The New Time Travelers: A Journey to the Frontiers of Physics Review

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The New Time Travelers: A Journey to the Frontiers of Physics ReviewI love to read science fiction, especially the classic short stories. I must admit I approached this book with some trepidation..... my "summer reading" rarely includes non-fiction, especially science.
Having said that, I am very glad this book was recommended to me. I bought it on a whim and--even though it looked daunting (lined up next to the paperback novels)--I read it cover-to-cover in three days. That's saying a LOT, as I have the attention span of a ...
Okay, about the book: I learned some things I didn't know before about relativity, I laughed at some stories of theoretical physicists at work, and got a welcome dose of time travel paradoxes. My favorite is the classic "grandfather paradox"--that is, can a time traveler kill her grandfather and so change the past? I've read about it in science fiction, but Toomey (and the physicists he talked to) offer much more complex and provocative discussions in The New Time Travelers.
I find it amazing to discover what these physicists and philosophers are theorizing and debating about. For instance, the book talks about Igor Novikov, a physicist who suggests that if a natural time machine exists somewhere in the universe and we can reach it via unmanned spacecraft, we could exploit something called the "Bootstrap Paradox" (gotta love that name for a time travel paradox, eh?) and force the spacecraft to create itself. It would carry knowledge of its own design and the location of the natural time machine from the future to us in the present.
Are they dreaming up the next science fiction bestseller? Nope. It's serious science. This is why I like the book so much. It sounds a LOT like science fiction, but these ideas been debated among theoretical physicists. All very serious, all very plausible....well, debatable, at least, which is a start. I would have been just as skeptical of virtual reality or gene manipulation only 20 years ago, so you never know.
I totally recommend this book. I honestly can't believe I enjoyed it so much, given the books normally on my summer reading list....The New Time Travelers: A Journey to the Frontiers of Physics Overview

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American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer Review

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American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer ReviewMy father spent most of his career in nuclear engineering researching the mathematics of nuclear reactors at Brookhaven. My father had visited all the national labs and got to know all the key players in nuclear physics in the period from 1950-1970. Growing up in that environment I naturally knew a bit about Oppenheimer and Teller and others. It was clear to me that my father had sympathy for Oppenheimer and a great deal of respect. Teller was viewed more as a politician looking for fame and publicity. This became even more apparent to me when in the 1980s I saw how he lobbied the Reagan administration for research on laser based strategic defense satellites.
This book is an account of Oppenheimer's life from childhood through the Manhattan Project with emphasis on the most crucial part of his career as the head of the Los Alamos Laboratory where physicists mathematicians and chemists teamed up to develop the first nuclear weapons that were used against Japan. Oppenheimer was a reserved man who did not seek the limelight. He was brilliant but his biggest asset was his management and leadership capabilities along with very good judgement, something that Teller seemed to lack. It was just these qualities of leadership that led to the succcessful development of the atomic bomb in a few short years at Los Alamos. His liberal past and pre-war affiliation with communism caused him great difficulties and some in the military feared that he was a security risk. He was continually being checked out by J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI. Hoover did not like the appointment of Oppenheimer to the key leadership position at Los Alamos.
After the war was over, strangely the man who was able to keep secrets during the crucial period of the Manhattan Project was not trusted after the war. He lost security clearance and struggled due to the increased fear of communism from the post-war Soviet Union including the wave of witchhunting during the Joseph McCarthy era. He was liberal and his pre-war past communist associations hurt him deeply. His philosophy on nuclear weapons and his clashes with his former colleague Joseph Teller made for a tormented post-war career. I believe Oppenheomer felt guilt over his involvement in the development of the bomb and was definitely against the arms race. This period of his life as well as his childhood was important to understand the complexities of this man. The authors do a good job of covering this and do not fall into the trap of just emphasizing the war years.
This book is engaging and very successful at portraying the life character and personality of J. Robert Oppenheimer. He was the right man for a difficult and challenging job and had what it took to get the most out of an odd group of geniuses.American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer Overview

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