How the Hippies Saved Physics: Science, Counterculture, and the Quantum Revival by David Kaiser
My rating: 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, and seeing (lots!) of Sarfatti on sci.physics, and many more of the tidbits as I got into physics. I even used Dr. Quantum youtubes in teaching my physics classes.
The book makes a compelling case about the interesting role that this group of non-traditional physicists “kept hope alive” and finishes with a compelling question: Why has the fundamental fysics groups been written out of physics history?
One complaint (just audiobook) — I’ve never considered the arXiv to be pronounced “R-Ziv”.
