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 | | Fearful Symmetry: The Search for Beauty in Modern Physics (Princeton Science Library) by A. Zee, Roger Penrose (Foreword) ISBN-10: 9780691134826 ISBN-10: 0-691-13482-0 ISBN-13: 9780691134826 ISBN-13: 978-0-691-13482-6 Paperback 2007-07-30 Princeton University Press Find Lowest Price |
Editorials | ||
Product Description Fearful Symmetry brings the incredible discoveries of contemporary physics within everyone's grasp. A. Zee, a distinguished physicist and skillful expositor, tells the exciting story of how today's theoretical physicists are following Einstein in their search for the beauty and simplicity of Nature. Animated by a sense of reverence and whimsy, the book describes the majestic sweep and accomplishments of twentieth-century physics. In the end, we stand in awe before the grand vision of modern physics--one of the greatest chapters in the intellectual history of humankind. | ||
Reviews | ||
Austere beauty - no decorations in the architecture of reality This book is not about symmetry of shapes. It is about a much more fundamental symmetry: the invariances observed in the most fundamental laws of physics. These invariances render modern physics theories simple and somewhat austere, yet deep in abstract sense and with rich consequences. Zee's enthusiasm and natural writing style ensures he not only conveys this message, but also gives the reader a clear insight in what modern physics is about. Five stars, easily. | ||
Theoretical Physics Problems in a Nutshell Zee presents the challenges faced and already overcome by theoretical physicists in an extremely clear manner. Although some things may be difficult to understand, Zee demonstrates it's not as difficult as it first seems. A great book for a physics enthusiast or someone who wants to gain enthusiasm in the subject. I highly recommend this book for all audiences. | ||
Like listening to Schubert by a warm fire on a cold winter's night Fearful Symmetry is the most soothing physics book I have ever read. Perhaps soothing is a strange word, but by analogy, reading Feynman is like riding a race horse, while reading others is like being in a rather bad nightclub or being lectured to by a kind but stern uncle. All are worthwhile in their own ways, but none are soothing. Reading Fearful Symmetry is like listening to Schubert by a warm fire on a cold winter's night. Anyone who loves science will enjoy this wonderful look inside the soul of physics. | ||
A beautiful overview of modern physics This book provides an excellent intro and overview of modern physics, from Noether's theorem to Yang-Mills theory. Most gauge theory books and quantum field theory books are highly mathematical but short on exposition. This is an ideal book to read while tackling the harder stuff like Zee's "Quantum Field Theory in a Nutshell". Zee has one of the best writing styles of any hardcore physicists. Also Recommended is Kerson Huang's "Fundamental Forces of Nature". | ||
Longing for beauty in physics An excellent book, maybe the best I have read on this topic. I don't quite understand the meaning of "fearful" in the title, maybe the author intended to communicate the awe inspiring beauty of symmetry in science, specially in physics and math, which he absolutely achieves. Another reviewer mentions that you need an understanding in physics or group theory to appreciate the beauty in the propositions. I am sure you need it to understand the beauty intrinsically (I mean from the formulas or propositions by themselves), but the author does a great job in transmitting the idea of beauty in simplicity and symmetry. This was the first book I read on the topic and it was a great introduction to it. It explains a lot of the concepts I found in other books in an easy and understandable way (I am not saying that the topic or the book are easy, but the author explains the concepts as easy as possible). I would not have made it through other books without this. The author gets as deep as possible without really using formulas but in addition he succeeds to convey his deep admiration for the topic. Deep Down Things: The Breathtaking Beauty of Particle Physics explains the concepts even more clearly and precisely (excellent book by the way), but Mr. Zee is more passionate about the subject. It was helpful to get a glimpse of gauge symmetries and groups, of particle physics and of the standard model and how the forces tend to unify at high energy states. It was very interesting how physicists make their way to establishing a proper group and the prediction of the number of particles that must be "out there" if the chosen group is to be correct. I very much enjoyed the chapter about proton decay and the age of the universe, as well as the chapter on matter and anti-matter. This latter even turned my mood a bit "philosophic". The book had a few grammatical mistakes, parts of a sentence were missing or misplaced, so it was difficult to read, on top of the subject already being difficult enough (I attribute this to the not so good Spanish translation that I read). | ||