought by others, with little acknowledgement and even less discernable new thought.

However, my main objection is that this author has set up a flimsy strawman to knock down with many words, viz., that the coincidence of the syllable "space" in "cyberspace" implies a serious analogy to metric spaces. This analogy might play a roll in hoi poloi minds, but that Wertheim's middle chapters talk of the work of several well-known scientists seems to imply that serious scientists take such an analogy seriously. In many years of listening to scientific colleagues, I heard nothing to suggest such a view.

In contrast, Wertheim ignores all social thinking that is a reasonable precursor to today's views and actions around cyberspace. Recall the notion that "a university is a community centered on a library", and many, many related works about how communities work and about domains of ideas.

Furthermore, in discussing science Wertheim ignores the most important factor that drove philosophical and scientific thinkers to their views of metric spaces--symmetry and simple forms in differential equations.

On the positive side, I learned a few obscure and very interesting names--those of thinkers before their time. E.g., Nicolas of Cusa (13th century), Kaluza (19th century). I'll dig into those.

Summary: for any careful thinker, this book is a distraction and waste of time.

I certainly enjoyed reading this book, and found some of the material in the earlier chapters very interesting, for example, about the development of the theory of perspective in art.

However,I felt that the bridge into the cyberspace stuff was rather strained and unconvincing. Certainly, the whole internet thing is of great significance to human development, but it didn't seem to fit comfortably into the space that Wertheim wants to put it.