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Waves Passing in the Night: Walter Murch in the Land of the Astrophysicists
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For film aficionados, Walter Murch is legendary--a three-time Academy Award winner, arguably the most admired sound editor in the world for his work on Apocalypse Now, The Godfather trilogy, The English Patient, and many others. Outside of the studio, his mind is wide-ranging; his passion, pursued for several decades, is astrophysics, and in particular a theory regarding t
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I won this book in a goodreads drawing.
A combination biography and discussion of the subject's pet theory in the field of astronomy.
Walter Murch is an important figure in film soundtracks. He is an oscar winner, and even came up with some of the basic rules of the field.
At some point, he used his expertise in the field of astronomy, attempting to revive the Titius-Bode theory of planetary orbits. Interesting reading, but very complicated. His attempts to get scientists to even engage is nearly h ...more
A combination biography and discussion of the subject's pet theory in the field of astronomy.
Walter Murch is an important figure in film soundtracks. He is an oscar winner, and even came up with some of the basic rules of the field.
At some point, he used his expertise in the field of astronomy, attempting to revive the Titius-Bode theory of planetary orbits. Interesting reading, but very complicated. His attempts to get scientists to even engage is nearly h ...more
Another one of Weschler's books about all-American weirdos. We have Walter Murch, an all-around bright guy who's got some interesting theories, and who has to confront one of the central problems of scientific progress... that in order to advance, we have to move from one paradigm to the next, but the fact is that unless there's a crisis point, the entire scientific community is likely to resist you, and to be fair, most of the people proposing new paradigms are absolute cranks. Weschler's about
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Apr 11, 2017
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Another strange and fascinating book by Lawrence Weschler. It was Weschler who got me interested in Walter Murch in the first place (in The Uncanny Valley), and though this isn't about film, as it turns out, it is wonderfully nontraditional and surprising.
So Murch: the famous film and sound editor who is also an irrepressible auto-didact and Renaissance Man with an a deep interest in gravitational astro-acoustics. Murch thinks he's onto something truly significant about the solar system's plane ...more
So Murch: the famous film and sound editor who is also an irrepressible auto-didact and Renaissance Man with an a deep interest in gravitational astro-acoustics. Murch thinks he's onto something truly significant about the solar system's plane ...more
Feb 22, 2019
BooksRgood
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some people are too smart for their own good? Nah that isn't right. some people are curious and smart and talented in more than one field of endeavor - like music & astrophysics. Like Brian May of Queen . But this book is about Walter Murch (music & movie guy who doesnt have an advanced degree in astrophysics) musing about the discredited theory of Titius & Bode that finds patterns in where orbiting celestial bodies (planets around start, moons around planets, etc) are - suggesting perhaps a phy
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While I found Murch’s theory interesting, this book was an odd read to me. The first half of the book is dedicated to Murch’s personal life and his theory. The second half of the book is about Lawrence reaching out to astrophysicists, on Murch’s behalf, to get their feedback, relay that back to Murch and hear Murch’s rebuttals. I kept waiting for there to be some sort of resolve or concluding thought… and that never came. It was literally just pages of back and forth with the occasional scientif
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I read this book as an anti-authoritarian who desperately and compulsively sides with and roots for the outsider perspective on matters of the consensus reality accepted as fact by the conformant masses. I felt this book was a fair take on the somewhat quixotic quest of Murch on the Titius Bode Law/Hypothesis, though I felt myself railing against the implied and explicit conclusions of the author at the end-- I wanted this quest to end in total vindication or leave the possibility more open, in
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Weschler is a fantastic writer, and I absolutely loved his book on Robert Irwin. Read that one. I felt this one besmirches Murch in some ways. It is a handsome book, with lots of photographs and illustrations, but many of them seem unnecessary. Do we need a photo of Lee Smolin and Edgar Allen Poe? (2.5 stars)
An interesting read with a complex but rich history. Weschler writes of philosophy, art, music, film, and astronomy in a way that any reader will find some connection to the book, and leave it with many more ideas opened to them.
Walter Murch is legendary-- the most admired sound editor in the world. Outside of the film studio he has wide interests. He once told me this theory is great detail: although he is very good at sharing ideas clearly, he was so finely specific, that he lost me after about 10 minutes. (Even reading the book, my mind still glazed over here and there. However, JS was able to follow it, no problem).
Can't wait to read it!
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Lawrence Weschler, a graduate of Cowell College of the University of California at Santa Cruz (1974), was for over twenty years (1981-2002) a staff writer at The New Yorker, where his work shuttled between political tragedies and cultural comedies. He is a two-time winner of the George Polk Award (for Cultural Reporting in 1988 and Magazine Reporting in 1992) and was also a recipient of Lannan Lit
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