Art and Science – The Physics of Our Natural World, book review

When you go to college, you take courses in psychology and philosophy that challenge the reality of being, where the professor tries to get your mind to think outside the box. While this is a very good exercise, it confuses a large number of students. I might have a solution for that. Perhaps all these undergraduates need to do is look at the science behind what it is, ie ask the question; What does our reality consist of, and then work the other way around from there, asking the same questions the professors suggested.

If you’d like a book that can help you think through all of this, and maybe understand a little more about what they’re doing with particle physics at places like CERN, I have a suitable recommendation for you. Book name

“Einstein’s Space and Van Gogh’s Sky – Physical Reality and Beyond” by Lawrence Leshan and Henri Margenau, Macmillan Publishers, New York, NY, 1982, 268 pages, ISBN: 0-02-570460-5.

Now then, you don’t have to be a new person to enjoy this attempt by the authors to explain our current world and reality using hard science, quantum physics, and many of Einstein’s most famous equations and theories to enjoy this book and ponder alternative realities, or relativistic observations of all that exists in our known universe. The authors first delve into how to understand and explain this concept of alternate reality, the structure of spheres, worlds, and relative realities.

Although this book was written in 1982, one can look at it and see that much of modern-day understanding of even the most recent theories of particle physics continues to be philosophical. In fact, by the time you’ve finished Part One of this book, you’ll have a pretty good grasp of heading into Part Two and Part Three. The authors have a nice philosophical and scientific argument for the reader regarding relativity and truth, as it is, what reality is, and where and when it happened, will, or could happen.

You’ll enjoy discussion about causation, feedback, purpose, reductionism, logic, and scientific theory checking, as perhaps the authors explain how their point is entirely sound with all of this. In the third part, well, this is where things get really interesting and deep; What is real, is anything real, and why is it real or not. There is an interesting chapter on art, another on ethics, and another on consciousness.

Although these authors appear to be writing from a liberal arts perspective, which would drive someone like me into a wall, their scholarly use of theories and knowledge is very good, and thus, this book still stands under the title of a; New age work.