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Now we can all be philosophers
CULTURELAB
Oddly seductive String theory has a curvaceous side, as a paean to multidimensional geometry reveals
The Shape of Inner Space: String theory and the geometry of the universe’s hidden dimensions by Shing-Tung Yau and Steve Nadis, Basic Books, £20/$30 Reviewed by Michael Brooks
HERE’S a sentence you don’t read every day: “ ‘My pleasure,’ she said, smiling coquettishly and curling up into a Calabi-Yau shape.” It’s safe to say that few of The New Yorker’s readers would have known what Woody Allen was on about when he wrote that in July 2003. Allen probably didn’t know either. In case you’re wondering, the geometric form known as a Calabi-Yau space (see picture) exists in multiple dimensions and is the pedestal on which string theory has been built. And in case you want to know more than that, one of the inventors (discoverers?) 54 | NewScientist | 25 September 2010
of the Calabi-Yau space, the geometer Shing-Tung Yau, has written a book that explains it all in exquisite detail. The Shape of Inner Space is a hymn to geometry. Without geometry, Yau points out, we cannot account for the forces of nature. Einstein’s general theory of relativity is, essentially, nothing but geometry. Yet geometry is the poor relation of modern science. Yau is aiming to put that right. “I would go so far as to say that geometry not only deserves a place at the table alongside physics and cosmology, but in many ways it is the table,” he writes. A measure of his obsession is his admission that discovering the Calabi-Yau space gave him the same feeling he experienced when he first laid eyes on his wife. In many ways, this book is a hard sell. After all, string theory has already been “done” in books by Brian Greene, Yau’s protégé. Then the subject was written off as a waste of physicists’
time in Peter Woit’s Not Even Wrong and Lee Smolin’s The Trouble With Physics. No wonder that when Yau told his colleagues he wanted to write a book about the mathematics behind string theory, they told him it was like drawing attention to having worked on the blueprints for the Titanic. Yau pressed on anyway, and we should be glad he did. It is a testimony to his careful prose (and no doubt to the skills of co-author Steve Nadis) that this book so compellingly captures the essence of what pushes string theorists forward in the face of formidable obstacles. It gives us a rare glimpse into a world as alien as the moons of Jupiter, and just as fascinating. The Shape of Inner Space is not always an easy read. Neither are the explanations always perfect: are we really supposed to cope with sentences like, “A compact Kahler manifold with a vanishing first Chern class will admit a metric that is Ricci flat”? Nevertheless, Yau and Nadis have produced a strangely mesmerising account of geometry’s role in the universe. And if you ever want to curl up into a multidimensional shape, this book surely offers the best guide there is.
Philosophy lite Do Llamas Fall in Love? 33 perplexing philosophy puzzles by Peter Cave, Oneworld Publications, £7.99/$12.95 Reviewed by William Parry
ALTHOUGH hormones and evolution largely determine monogamous behaviour in humans and llamas, why is it “love” that keeps humans, but not llamas, together? Peter Cave starts each of his 33 chapters with a hypothetical, philosophical “puzzle” like this, then analyses
it and concludes with a relevant moral or generalisation. Despite the repetitious format, the puzzles are engaging and most are mentally stimulating. Best of all, many spring to life unexpectedly, triggered by mundane incidents. For example, Cave’s conundrums manifested themselves one evening as I wondered why Gabriel Faure’s Requiem melts me, then watched news coverage of the devastation caused by floods in Pakistan, followed by a programme about forced marriages. Channel hopping later, I asked myself: if there is a God, is Big Brother a modern day pestilence?
Genetics, unedited The Wonder of Genetics: The creepy, the curious and the commonplace by Richard V. Kowles, Prometheus Books, £21.95/$25 Reviewed by Kate Douglas
YOU can’t fault Richard Kowles on his ambition. His book covers a huge amount of ground, from the basics of heredity and sex determination to plant breeding and sideshow freaks. He visits the big questions – nature versus nurture, free will – and makes forays into controversial territory including race, intelligence and creationism. What’s more, Kowles, a distinguished geneticist, is a knowledgeable guide. The trouble is, he has no sense of direction. The chapters are all over the place. Kowles happily jumps from “Women in the Olympics” to “Marrying your cousin”, feeling no compunction to make a connection. More disorientating still, he regularly meanders back over already charted territory and his voice veers between colloquial and didactic. While his desire to educate is commendable, I can’t help feeling he needs a good editor.
Oddly seductive String theory has a curvaceous side, as a paean to multidimensional geometry reveals
The Shape of Inner Space: String theory and the geometry of the universe’s hidden dimensions by Shing-Tung Yau and Steve Nadis, Basic Books, £20/$30 Reviewed by Michael Brooks
HERE’S a sentence you don’t read every day: “ ‘My pleasure,’ she said, smiling coquettishly and curling up into a Calabi-Yau shape.” It’s safe to say that few of The New Yorker’s readers would have known what Woody Allen was on about when he wrote that in July 2003. Allen probably didn’t know either. In case you’re wondering, the geometric form known as a Calabi-Yau space (see picture) exists in multiple dimensions and is the pedestal on which string theory has been built. And in case you want to know more than that, one of the inventors (discoverers?) 54 | NewScientist | 25 September 2010
of the Calabi-Yau space, the geometer Shing-Tung Yau, has written a book that explains it all in exquisite detail. The Shape of Inner Space is a hymn to geometry. Without geometry, Yau points out, we cannot account for the forces of nature. Einstein’s general theory of relativity is, essentially, nothing but geometry. Yet geometry is the poor relation of modern science. Yau is aiming to put that right. “I would go so far as to say that geometry not only deserves a place at the table alongside physics and cosmology, but in many ways it is the table,” he writes. A measure of his obsession is his admission that discovering the Calabi-Yau space gave him the same feeling he experienced when he first laid eyes on his wife. In many ways, this book is a hard sell. After all, string theory has already been “done” in books by Brian Greene, Yau’s protégé. Then the subject was written off as a waste of physicists’
time in Peter Woit’s Not Even Wrong and Lee Smolin’s The Trouble With Physics. No wonder that when Yau told his colleagues he wanted to write a book about the mathematics behind string theory, they told him it was like drawing attention to having worked on the blueprints for the Titanic. Yau pressed on anyway, and we should be glad he did. It is a testimony to his careful prose (and no doubt to the skills of co-author Steve Nadis) that this book so compellingly captures the essence of what pushes string theorists forward in the face of formidable obstacles. It gives us a rare glimpse into a world as alien as the moons of Jupiter, and just as fascinating. The Shape of Inner Space is not always an easy read. Neither are the explanations always perfect: are we really supposed to cope with sentences like, “A compact Kahler manifold with a vanishing first Chern class will admit a metric that is Ricci flat”? Nevertheless, Yau and Nadis have produced a strangely mesmerising account of geometry’s role in the universe. And if you ever want to curl up into a multidimensional shape, this book surely offers the best guide there is.
Philosophy lite Do Llamas Fall in Love? 33 perplexing philosophy puzzles by Peter Cave, Oneworld Publications, £7.99/$12.95 Reviewed by William Parry
ALTHOUGH hormones and evolution largely determine monogamous behaviour in humans and llamas, why is it “love” that keeps humans, but not llamas, together? Peter Cave starts each of his 33 chapters with a hypothetical, philosophical “puzzle” like this, then analyses
it and concludes with a relevant moral or generalisation. Despite the repetitious format, the puzzles are engaging and most are mentally stimulating. Best of all, many spring to life unexpectedly, triggered by mundane incidents. For example, Cave’s conundrums manifested themselves one evening as I wondered why Gabriel Faure’s Requiem melts me, then watched news coverage of the devastation caused by floods in Pakistan, followed by a programme about forced marriages. Channel hopping later, I asked myself: if there is a God, is Big Brother a modern day pestilence?
Genetics, unedited The Wonder of Genetics: The creepy, the curious and the commonplace by Richard V. Kowles, Prometheus Books, £21.95/$25 Reviewed by Kate Douglas
YOU can’t fault Richard Kowles on his ambition. His book covers a huge amount of ground, from the basics of heredity and sex determination to plant breeding and sideshow freaks. He visits the big questions – nature versus nurture, free will – and makes forays into controversial territory including race, intelligence and creationism. What’s more, Kowles, a distinguished geneticist, is a knowledgeable guide. The trouble is, he has no sense of direction. The chapters are all over the place. Kowles happily jumps from “Women in the Olympics” to “Marrying your cousin”, feeling no compunction to make a connection. More disorientating still, he regularly meanders back over already charted territory and his voice veers between colloquial and didactic. While his desire to educate is commendable, I can’t help feeling he needs a good editor.