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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Highly understandable!, June 29, 2008
Like the proposed Big Bang itself, modern physics is an explosion of theories, particles, dimensions, and increasingly incomprehensible explanations of our universe. In this remarkable book, Dr. Wolff, with the help of such notables as Schrödinger and Einstein, cuts this modern Gordian knot and explains the amazingly simple foundations of space, time, and matter.
The breadth of concepts examined and explained is vast: the nature of the electron and its fundamental property of spin, light as a purely wave structured phenomena, and how gravity bends light are but a few.
Along with his explanation of the Wave Structure of Matter (WSM) Dr. Wolff also explores a variety of philosophical issues such as the nature of our connections with our universe and the difficulties with implimenting the scientific method.
All this is explained in terms the average reader will find easy to absorb though there is a detailed mathematical "appendix" for those who require a more rigorous explanation.
It is my belief that this book will one day be seen as the beginning of a new foundation of modern physics. I highly recommend it.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Making sense out of the complex, July 26, 2008
I am not a scientist; indeed, I can claim to be one of the many who have read Stephen Hawking's "A Brief History of Time" and who (no doubt) understood very little of it. So it was with some trepidation that I approached this book. I needn't have worried. In very clear language, Dr. Wolff explains how what we call matter is composed, not of tiny, solid particles, but of tiny wave-like points-- the wave structure of matter (WSM).
I had long had a problem with the modern view of physics-- that matter is both particle-like and wave-like at the same time; and with Heisenberg's uncertainty principle-- that we cannot know a particle's location when measuring its momentum, and vice versa. I assumed that my insufficient training and knowledge was the cause of my lack of understanding. And yet no less a figure than Einstein also disagreed with the interpretations of the Copenhagen Group and Heisenberg. "God," he said, "does not play dice with the universe."
This book, based on the earlier works of Einstein, Schrodinger, and others, shows that matter is composed not of particles, nor a wave/particle duality, but only of waves. Further, Dr. Wolff describes this in a way that is (for me) rather unusual for scientific writing: he allows one to visualize this as a mental picture. To me, his explanation of matter is a much simpler one than that of Bohr, Heisenberg, and other physicists of the early 20th century. Following the principle of Occam's Razor, should we not choose the simpler of two compelling explanations?
Numerous questions remain to be answered, of course. But I have confidence that they will be, in the years to come.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Schrodinger's Universe, July 10, 2008
This book explains the origin of mass, charge and spin of elementary "particles" which are really just interacting spherical waves that appear to be particles in the fabric of space (which leads to a null vote for the Higgs or any other great illumination from the LHC). This explains the wave-particle duality which is not an ad-hoc explanation. Einstein was respected but always dismissed on the concept of hidden variables in QM, but Dr. Wolff explains the underlying principles very well. As usual, Dr. Wolff combines humor, intellect and imagination in explaining advanced concepts of physics. This book is a must read for anybody who really wants to know the truth about the non-expanding Universe.
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