No comments about Weight and Weightlessness (Let's Read and Find Out Science Books).

No comments about Gravitation & Gauge Symmetries (Series in High Energy Physics, Cosmology and Gravitation).

1 comments about Gravitational Lenses (Astronomy and Astrophysics Library).

1. Gravitational lenses are one of the most beautiful manifestations of Einstein's theory of General Relativity. The book explains how from the equations of GR, a massive star that is in the line of sight between us and a distant bright star can cause the production of multiple images. Several of these have been observed in the visible spectrum. Eloquent images.
   
   Thus, the book also goes into the observational evidence for such lensing. This involves testing the light from the purported images, to affirm whether or not the spectral properties of the images are similar enough that they are in fact images of the same star. Are the redshifts the same, for example?
   
   It is also shown that the lensing also gives us a diagnostic handle on the star doing the lensing. Very useful, as the star might be so distant in its own right as to preclude several other types of analysis.

No comments about Gravitational Waves in Einstein's Theory.

5 comments about Isaac Newton: The Last Sorcerer (Helix Books).

1. I start in confessional mode - Newton has long been one of my heroes. Some time ago, I read significant parts of his major works; both Opticks and Principia [or The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy]. The King's School, Grantham, was also my place of secondary education, so I have seen the statue of `Ike' in the centre of Grantham in rain and sunshine. This book takes the statue off its pedestal, but still leaves readers in awe at the colossal figure in history that was Isaac Newton.
   
   There is much more to Newton than the three laws of motion. White fills in some background, and gives interesting details about not only Newton's life, but that of those around him. It leaves a story of a man obsessed - with proving himself, with secrecy, and with power. Not everyone would agree with the broad tenets of the book (e.g. that to understand Newton, you need to understand his alchemical work, or that Newton laid the ground work for the Industrial Revolution), but it give pause for thought. Newton has been much written about, and White gives some fresh insights on what has not, after all, already been done to death. The slant upon `standing upon the shoulders of Giants', being a reference to Robert Hooke's physical deformity, means that this phrase is usually quoted out of context. Newton had a vitriolic turn of phrase!
   
   One of the major themes of Newton's life is his singular fondness of picking quarrels with people; amongst others Robert Hooke, Flamsteed, and Leibnitz. Oh, the extreme politeness of professional animosity, damning with faint praise rather than going for the jugular vein. Was Newton ever wrong? Yes, but White argues that he admitted to making `a silly mistake' rather than being found fundamentally in error. There are good insights into the character of the man, and why he thought that he was right, but perhaps Michael White is too hard on Newton's antagonists, particularly Hooke. Newton says that he does not want to be someone who merely proposes hypotheses; that may have driven him to prove himself. White also declares that Newton viewed life as a riddle to be understood, a code to be cracked, as a duty to the divine. Newton saw there only being one man in any era who could unlock these secrets; himself in his lifetime. As he saw it, the ancients had known things that Newton spent a life-time discovering, or re-discovering.
   
   Beyond his major pieces of work, Isaac Newton posed some very tough questions. He spent significant parts of his last 40 years searching for the Holy Grail of physics, a so called `Unified Theory' (and indeed, whole teams have spent large parts of the 20th Century doing the same). The Queries at the end of the Opticks asks the penetrating "Does not light get bent by `gravity'?" (This was also a question that Einstein implied 200 years later.) Is there a possible pre-cursor of Quantum Mechanics is another Query, or is that just hind-sight? Hind-sight is a wonderful tool; it is never wrong. And that can sum up Newton - never wrong, at least in his own eyes.
   
   No reference whatsoever has been made of Dr Samuel Clarke's correspondence with Leibnitz, where Clarke was speaking for his master. This is a massive omission; in these letters, Leibnitz pointed out that the calculus of Newton worked, but was flawed (because of two compensating errors), which led the German to say of Newton's disciples that they were `men more accustomed to calculate rather than think'. The two clashed over the place of God in the Universe. For Newton, God was a central part of his life, even if his views were rather unorthodox. God was the eternal watchmaker, who wound the watch up and set it going (and thereafter he rested). However, Leibnitz sees God as having a different role in continually sustaining His creation. Without God's active participation, the universe would fall apart.
   
   Alchemy can help to explain Newton's reliance upon the unexplainable triplet of Action at a Distance, Absolute Space and Absolute Time, and it is hard for the modern mind to comprehend the influence of items that verge on occult. White raises questions about Newton's active involvement in more sinister elements, and touches upon possible reasons for the fire that destroyed some of his papers. What does come through is that Newton was both a very able administrator, and a manipulative, almost Machiavellian figure who used his position as President of the Royal Society for his own ends. He left the Royal Society and the Royal Mint in much better shape than when he took the lead of them, but over con trolled.
   
   He came, he saw, he measured, he conquered. but Newton was a very flawed human being. Why is it that some of the finest minds have large amounts personal baggage? THAT is probably why they achieve what they do. Newton had a view that `second inventors count for nothing', although the History of Science is able to provide ample evidence of dual independent discovery (as in Newton and Leibnitz with differential calculus). This partly explains Newton's obsessive and secretive nature, and confrontational approach to some of his fellows. He was a genius and a very difficult man, and these two themes are very evident in the book.
   
   In the end I am left liking Newton less, but admiring him more.
   
   [...]



2. Isaac Newton: The Last Sorcerer is a well-written, well-researched, and insightful account of the life of one of the (maybe THE) most influential and important scientists and mathematicians in history. Michael White, as implied by the title of his work, has an ambitious thesis to his study: that alchemy was key to Newton's ground-breaking discoveries. According to White, without his controversial pursuit of alchemical goals like the Philosopher's Stone, Newton would not have established his theory on gravity, etc. While the idea is intriguing and probably true (one's interests and studies in specific areas will often influence what one discovers and how one understands other areas), White provides very little evidence to support his thesis and relies mostly on speculation and guessing.
   
   As a biography, I found this book intellectually stimulating, yet very readable with many interesting details that help the reader understand Newton as a scientist and as a person. Although the author claims at the beginning to concentrate on Newton's alchemical research, the book is a thorough biographical account that covers his troubled youth, his autodidactic study at Cambridge, his most important findings (theory on light and colors, gravity, calculus), his religious views and study in prophesy, his work at the Mint (he was instrumental in England's recoinage), his Presidency in the Royal Society, and his relationships with fellow intellectuals including feuds with Robert Hooke, John Flamsteed, and Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz. White also devotes what I believe to be too many pages on Newton's niece and her affair/marriage with Lord Halifax.
   
   White examines many different areas of Newton's life and also provides background information to help the reader understand the intellectual and scientific foundation that led to Newton as well as the popular biographical accounts of Newton until the 1930s when John Maynard Keynes purchased some of Newton's documents on alchemy from Sotheby's. Newton claims that earlier biographers ignored or covered up Newton's interest in alchemy. White does an excellent job explaining how Plato and Aristotle's reliance on syllogistic logic rather than experimentation stifled the growth of knowledge for centuries (31). Newton was the first to apply fully the scientific method that is used today (182). As to Newton's findings, White is very adept in scientific principles, but does not bog down his work with too much esoteric jargon. He describes Newton's research (he experimented with light in dangerous ways that almost damaged his eye sight, pp. 58-61), his thoughts, ideas, and hypotheses found in his notebooks, documents, and correspondence.
   
   Where White's work becomes weak is when his branches off into alchemy (mostly in chapters 6 and 7). It is not that White does not explain alchemy well, or does not outline Newton's work in alchemy, or ignores the influence of alchemists like Michael Maier and Robert Boyle; it is that White makes the sweeping claim that alchemy was key to Newton's discoveries with little to back it up. He will introduce alchemy, its history, its disciples, and its influence on Newton and how Newton went about his alchemical studies with a furnace in his room at Cambridge, and then will throw in statements like "The creation of the Star Regulus was PROBABLY one step along this road [to a full-blown theory of gravity]" (146), "It is QUITE POSSIBLE that, by manipulating the tale [about documents Newton lost in a fire at Cambridge], they managed to neatly dismiss Newton's alchemical interests" (148). White maintains that the popular apple story was created by Newton to cover up alchemy's role in his theory on gravitation (no evidence provided). In examining Newton's biblical study, White makes a connection between Solomon's temple and Newton's concept on universal gravitation and then admits "There is no surviving record of an explicit reference to the Star Regulus or the Temple of Solomon to support the idea that they may have symbolized an attractive force" (pp. 159-62). Later in the book, White becomes preoccupied by Newton's relationship with upstart intellectual Fatio de Duillier and, while discussing their relatively intimate correspondence (White implies a possible homosexual relationship), suggests that the censored parts of the letters had to do with alchemy (238). White adds that Fatio "may have" spoken of alchemy in front of other intellectuals and that he possibly got Newton interested in the black arts (291-99). Of course, White seized on Newton burning his papers at the Mint weeks before his death: "the burning incident MAY have some bearing on the conclusion we reach about this. Did Newton venture along paths leading far from his study of alchemy-paths we would now consider those of pure magic, pure heresy?" (355).
   
   I am not criticizing White for asking these questions or for speculating about Newton's secret endeavors. My problem is that White makes the claim that alchemy was key to Newton's discoveries and makes it the thesis of this book and not only doesn't cover alchemy throughout the book (mainly only in 2 chapters and sporadically sprinkled through the rest of the work) but his proof is only speculation and rumor. He doesn't, for example, draw connections between Newton's alchemical documents and his theories. Near the end of his book, White throws in this puzzling paragraph: "Unlike the central theme of this biography-that Newton arrived at his theory of gravity PARTLY [he backs off a little from his thesis here] through his exploration of alchemy and early biblical theory---the notion that he crossed the line into black magic is not supported by any hard evidence, but the circumstantial evidence available offers an intriguing possibility" (358). This sentence applies to his central thesis as well. I almost gave this book 3 stars but decided to compromise as it would be head and shoulders above other books I've given 3 stars. Actually, I would have given this book 5 stars, as it shows excellent care and scholarship, if he wasn't so adamant in claiming to prove a thesis he did not support with information provided in The Last Sorcerer.



3. The Last Sorcerer begins with the theories of past philosophers and thinkers like Aristotle and Galileo. It also gives experts about Newton's life through out the entire novel. I found the book a little hard to follow and understand as it jumped from one chapter to the next without much connections between each. However, it is a good source of information on Newton's family, life, and how he grew up to be the great physist he became. Although hard to understand, it is easy reading because the novel is written in a story-book format. It is more engaging and interesting, while still presenting factual information than most biographies.



4. I was attracted to this book by a moronic blogger on another site who tried to rationalize the idiocy of "Intelligent Design" by arguing that Isaac Newton believed God created the universe! Another blogger recommended "The Last Sorcerer" as a rebutal to that comment.
   
   Michael White's scholarship is well-researched, incisive and thoughtful. He reveals the history of the awakening of scientific thought and inquiry of the 17th and 18th centuries in a readable and interesting manner.
   
   His descriptions of Newton, Hooke, Waterhouse, Huygens, et al, who opened the doors to the modern scientific method are easy to follow and carefully organized. Sir Isaac, indeed as much a man of God as he was a man of his time, was nonetheless largely responsible for the beginning of the end of superstition and ignorance and the awakening of inquiry and experiment.
   
   This is a good read for anyone interested in where we've been and how we got to where we are.



5. I am about halfway through this book. I really appreciate the balanced way he presents Isaac Newton's life. The book is very well written, and presents both sides of Mr. Newton - the brilliant scientist that laid the foundation for modern science and engineering, as well as the alchemist - the mystic - and the flawed individual and his various feuds with some of his contemporaries. I also appreciate the time the author spends discussing the world Mr. Newton lived in - what were the dominant paradigms, and who were the people that contributed to them. As such, the book fulfills a secondary purpose of providing an overview of how we arrived at our current scientific paradigm. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about Sir Isaac Newton, and also learn about the evolution of the thinking behind modern science.

No comments about Gravity - Galileo to Einstein and Back: Newtonian Force, Slave or Master?.

1 comments about Theory and Experiment in Gravitational Physics.

1. This book is not objective. There is no mention of the three degree cosmic background radiation which calls into question the relativistic and variance foundation of general relativity. This is an enormous problem for the validity of general relativity. Review made by Dr. Hubert Lipinski.

No comments about Gravitational Waves (Studies in High Energy Physics, Cosmology and Gravitation).

No comments about Reinventing Gravity: A Physicist Goes Beyond Einstein.

No comments about Handbook of Mass Measurement.