What is it about The Lightness of Being?

[Martin]

The Lightness of Being could be on its way to becoming a hit, or even a classic in the category of wide audience explanations of deep physics. It sketches out Nobel laureate Frank Wilczek's vision of a new "Golden Age" of particle physics resulting from what he expects the Large Hadron Collider to discover.

 

This includes a view of Unified Theory coming about quite differently from how it is imagined by string theorists. The book scarcely mentions stringy theorizing and tends to be mildly dismissive of it. It strikes me as a fresh vision of the world of fundamental particles and forces---and one presented non-mathematically in what I would call individualistic and evocative language. He uses metaphors and photographs and mental imagery. It is an entertaining book, would you (if you've read it) agree?

 

Anyway that is my take and I want to do a reality check to see how LoB is fariing in the marketplace. I've been keeping track of its salesrank (at pacific noon each day) compared with a benchmark which is the average rank of the five most popular stringy books.

 

Sales of Smolin's book The Trouble with Physics (TwP) have slacked off considerably---I thought the book did extremely well for the first two years but now it is typically doing only around 40 percent, or in the range 30-70 percent, as well as the stringy benchmark.

 

To give some perspective on Wilczek's LoB performance, I've tabulated these salesrank ratios together.

 

You can see, I think, that Wilczek's book is doing quite well. It came on the market at the beginning of September. The question is, if you see it becoming a hit physics popularization, what are the reasons for its success?

Are the reasons superficial (publicity, name recognition...) or does the book communicate a valuable fresh view of physics at the deepest level?

 

The Lightness of Being and Trouble with Physics recent salesranks compared to benchmark:

 

           LoB           TwP        LoB+TwP
9 October 1.9           0.7          2.6
10 October 2.3           0.6          2.9
11 October 1.2           0.6          1.8
12 October 1.6           0.9          2.5
...
16 October 1.7           0.8          2.5
17 October 2.3           0.4          2.7
18 October 1.2           0.5          1.7
19 October 1.5           0.9          2.4
20 October 1.7           0.4          2.1
21 October 2.1           0.9          3.0
22 October 1.8           0.3          2.1
23 October 2.5           0.4          2.9
...
1 November ?

 

At noon 23 October LoB ranked 1475 and TwP ranked 8989.

Then most popular stringy titles were black hole, elegant hardbound, idiot guide, parallel, elegant, with salesranks 3246, 3281, 3758, 4093, 4205, averaging 3716.6.

 

I've tried adding the two books' indices of performance to see if there are any trends in how they are doing collectively.

[iNow]

Thanks for the endorsement. I may need to check this one out. It's been a wihle since I've picked up a new science related book for the layperson.

[Martin]

Thanks for the endorsement. I may need to check this one out. It's been a wihle since I've picked up a new science related book for the layperson.

 

You know I have to confess to an almost irrational loathing for most science-for-laity. I detest Hawking's popularizations. They deceive people into thinking they get some understanding. Brian Greene Yukk!!!!

Pop science writers cheat people with phony metaphors, when many readers could get much more understanding if they made a little more effort to get into it for real. Kids who get exposed to fluff writing so often stop with that and think they know something. Sorrry. that is just my prejudiced view, and private rant.

 

But I actually think Wilcek's book might be one of the exceptions!!!???

It might actually do some good.

He makes a serious effort to get into the guts of the subject.

He is also a very entertaining writer, I think, so it's hard but fun.

 

Robert Laughlin (a Nobel condensed matter physicist) said

"vintage Wilczek---fun, simple, and right." I don't know if its right. I don't find it always so simple. But I do find it fun and I can tell it's not fluff. Serious effort to lay out a unified picture comprising the immediate past and future of particle physics.

 

Let's check to see how the book is doing.

[EDIT] Wow! I just checked at 10 AM. Salesrank #997 among all Amazon books. To get perspective I use a benchmark which is the average rank of the five currently most popular stringy books. This is 3548.4 at the moment. So Wilczek is doing over three times better than mark.

3.6 times, about.

 

The current topfive stringies are elegant, parallel, idiot guide, black hole, and fabric---ranking 2814, 3034, 3401 3944, 4549. Smolin's book, now two years out, ranks 4579, so it is doing about 80 percent as good as the benchmark. This is at 10AM pacific time.

=================================

[EDIT] Did my usual noon check to update the table on the books' performance:

The Lightness of Being and Trouble with Physics recent salesranks compared to benchmark:

 

           LoB           TwP        LoB+TwP
9 October 1.9           0.7          2.6
10 October 2.3           0.6          2.9
11 October 1.2           0.6          1.8
12 October 1.6           0.9          2.5
...
16 October 1.7           0.8          2.5
17 October 2.3           0.4          2.7
18 October 1.2           0.5          1.7
19 October 1.5           0.9          2.4
20 October 1.7           0.4          2.1
21 October 2.1           0.9          3.0
22 October 1.8           0.3          2.1
23 October 2.5           0.4          2.9
24 October 3.7           0.9          4.6
25 October 3.1           0.9          4.0
26 October 4.4           0.4          4.8
...
1 November ?

 

At noon on 24th, LoB and TwP ranked 941 and 3695.

Stringy topfive were parallel, elegant, fabric, idiot guide, black hole, ranking 2748, 3128, 3646, 3858, 4087 for a benchmark average of 3473.4. The performance ratios were LoB 3.71 and TwP 0.95

 

At noon on 25th, LoB and TwP ranked 1197 and 4143.

Stringy topfive (parallel, elegant, black, fabric, elegant hardbound) ranked 3028, 3255, 3444, 4041, 4518, averaging 3657.2.

The two non-string books had performance ratios 3.06 and 0.88, compared to benchmark.

 

Gotta be impressed by the sales of Wilczek's book. It has been out now for most of September and most of October---better part of two months---and at least for th moment it is doing three time better than the average stringy topfiver. This is an alternative vision of unification and the fundamental nature of reality----the first popular book like that to come out since the string fad began to decline.

 

At noon on 26th, LoB and TwP ranked 976 and 10,416.

Stringy topfive (elegant hardbound, black hole, idiot guide, parallel, elegant) ranked 2108, 3733, 4383, 5487, 5878, averaging 4317.8.

The two performance ratios were 4.42 and 0.41, compared to benchmark.

Edited October 26, 2008 by Martin
multiple post merged

[Martin]

One thing that is helping Lightness is probably the positive reviews and the comments by other Nobel laureates.

 

Here's a sample:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/product-description/0465003214/

 

 

Robert Laughlin, Nobel Laureate in Physics, Stanford

“Vintage Wilczek—fun, simple and right.”

 

Jerome I. Friedman, Nobel Laureate in Physics, MIT

“The Lightness of Being takes the reader on a mind-stretching journey, providing a revolutionary new vision of the universe. Frank Wilczek is an extraordinarily accomplished and creative scientist who has the rare ability to communicate scientific ideas and insights with exceptional clarity—but also with a delightful playfulness.”

 

T. D. Lee, Nobel Laureate in Physics, Columbia University

“This book is deep, simple and incredibly well-written. Starting from the nature of mass, Professor Wilczek leads the reader to an understanding of the most profound ideas and accomplishments in physics today.”

 

Amazon mentions that Laughlin is himself the author of some popular books, I don't know if that is relevant. I rather think not. Main thing is he's a prominent Nobelist in condensed matter physics.

 

Lightness of Being has not gotten a lot of hype on the broadcast media, as far as I know. Not the kind of personality interviews a là Brian Greene, or TV specials. But it has solid support in print-media and on web---here are some examples:

 

The Economist

“A thrilling read… a glimpse of physics at its quirkiest and most illuminating.”

 

Natural History

“Read Wilczek’s book…to share some of the excitement and enlightenment that he and fellow particle physicists experience as the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) goes into operation in Switzerland.”

St. Petersburg Times

“Wilczek possesses a compelling writing style…. The beauty of the intellectual leaps, the grandness of the discovery, are palpable. Making the reader feel engaged and conceptually informed is no small feat for a book on advanced science.”

 

New Scientist

“The Lightness of Being is an apt description of Wilczek’s writing style, which manages to be at once profound and light, filled with humour, wordplay and original explanations of difficult concepts.”

 

SEED

“With a command of both concept and language that few can rival, [Wilczek] weaves witty commentary into eloquent explanations. Heavy on physics but light on math, this book offers an accessible though sophisticated look at the central ideas of modern physics.”

 

Library Journal

“Wilczek successfully documents the great discoveries, ideas, and mysteries of our universe…. [T]he author uses nontechnical language that is devoid of mathematics and theoretical proofs and that is rich in personal reflection and historical context.”

 

USAToday.com

“Don’t worry, the chapters are short, fun and larded with historical points that offer readers the payoff of understanding all the excitement in the scientific world over Europe’s Large Hadron Collider, just getting warmed up in its operations.”

 

Booklist

“Wilczek delivers an approachable verbal picture of what quarks and gluons are doing inside a proton that gives rise to mass and, hence, gravity. Casting the light-speed lives of quarks against ‘the Grid,’ Wilczek’s term for the vacuum that theoretically seethes with quantum activity, Wilczek exudes a contagious excitement for discovery. A near-obligatory acquisition for circulating physics collections.”

 

I was curious as to how the book was doing this morning and checked---although I only record noon indices so as to have a definite time.

At 9AM pacific LoB and TwP were standing at 2.7 and 0.7 relative to the stringy benchmark. So Lightness was doing over twice as good as the average stringy topfiver, and Trouble was doing about 70 percent as good. Still hanging in, but Lightness is the one really doing business.

 

As of 30 Oct, the noon ranks were 1516 and 5172 for LoB and TwP, making their ratios relative to the stringy topfive come out to be 3.12 and 0.92. The stringy topfive were fabric, elegant, elegant hardbound, black, parallel, ranking 3027, 3412, 4325, 5268, 7641 for an average of 4734.6. As of 31 Oct, the noon ratios were 2.53 and .59.

Edited October 31, 2008 by Martin
multiple post merged

[Royston]

OK, I'm bought...I've just ordered a copy from amazon. Despite I'm now trying to avoid popularizations like the plague now (most I've read are a culmination of analogies trying to describe important milestones in physics), I guess that comes from learning the subject properly ?

 

It should arrive in a few days, and for under £10 no less. Now I really should go out, otherwise I'll have a stack of books arriving at my door.

[iNow]

I asked my girlfriend to get me a copy for the holidays. I'm excited. You'll have to let us know what you think.

[Martin]

It's great that two more are getting the book! I got it from Amazon back in September and now it's rarely on my shelf because other people want to borrow it.

 

For anyone who is curious about Wilczek's way of presenting fundamental physics and the prospects of unification, several sections of the book are free online at the amazon page.

http://www.amazon.com/Lightness-Being-Ether-Unification-Forces/dp/0465003214/

 

there is a "look inside" icon. they want you to browse and sample. there is a menu item called "surprise" which if you click you get one of several 3 or 4 page sections from somewhere in the book. By sampling repeatedly you can end up seeing quite a few pages.

 

That's free, and there are also video lectures by Wilczek (his Nobel prize acceptance speech but also several other excellent slide-talks) and some essays. I'll get links. You can get a good idea of his style and what he's talking about before deciding yes or no on the book itself.

 

Myself being frugal, I tried at the public library first, and then considered waiting 12 months until it came out in paperback (the cheaper edition usually comes out a year later), but then impatience overcame my natural pennypinching tendencies.

 

Anyway I should get some links. There is a lot of Wilczek online

Here is his personal website:

http://www.frankwilczek.com/

if you click "core" you get

http://www.frankwilczek.com/core.html

which includes an essay called The Origin of Mass

if you click "unification" you get

http://www.frankwilczek.com/unification.html

which includes an essay called Four Big Questions with Pretty Good Answers

There's actually several other sections I havent mentioned and a wealth of stuff.

 

There's also his MIT website

http://web.mit.edu/physics/facultyandstaff/faculty/frank_wilczek.html

It has a menu of video lectures, as well as writings available in PDF.

The three video lectures they have online to click on are:

•The Universe is a Strange Place (Ford/MIT Nobel Laureate Lecture Series, March 7, 2005)

•The Origin of Mass and the Feebleness of Gravity (MIT Physics Colloquium, May 13, 2004)

•The World's Numerical Recipe (2001 Pappalardo Distinguished Lecture in Physics)

 

First of the month figures are averaged over a 5-day window to get rid of some random noise.

As of 30 Oct, the noon ranks were 1516 and 5172 for LoB and TwP, making their ratios relative to the stringy topfive come out to be 3.12 and 0.92. The stringy topfive were fabric, elegant, elegant hardbound, black, parallel, ranking 3027, 3412, 4325, 5268, 7641 for an average of 4734.6. As of 31 Oct, the noon ratios were 2.53 and .59.

 

30 Oct    3.12   0.92
31 Oct    2.53   0.59
1 Nov    2.06   0.42
2 Nov    2.26   0.71
3 Nov    0.94   0.47

 

We now have the averages for 1 November: Lightness 2.18 and Trouble 0.62

================================================

Here's a thumbnail sketch of how Lightness is doing.

 

It seems that over the month Lightness' performance held steady or improved slightly.

          Lightness      Trouble
1 October   1.9           0.4
1 November  2.2           0.6

Edited November 3, 2008 by Martin
multiple post merged

[npts2020]

Lightness is one of the $1.99 books you can get for joining Sientific American's Book Club this month. You get 3 for $1.99 and have to order 2 at regular price within the next year.

[iNow]

What a very useful piece of information. Five books, one year, roughly $40 for all five, averaging $8 a piece for new hardcovers. Thanks, dude.

 

http://www.sciambookclub.com/

[fredrik]

I am also reading this book after Martin brought my attention to it. Thanks!

 

They way I see these books, is not just "popularizations". The most interesting part is to learn how knowledgable people reason about these things, and their guesses about the future. I think many technical research papers, are not only technical, but also "polished" to the point that they present a result, and not so much the logic that has guided them to the result. I think understanding physics is not just about polished results, it's also about methodology (and in this case, particularly the methodology of a theorist; ie how to you come up not just "a testable WAG-hypothesis", but a good hypothesis that allows us to make progress and not get stuck in infinite downwards loop killing crappy generated hypothesis?)

 

Perhaps once we can understand the logic that has guided us from the past to the current, we can better guide ourselves from the present ot the future.

 

I haven't read smolings twp yet. I read 3 roads which I enjoyed. But twp is probably next on my list after wilczek's book I'm reading now.

 

/Fredrik

[npts2020]

iNow: You are welcome. At that price I can even afford to buy it and donate it to our local library.