A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe: Not
I found myself a bit irritated by a review of Roger Penrose's most recent book, The Road to Reality: A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe in this Sunday's New York Times Book Review (2/27/2005) . Now, right off the bat, I have not read the book, and may not read it for a while (if ever). My sense is that the title is overly grandiose, even if there are some interesting discussions in the book.
Here's my beef with the review, by George Johnson. Mr. Johnson notes that the book is "very tough going," that on a scale of one to four of preparedness for dealing with math and physics he is maybe a 1.7, and that he "absorbed what [he] could osmotically."
This review is science, but vaguely, for the dumb and dumber set. I wish the editors at the New York Times had assigned a reviewer with either a background in physics or the perseverance to follow the technical arguments in the book (or both). I'd like to know more about the book's theses and ideas, in a more rigorous way, and less about "Aha!" moments and the reviewer's befuddlement.
Posted by Harold Davis at February 28, 2005 02:48 PM
