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How the Hippies Saved Physics: Science, Counterculture, and the Quantum Revival First Edition
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Named one of the Top Physics Books of 2012 by Physics World
The surprising story of eccentric young scientists who stood up to convention―and changed the face of modern physics.
For physicists, the 1970s were a time of stagnation. Jobs became scarce, and conformity was encouraged, sometimes stifling exploration of the mysteries of the physical world. Dissatisfied, underemployed, and eternally curious, an eccentric group of physicists in Berkeley, California, banded together to throw off the constraints of the physics mainstream and explore the wilder side of science. Dubbing themselves the “Fundamental Fysiks Group,” they pursued an audacious, speculative approach to physics. They studied quantum entanglement and Bell’s Theorem through the lens of Eastern mysticism and psychic mind-reading, discussing the latest research while lounging in hot tubs. Some even dabbled with LSD to enhance their creativity. Unlikely as it may seem, these iconoclasts spun modern physics in a new direction, forcing mainstream physicists to pay attention to the strange but exciting underpinnings of quantum theory.
A lively, entertaining story that illuminates the relationship between creativity and scientific progress, How the Hippies Saved Physics takes us to a time when only the unlikeliest heroes could break the science world out of its rut. 46 black-and-white illustrations
- ISBN-109780393076363
- ISBN-13978-0393076363
- EditionFirst Edition
- PublisherW. W. Norton & Company
- Publication dateJune 27, 2011
- LanguageEnglish
- Dimensions6.5 x 1.3 x 9.6 inches
- Print length400 pages
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Editorial Reviews
Review
― Kirkus Reviews
"Starred Review. Science has never been more unpredictable―or more entertaining!"
― Booklist
"It is hard to write a book about quantum mechanics that is at once intellectually serious and a page-turner. But David Kaiser succeeds in his account of a neglected but important group of physicists who brought together quantum mechanics, Eastern religion, parapsychology and the hallucinogen LSD. … Illuminating."
― Hugh Gusterson, Nature
"Exhaustively and carefully researched. [Kaiser] has uncovered a wealth of revealing detail about the physicists involved, making for a very lively tale. … Fascinating."
― American Scientist
"This entertaining, worthwhile read is as much about the nature of society at the dawn of the New Age as it is about quantum physics."
― Choice
"Kaiser’s style is engaging, which makes this history of the time when physics left the short-sleeved white shirts, skinny ties and plastic pocket protectors behind one of the best science books of the year."
― Sacramento News & Review
"Meticulously researched and unapologetically romantic, How the Hippies Saved Physics makes the history of science fun again."
― Matthew Wisnioski, Science
"How the Hippies Saved Physics takes readers on a mind-bending trip to the far horizons of science―a place where the counterculture’s search for a New Age of consciousness opened the door to a new era in physics. Who knew that the discipline that brought us the atom bomb had also glimpsed Utopia? Amazing."
― Fred Turner, author of From Counterculture to Cyberculture
From the Back Cover
“This book takes us deep into the kaleidoscopic culture of the 1970s―with its pop-metaphysicians, dabblers in Eastern mysticism, and counterculture gurus―some of whom, it turns out, were also physicists seeking to challenge the foundations of their discipline. In David Kaiser’s hands, the story of how they succeeded―albeit in ways they never intended―makes a tremendously fun and eye-opening tale. As the physicist I. I. Rabi once remarked: ‘What [more] do you want, mermaids?’”―Ken Alder, author of The Measure of All Things and The Lie Detectors
“At first it sounds impossible, then like the opening line of a joke: What do the CIA, Werner Erhard’s EST, Bay Area hippie explorations, and the legacy of Einstein, Heisenberg, and Schroedinger have in common? It turns out, as David Kaiser shows, quite a lot. Here is a book that is immensely fun to read, gives insight into deep and increasingly consequential questions of physics, and transports the reader back into the heart of North Beach zaniness in the long 1960s. Put down your calculators and pick up this book!”―Peter Galison, author of Einstein’s Clocks, Poincaré’s Maps
“What happens when you mix the foundations of quantum mechanics with hot tubs, ESP, saffron robes, and psychedelic drugs? How the Hippies Saved Physics chronicles the wild years of the 1970s when a group of largely unemployed physicists teamed up with LSD advocate Timothy Leary, EST founder Werner Erhard, telekinesist Uri Geller, and a host of other countercultural figures to mount a full-scale assault on physics orthodoxy. David Kaiser’s masterly ability to explain the most subtle and counterintuitive quantum effects, together with his ability to spin a ripping good yarn, make him the perfect guide to this far-off and far-out era of scientific wackiness.”―Seth Lloyd, author of Programming the Universe
“David Kaiser shows us the wonder, mystery, and joy of the scientific pursuit that helped define, and inspire, a particular moment within the counterculture. Some have seen and long appreciated these resonances, but no one has stated the case this authoritatively, this fully, and this colorfully, particularly from the science side of things. Clearly, this book signals, like the entangled photons with which it begins and ends, a fantastic new world of possibilities―historical, human, and scientific.”―Jeffrey J. Kripal, author of Esalen: America and the Religion of No Religion
About the Author
Product details
- ASIN : 0393076369
- Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company; First Edition (June 27, 2011)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 400 pages
- ISBN-10 : 9780393076363
- ISBN-13 : 978-0393076363
- Item Weight : 1.57 pounds
- Dimensions : 6.5 x 1.3 x 9.6 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #1,344,626 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,298 in Quantum Theory (Books)
- #4,593 in History & Philosophy of Science (Books)
- #24,168 in U.S. State & Local History
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

David Kaiser is the Germeshausen Professor of the History of Science and Professor of Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is the author of several books, including 'How the Hippies Saved Physics: Science, Counterculture, and the Quantum Revival,' and 'Quantum Legacies: Dispatches from an Uncertain World.' His work has appeared in the New York Times and the New Yorker magazine, and he is a frequent guest on NPR and in PBS NOVA documentaries.
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What the author chronicles is that some of the Berkeley physicists were already predisposed to asking the big questions of consciousness and the role of physics. They were not hippies, however, and were indeed late to the cultural revolution. When academics were treating physics solely as engineering, avoiding philosophical ramifications, the Berkeley group of malcontents found enthusiastic listeners among aging academic hippies, New Agers, transpersonal psychologists, and increasing numbers of scholars from diverse fields. It was a return to the 1920s and the birth of quantum mechanics when the walls of science were porous to the deep questions of philosophy and Eastern mysticism. The group's physicists were not among those whose experiments shifted paradigms or established experimental proof to key thought experiments; instead, they stirred the pot, brought physics into the living room, and spurred public support of physics research when jobs and funds were shallow.
The book goes astray here and there, packing unnecessary information in some places, not enough in others, but by and large it presents a zeitgeist, the mood and energy of a time in which everything was questioned with an openness to innovative thought. Since reading the book was not reading history but recalling memories, I had to grin throughout in 'been there, done that' mode.
Bell's nonlocality proposal and subsequent experimental proofs and the entanglement of matter attributes have led to crytography, the hook of the book, but it also led theoretically to neuroscientist Karl Pribram's informational hologram universe. Moreover, if the 11-dimension unified string theory is validated, then we have even greater complexity of strangeness but perhaps an opportunity for apprehending information transfer outside common time-space limits. After all, the elephant in the laboratory is consciousness-mind, and if physics is not even willing to consider it at least within plausible models, then it is utterly incomplete, merely mechanics and engineering, an applied not a fundamental science. Kaiser's history reminds us of this; his book is both entertaining and educational.
The criterion for a good book is that it should change your behaviour, other than simply anaesthatising one from the generality of life's distractions. This book succeeds with me in that I have already bought Nick Herbert's "Quantum Reality", frequently referred to by the author David Kaiser, and am pursuing Herbert's other tome, "Elemental Mind". The issues raised as to the actual nature of what we comfortingly refer to as 'reality' are as relevant now as at the beginning of the twentieth century and need to be discussed and conceptualised in every high school, pub, coffee shop and wherever people meet, but particularly in the labs and lecture halls of teaching institutions. We used to do this (I am 79 years old now) and it should still be done.
Kaiser's analysis of the careers of Physicists over the past 50 years is relevant and certainly fits in with my own experience in the trade and it is refreshing to see it so lucidly stated.
Buy this book - a goldmine of references and anecdotes for todays Physicists and thinkers all.
Stan
Some reviewers think that the author wrote with sympathetic bias toward this collection of geeks, but I didn't find any of that except in places where it was obviously due. These are fascinating people. Overall, this work is very even-handed.
A great book; very entertaining, with the bottom line message -- never underestimate an anomaly (whoever they are). Thank you David Kaiser.









