How the Hippies Saved Physics: Science, Counterculture, and the Quantum Revival by David Kaiser

Oct 27, 2012 Lemar rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

David Kaiser has done a remarkable service by bringing an objective eye to an era that is stilled mired in controversy. Scholars and people in general take pains to distance themselves from anything tainted with associations with drugs or, God forbid, sex, no matter the genuine significance of the music, science or other discipline sincerely investigated. Yes, at times these folks were partying and on occasion were, yes, naked. Let's get over it! This lifestyle is in fact compatible with serious...more David Kaiser has done a remarkable service by bringing an objective eye to an era that is stilled mired in controversy. Scholars and people in general take pains to distance themselves from anything tainted with associations with drugs or, God forbid, sex, no matter the genuine significance of the music, science or other discipline sincerely investigated. Yes, at times these folks were partying and on occasion were, yes, naked. Let's get over it! This lifestyle is in fact compatible with serious work and accomplishment. When grappling with the bizarre implications of quantum reality an attitude of welcoming all questions and hypotheses for consideration proved important. The fact, as amply researched by Kaiser is that physics departments around the world had discouraged any grappling with the philosophical ramification of quantum theory at all. It was all shut up and calculate.

Physics had lost its connection to the musing inquiries of its 20th century founders such as Einstein and Bohr. The so called hippies of the 1960's and '70's reanimated discussion of what all these calculations meant. Einstein was interested in pulling back the curtain a little bit on God and the structure of the universe. So were the hippies.

Kaiser restores some credit to the members of a group of physicist seekers who gathered in Berkeley (thereby becoming branded as "hippies"). Beyond that Kaiser is able to render in plain English the paths of investigation and results they achieved, the questions they raised, no small achievement. As he accomplishes this he is able to recognize and credit other innovations of the 1970's "hippie" culture that are now accepted as pretty mainstream such as: yoga, organic foods, the "be all you can be" movement and more.

Kaiser makes a good case for the importance of thinkers, in this case physicists to be able (funding needed!) to meet just to kick around ideas that fascinate them. The genesis of the group discussed in this book, the Fundamental Fysiks Group, lay in there being no other format in which they could discuss the ideas that drove them passionately. Now leading companies like Google reserve time for their employees to follow their passions, recognizing that this may well be lucrative. Kaiser draws an important parallel between Eintein's Olympia Academy, a loose group of coffee drinking physics enthusiasts and the Fundamental Fysiks Group. In each case their outsider status freed them to go outside the programmed work of making better bombs, better guidance systems, practical work and float ideas, sometimes wildly impractical and terribly interesting.

Kaiser also realizes the value of a rejected idea. In the process of refuting it, new ideas crystallize that may never have done so without the initial idea put forth. People like Jack Sarfatti and Nick Herbert, two heroes of this book, in their fearlessness in putting out ideas, helped shape many of the practical uses of quantum physics such as emerging quantum computers and existing quantum encryption. Some hidebound physicists still distance themselves from this vanguard group, ostensibly out of fear. This book addresses this wrong and credits the members of the Fundamental Fysiks Group with their findings and their relevant questions.

They let their freak flags fly, long may they wave!

(less)

like · see review

Dec 30, 2011 Nathan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fact, history

"The universe is not only stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we can imagine." JBS Haldane's words never ring so true as when the quantum world is discussed. At this subatomic level, all our intuitions about space, time, causality, even what a thing is, go out the window. In their place we have equations, and by dint of difficult calculation we can make predictions about how this miniscule world works. But there's no use trying to understand it, to form a mental picture, to ask what it...more "The universe is not only stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we can imagine." JBS Haldane's words never ring so true as when the quantum world is discussed. At this subatomic level, all our intuitions about space, time, causality, even what a thing is, go out the window. In their place we have equations, and by dint of difficult calculation we can make predictions about how this miniscule world works. But there's no use trying to understand it, to form a mental picture, to ask what it means.

At least, that was the thinking of the 1950s, 60s, and 70s. The originators of quantum theory, those geniuses of the 30s like Heisenberg, Einstein, Bohr, they wondered what the fuck it all meant. They grappled with meaning. But once everyone got focused on gadgets, on bombs and atomic drives, and physics enrollments boomed because science funding was up, students were discouraged from such "philosophy". Calculations, difficult and frequent, were how quantum physics was done in those times.

But some of the most interesting and promising fruits of quantum physics, quantum cryptography and quantum entanglement, came about through just such musings. This book traces the early seeds of those fields, the difficulty the authors had in getting published, and the group of out-there Berkeley physicists and physics groupies who glommed onto the research, added to it, spread it around, and popularised it. We meet a murderer, the men who talk to goats, a millionaire self-help guru, even Uri Geller, and see the roles each played in helping a crazy idea become consensus physics mainstream.

Because the book focuses on just one aspect of quantum physics, the weirdness isn't overwhelming. I admit to eye-glazing in a few patches, but not very many and not the first introductory explanations. In fact, my interest in that weirdness is renewed. I'm going to be at a conference with a philosophical quantum physicist in February, and I look forward to picking his brains.

Where Kaiser's story falls down, though, is that it is too true to reality: it's dissipated, there's no one central character, and only a few of the scientists are particularly likable. The 70s hippy rogues are perhaps iconic figures to boomers who lived through those times, but this Gen Xer remains utterly cold to their dingbat fantasies. I'll add "Dancing Wu Li Masters" to my reading list but I'm braced for wingnuttiness.

The nuttiness, though, is part of the best angle in "How the Hippies Saved Physics": the question of distinguishing between "real science" and "pseudoscience". This question of "demarcation" is a small part of the book, but that's what captured my imagination. It's so relevant today, with the big knuckleups around climate science, that I want to read more about it. Science is obviously a social enterprise, conducted by flawed and emotional human beings subject to trends and groupthink like the rest of us (this book makes that abundantly clear). As always, one good book leads to many more ...(less)

3 likes · like · see review

Dec 08, 2011 Brian Clegg rated it 3 of 5 stars

I have to be honest here, the approach taken by the author is not one I was totally comfortable with. He expresses regret that physics moved from requiring students to write philosophical essays about the interpretation of quantum theory to concentrating on the physics and maths. I have to say this doesn't strike me as a problem. Similarly he is very enthusiastic, working very hard to find something good scientifically coming out of the counter culture. Again I don't think this should be an end...more I have to be honest here, the approach taken by the author is not one I was totally comfortable with. He expresses regret that physics moved from requiring students to write philosophical essays about the interpretation of quantum theory to concentrating on the physics and maths. I have to say this doesn't strike me as a problem. Similarly he is very enthusiastic, working very hard to find something good scientifically coming out of the counter culture. Again I don't think this should be an end in itself. It's interesting if true, but not something you should shape history to try to prove.

Much of the book is concerned with two things: quantum entanglement, and an obscure group of US scientists who called themselves the 'Fundamental Fysics group.' I'm sorry, but every time I saw that 'Fysics' it made me cringe and want to dunk someone's head in a toilet and flush it. That kind of spelling is just about acceptable if you are selling doughnuts, but not if you want to be taken seriously.

Having written a book about quantum entanglement (The God Effect, which I'm delighted to see was in the author's bibliography) I was interested to learn more about this group's contribution. I think it's fair to say, in the words of the great Paul Daniels it was 'not a lot.' But, to be fair, some of it was quite entertaining, if only in a kind of 'weren't those hippy types funny' way. In fact by far the most interesting and absorbing part of the book (and it is a significant part) is the story of the lifestyles and strange goings on from nude discussion groups to murder.

The author also gives us quite a lot about entanglement, especially on the Bell inequality which was used to demonstrate that entangled particles really do seem to act non-locally, instantly communicating at a distance. Mostly this is fine, and provided significantly more details than many popular science accounts. This is important physics and deserves to be well covered. The only slight disappointment is a misunderstanding of the original EPR paper that started the whole quantum entanglement business.

This paper deals with two entangled particles, looking at their position and momentum. A lot of people misinterpreted it, thinking because it refers to these two properties that it's about violating Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, suggesting it's possible to measure both accurately and simultaneously (something the uncertainty principle forbids). David Kaiser falls into this trap. But Einstein (the E of EPR) was dismissive of this idea. He said of the use of both position and momentum 'Ist mir Wurst!' (literally 'it's sausage to me'), meaning 'I couldn't care less.' The intention was to show you could do this with position or momentum - there is no suggestion in the paper that you would attempt to do both simultaneously and undermine uncertainty.

In the end, Kaiser doesn't make a great case for the Fysics (ugh) group contributing anything significant to our knowledge of physics - they're always on the fringe. He certainly doesn't justify the book's title as anything other than very cheeky hyperbole. But it is a mildly entertaining oddity in the history of science - and as this can be a little dull sometimes, it's not at all a bad thing that it has been covered.

This review was originally published on www.popularscience.co.uk - reproduced with permission(less)

like · see review

Oct 24, 2011 Erin rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Don't read this book unless you like the genres of history and biography (in addition to Physics). Also, don't be fooled by the catchy title because in the end, I don't think Kaiser proved that the Hippies actually saved physics. However, if you love history this book gives a great account of the personalities in modern Physics from Einstein to Bell to Hawking and everyone in between - with particular attention given to the some of the quirkier personalities who dabbled in or bankrolled physics....more Don't read this book unless you like the genres of history and biography (in addition to Physics). Also, don't be fooled by the catchy title because in the end, I don't think Kaiser proved that the Hippies actually saved physics. However, if you love history this book gives a great account of the personalities in modern Physics from Einstein to Bell to Hawking and everyone in between - with particular attention given to the some of the quirkier personalities who dabbled in or bankrolled physics.

The writing style of this author is voluminous and detailed. It kind of reminds me of John M Barry, who wrote "The Great Influenza". Many people thought that book was too long and they just couldn't get through it. To actually get through that book you also had to be interested in a few genres/disciplines (specifically medicine, pathology, history and biography). Another book this reminds me of is Dancing Naked in Minefield by Kary Mullis, although that book is an autobiography about the man who won the Nobel Prize for discovering DNA. When I read Mullis' book and he recounted visiting astral planes and almost overdosing on nitrous oxide I was fascinated about what would drive him to do that. This book explains in detail the juices that many of the great minds of our time were marinating in... guys who went on to produce weapons systems, medical breakthroughs, quantum encryption, personal computers, and thousands of patents for things we use everyday.

The little trivia bits were great. He details how Werner Earnhardt (the creator of the self-help classes) got caught in the middle of a pissing match between physicists and came out with a sullied reputation just because he funded symposiums. He recounts how on the historic day in 1968 when Columbia University was shut down due to riots the guy in the physics lab was inspired with an idea that became the kernel of for quantum encryption. Another interesting tidbit was that Niels Bohr was so fascinated with the taijitu (Yin/Yang symbol) that he put it on his coat of arms. Most whacky though was the guy in Philly who called himself "The Unicorn" who both created the first List Serve in conjunction with Bell (the telephone one, not the physicist) while also hiding the body of his dead girlfriend in a trunk in his home. Good stuff..

Throughout the book he discusses the developments of quantum theory and the lives of the physicists. I guess the reason why I gave this book 4 stars is because I am fascinated how physics evolved during the 20th Century. Wars happen - and during those times the physicists are absorbed into the military-industrial complex and are told to "shut up and compute". They work in secret and are carefully monitored by the military brass, CIA, etc. Peacetime comes, budgets are cut and these same geniuses sometimes go on welfare or have to pander themselves just to eat. Various movements come and go and only in hindsight do we see that McCarthyism and the Vietnam draft drove some of our best minds to Europe and Canada. Another crazy unexpected synergy is how the caps were lifted on immigration from Asia and in the 60's and 70's and we saw this huge influx of people from the East bringing with them "Eastern Thought". Accordingly physicists began to find correlations between Eastern Philosophy and Metaphysics. All the while quantum physics evolves, the scientific process marches on and the work on the fringe of quantum physics (metaphysics) continues. History tells us that it's always the guys on the fringe who stumble onto the unexpected phenomena or the accidental result. This book definitely covers that "fringe".

I noticed that a lot of people have this book on their "To Read" list and that not many people have actually read it yet. I suggest you get off the fence and give it a whirl.

(less)

like · see review

Jul 10, 2011 Book Calendar rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: sciene, popular-science, physics, history-of-science

How The Hippies Saved Physics, Science, Counterculture, and the Quantum Revival by David Kaiser

David Kaiser is a professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This book is a history of science book. It is also a popular science book. The book describes how quantum physics which many considered to be fringe science became accepted science. It is a very strange, eccentric, and interesting story.

The book focuses on a group called the Fundamental Fysiks Group which held sessions at the Univers...more How The Hippies Saved Physics, Science, Counterculture, and the Quantum Revival by David Kaiser

David Kaiser is a professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This book is a history of science book. It is also a popular science book. The book describes how quantum physics which many considered to be fringe science became accepted science. It is a very strange, eccentric, and interesting story.

The book focuses on a group called the Fundamental Fysiks Group which held sessions at the University of California Berkeley. Berkeley California is known for its eccentricity and counterculture. The Fundamental Fysiks Group was instrumental in making quantum mechanics acceptable science.

The cast of characters in this book is very different; Jack Sarfatti, Paul Sirag, and Nick Herbert are the central people covered. There is also quite a bit in the early chapters on Werner Heisenberg, Albert Einstein, and Erwin Schrodinger. There are also numerous scientists spread throughout the book including Richard Feynman and Fritjof Capra who wrote The Dancing Wu Li Masters.

The story is very eccentric and outright strange to the point where it is funny. There are very surprising sources of funding for the experiments which helped establish quantum physics. There is the Esalen institute a New Age retreat in California, Werner Erhard and Est who were part of the human potential movement, Henry Dakin the philanthropist and supporter of paranormal research, and the CIA with its remote viewing experiments.

The experiments themselves are very interesting to read about. They prove things like quantum encryption, nonlocality, and entanglement. Some experiments do not succeed like faster than light communication.

This is a fascinating history about a very unusual topic which most people have a difficult time understanding. It shows a process where fringe science is made into accepted science.

The book is very easy to read. It mostly focuses on the people behind the story, not the physics. The writing is very clear. There is an index, extensive notes, and bibliography. There are numeous black and white photographs and easy to understand diagrams. I found it to be a delightful book to read.

(less)

like · see review

Jul 30, 2011 Matt Heavner rated it 4 of 5 stars

A very enjoyable listen (I did the audiobook). I've read several books along these lines -- a "history of physics" which is very people driven. This isn't bad, and this book freely admits to being focused primarily around a group of people (those in the fundamental fysiks group). I very much enjoyed this book, and finding out much more details of the history -- a bit of how the hippies got me into physics! I remember reading the Dancing Wu-Li Masters both in High School and again in undergrad, a...more

like · see review

Jul 31, 2011 Nicholas rated it 4 of 5 stars

How the Hippies Saved Physics is a fantastically kooky and zany history of the fringes of physics research in the 1960s and 1970s. The premise is certainly intriguing. Kaiser argues that the Second World War and the Cold War had relegated physics in America to number crunching and practical applications of theory (mainly in the defense industry) and that all previous notions of fundamental questions all but dried up. The timing couldn't have been less fortunate, as the war followed close on the...more How the Hippies Saved Physics is a fantastically kooky and zany history of the fringes of physics research in the 1960s and 1970s. The premise is certainly intriguing. Kaiser argues that the Second World War and the Cold War had relegated physics in America to number crunching and practical applications of theory (mainly in the defense industry) and that all previous notions of fundamental questions all but dried up. The timing couldn't have been less fortunate, as the war followed close on the heels of the heady days of the major physical discoveries that led to the formulation of quantum mechanics as a whole by luminaries such as Einstein, Bohr, Heisenberg and Schrodinger in the 1920s and 1930s. This was a time when great philosophical questions concerning the nature of reality should have been asked, but the academic institutions of American were mainly concerned with churning out PhDs to compete with the Soviets. In short, if you weren't doing something practical in physics like producing better nuclear weapons or radar invisible materials, you weren't doing real physics. According to Kaiser, a select group of Hippy physicists centered in Berkeley called the Fundamental Fysiks Group provided a venue for physicists interested in fundamental questions to keep the burning questions at the heart of physics alive for a future, post-Cold War era.

it's an interesting argument, and Kaiser is quite even-handed in the weight he assigns to fringe physicists in important discoveries in spite of the grandiose title. Mainly, these physicists in their study of things like ESP and other elements of parapsychology and the connections between quantum mechanics (particularly the issue of nonlocality) were wrong more often than they were right. Their importance lay in the fact that they kept the torch burning for the pursuit of fundamental questions, and, Kaiser notes, their highly public mistakes and deviations paved the way for more mainstream thinkers to make advances in the field of physics - particularly in subfields like laser technology and quantum encryption and computing.

All in all, Kaiser has done his homework on the historical and scientific sides. More importantly, he can write! The story unfolds interestingly enough and he brings a touch of elliptical structure to the narrative that gives just enough ambiguity in the beginning for you to wonder, "How the heck are these flower-power-mystically-oriented 'physicists' going to actually contribute to cutting age science and technology coming into maturity today?" Along the way, Kaiser delves into the personal lives and scandals facing the members of the group, tracing the evolution of their lives as the field of physics changed around them. It's an intriguing and unlikely story presented from an innovative angle. I don't quite agree 100% that the Hippies literally saved physics in the sense that Kaiser seems to think they did. Mainstream physics was surely undergoing huge changes, particularly in particle physics and in the development of esoteric theories of everything like String Theory quite independent of the New Left movement. Brilliant minds like John Wheeler, Richard Feynman, Freeman Dyson, Ed Witten and Leonard Susskind were revolutionizing the field in America while maintaining quite a bit of distance from the core group of Hippies and their benefactors identified by Kaiser. Nor were the crew of the Fundamental Fysiks Group the only ones asking foundational questions about how to interpret quantum mechanics. While the Copenhagen Interpretation had its foundation in the 1920s and 30s, other interpretations and QM formalisms were still being developed - and in America nonetheless (Hugh Everett's Many Worlds Interpretation developed in the late 50s and popularized by Bryce DeWitt in the 60s and 70s being one of the most popular). This reinterpretation most certainly did not come out of the Hippy movement and does show that there were people out there interested in the big philosophical questions surrounding the New Physics. Nevertheless, it's a fun story and the bulk of Kaiser's argument is almost certainly correct. Plus, I don't think there's a work quite like it out there and if you're a child of the era or a fan of popular science in general, you'll be highly pleased with this book. (less)

like · see review

Oct 19, 2011 Heather Denkmire rated it 3 of 5 stars

I'm awfully close to choosing 4 stars on this because I did "really like it." But I didn't "really like it" because of the book itself, but because of how it ties into so many other things I've learned and thought about in the last couple years. I felt like I was learning about part II of the quantum mechanics story and it was amazing. After all the time I've spent with the Einstein/Bohr/Heisenberg, etc. up through Bell it just didn't occur to me that things didn't keep going and expanding (gett...more

like · see review

Nov 26, 2011 James Piper rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 1-audiobook, 2-audiolib, 6-non-fiction, 8-science

Am I convinced hippies saved physics? Not a chance.

I was surprised by the efforts some put into paranormal research. It seems like bunk to me, but others don't believe so. It all stems from the bizarre ability to transport information in ways that aren't easily explained. Fascinating. Bizarre. Is there an answer?

Quantum mechanics is counter intuitive. Here's a thoughtful analogy. Take twins. Put one in a restaurant in Europe and the other in one in Canada. Twin A is offered a choice of fish or s...more

1 like · like · see review

Jan 02, 2012 Joyce rated it 3 of 5 stars

The subtitle of this entertaining book is "Science, counterculture, and the quantum revival". I know nothing about quantum physics, not much about science, but do know something about the counterculture. The book focused on quantum physics and quantum mechanics, but I found it very entertaining. If you know anything at all about physics I'll bet that you'd enjoy the book. Unless, of course, you're of the "shut up and calculate" school...

Kaiser details the founding of the "Fundamental Fysiks Gro...more

like · see review

Aug 18, 2011 Andrew rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: one-book-per-week-11-12

This book starts out overstated from the title itself, and proceeds to inflate the importance of a particular social movement in the history of modern physics. Kaiser is aware of this, at least, but it doesn't stop him from vastly over-reaching. Add to that the tedium and endless repetition of information (how many times does he think characters need to be introduced?) and what would be an insightful magazine article becomes a poor book. It was also a shame to see the almost unquestioning accept...more

1 like · like · see review

Apr 02, 2013 Eddy Allen rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: arts-and-historical

Today, quantum information theory is among the most exciting scientific frontiers, attracting billions of dollars in funding and thousands of talented researchers. But as MIT physicist and historian David Kaiser reveals, this cutting-edge field has a surprisingly psychedelic past. How the Hippies Saved Physics introduces us to a band of freewheeling physicists who defied the imperative to "shut up and calculate" and helped to rejuvenate modern physics.

For physicists, the 1970s were a time of sta...more

like · see review

Sep 06, 2012 Erik rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: book-on-tape, edification

Who better to plumb the depths of quantum weirdness than a group of weird hippies? Interesting biopic of some of the personalities involved in the revival of fundamental inquiry in serious physics, using science to address philosophical questions. Their lives overlapped and included odd pursuits like self-help seminars, acid trips, and spoon bending. But they relentlessly probed the meaning of the well-tested and highly successful but little understood equations of quantum mechanics. Their thoug...more

like · see review

Oct 05, 2011 Nancy rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: history, science

I gave up and returned this book to the library without finishing it. I did skip through and could see no evidence that this group "saved" physics. The author spent way too much ink on est and Uri Geller. Maybe the book is better if you plow through it without skipping around, but I doubt it.

1 like · like · see review

Jan 25, 2013 Mama Kaye marked it as did-not-finish · review of another edition

I hate to admit it, but I had to give up on this book because I just couldn't follow the physics. I got through the second disk, and I think I basically got the main idea of the book, ie: by the end of WWII, physics had morphed from an imaginative, creative and broad-thinking science into a pragmatic, goal-oriented and problem-solving enterprise(shut up and calculate). In the late 60s and early 70s, a new generation of scientists who were also on the fringes of the new age, mystical, free-wheeli...more

like · see review

Apr 11, 2012 Jack rated it 5 of 5 stars

The book is about me and my friends. It's accurate about the physics and the main events. It does not touch on the strange adventures in my autobiography Destiny Matrix because the author is constrained by Academia. He is a young professor of physics at MIT. He did a great job.

The only two things I don't like about the book is the title and the cover. I was never a hippie. A beat Bohemian perhaps but not a hipple. I never bought into that lifestyle neither did Fred Alan Wolf.

As David Kaiser writ...more

like · see review

Oct 25, 2012 Correen rated it 5 of 5 stars

Even though the physics is a bit over my capability, it is exciting to read the story of how physics has progressed from the exciting time of Einstein and his colleagues through the war and post war years, the space race, military emphasis, and finally to a rebirth of broader perspective of the early years. Through all those changes, a cadre of scientists never lost faith in the need for a philosophy to guide them and help them understand the more complex problems of physics. During the fifties,...more

like · see review

Apr 14, 2013 Gábor rated it 3 of 5 stars

Sounding like a fascinating subject (as good as the story European science between the First and Second World Wars with which this book starts), the author somehow turns this into an (almost boring) history of academics. I think (non-physicist) readers would be more interested in hearing how these scientists contributed to progress and what crackpot schemes , than hearing about what university degrees and appointments they received ... This book would benefit from more accessible descriptions of...more

like · see review

Jan 18, 2013 Dean Hamp rated it 2 of 5 stars

It's got hippies. It's got physics. But 'Saved' is nowhere in sight. It should truthfully be entitled, "How Hippie Physicists Tried Everything They Could Think Of To Prove Paranormal Phenomena Exists And Failed Utterly, But Did Prove One Quantum Phenomena From Their Decades Of Failure, With a Side Story About A Deranged Hippie Murderer"
Ps. Oddly, I 'got' the title before reading the book, because I recall "How the Irish Saved Civilization" came out just after I'd written my Honors thesis on a si...more

like · see review

Aug 23, 2012 Matt rated it 3 of 5 stars

A very interesting chronicle of quantum mechanics in the middle of the 20th century. While the book deals with pseudo-science, it does a good job of presenting the rises and falls of the psi research of its subjects without supporting it. The personalities and minor cults -- not to mention lots of money -- that fed fundamental research physics at this time represent a very strange model when viewed from today's Academia/Industry/Government triad model. Although most of the reasons for public int...more

like · see review

Jan 04, 2013 Rachel rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: oxnard-public-library, reviewed

I enjoyed this book for a couple of what I imagine to be fairly idiosyncratic reasons: (1) the description of the post-Cold War shifts in the politics and economics of science research and education and the implications for the direction of the field of physics in general and the careers of individual scientists, and (2) the description of the evolution of scholarly communication in the face of advances in communication technology and biases of mainstream disciplinary organs regarding certain ty...more

like · see review

Apr 06, 2013 Erin rated it 4 of 5 stars

I learned a lot from this book, although I'm not sure it lives up to it's title, it really did help me understand a lot of things about the culture of physics from the 60's through the 80's. It's mostly a biography, not a physics book, but the point of the author is a good one, and we do owe a lot to people willing to think outside the norm, and sacrifice years of their life to working out these ideas, even though some of them seem kind of wacky. I love the cover, I was totally sucked in by it....more

like · see review

Feb 08, 2013 Josh rated it 1 of 5 stars

Frankly, I didn't like it. I didn't even finish it, which is rare for me. I had two major problems with it. The first was unavoidable. If it were a fiction, there would have been way too many characters. Since it isn't fiction, this can be forgiven, though it still made it hard to read. The second was simply he took 500 pages to give what was simple answer to the question, "How did the hippies save physics?" Spoiler: They said, "Sure the math works, but what does it mean?"

like · see review

Jul 03, 2012 Lorraine rated it 3 of 5 stars

I didn't read this book completely, but I skimmed through it before having to return it to the library. It was an interesting read even though I am not a physics buff. This book placed different "physics" discoveries on a timeline and associated them to the various people who pushed the for the evolution of the scientific discipline. If you are a physics buff, definitely read this, if you are generally interested in science, it is also a good read.

like · see review

Sep 25, 2011 Holly rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011-reads

A little dry. I'd have preferred deeper/broader cultural analysis. Heavy on the biographies of the "Fundamental Fysiks Group" and the usual explanations of Einstein, Heisenberg, Schrodinger, the "double-slit" experiment, Bell's Theorem, etc. Just seems like a creepy boys' club (and Elizabeth Rauscher) after all these years: Werner Erhard and est, Fred Alan Wolf, Fritjof Capra, Gary Zukov, Jack Sarfatti, Saul-Paul Sirag, Ira Einhorn (ick).

like · see review

Mar 01, 2012 Em rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

I quite enjoyed this read even though I wasn't expecting to. It is the history of a large group of quantum physicists following WWII. I think it is all too easy to dismiss as fringe the efforts of the Fundamental Fysiks Group and their attempts to combine quantum theory with the paranormal, but then Bell's Theorem was completely on the fringe at that time as well. (Nothing like 20/20 hindsight and our 21st century sensibilities!) I have to admire the fact that they were at least asking the quest...more

like · see review

Jul 11, 2011 Shaon rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: history

World War II and the Cold War brought an emphasis on hard science with little room for the philosophical aspects of physics. After the end of the Cold War funding dried up for research and class rooms emptied out. It took a new group of independent thinkers with unique funding sources to bring quantum mechanics back to the table for discussion.

like · see review

Jan 10, 2013 John Orman rated it 3 of 5 stars

Some of those counter-culture gurus back in the day were also physicists! So it is not suprising they ere seeking to challenge the foundations of science. So hot tubs, ESP, and psychedelic drugs all are part of the mix in the quantum mechanics revolution.

Interesting to read that the great physicist Richard Feynman had participated in an Esalen workshop on sensory deprivation, out-of-body experiences, and budding research on communications with dolphins.

Seems like the lightest view of these topic...more

like · see review

Jul 11, 2011 Preston Page is currently reading it

What a wonderous book, how did all the change in science happen. This book tells all, well, lots about physics.It shows the change from WWII to cold war and beyond. Along the way there is lot of interesting points and people.

For those of us who love science this is a must read.

More to come as I read.

Preston

like · see review

Feb 04, 2013 Michael rated it 4 of 5 stars

A little overwrought towards the end, and not always convincing, Kaiser's tribute to the Fundamental Fysiks Group still entertains. To my surprise, the best sections had to do with the interplay between Werner Erhard, Esalen, and the Fysiks group. Erhard bankrolled some fairly credible conferences, but they never steered too far from controversy. The pace is brisk but Kaiser is not afraid to really discuss quantum linearity and Bell's theorem, so it's a very pleasant mix of science and history....more

like · see review

title link	preview: How the Hippies Saved Physics: Science, Counterculture, and the Quantum Revival
avg rating	preview: How the Hippies Saved Physics: Science, Counterculture, and the Quantum Revival Goodreads rating: 3.34 (172 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11048785-how-the-hippies-saved-physics?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328025138l/11048785.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11048785-how-the-hippies-saved-physics?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]How the Hippies Saved Physics: Science, Counterculture, and the Quantum Revival by David Kaiser[/url]

How the Hippies Saved Physics: Science, Counterculture, and the Quantum Revival

Friend Reviews

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topic
Discuss This Book

combine
Other Editions (8)

Genres

Readers also enjoyed similar books

About David Kaiser

Books by David Kaiser

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website

Trivia About How the Hippies S...