Rob Halford Halford থেকে 西班牙 Navarre, 伊拉涅塔
Here is a grand, categorical statement for you: The quantum mechanics revolution of the early 20th century is the greatest achievement of the human mind to date. I will admit to some bias here, since I'm a physicist. But really, think about it. Over the span of something like 50 years, a group of very smart human beings figured out some fundamental, non-obvious truths about how the universe works. Energy quantization? The probabilistic behavior of subatomic particles? The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle? Relativity? These sound like things a crazy person at a bus stop would tell you. Try and imagine how you would come up with any of these ideas on your own. And then try and imagine how you would go about proving them. Now, of course, you can't go a day without benefiting from these insane, impossibly correct ideas. For example: you're reading this review on a computer, which is made up of lots of tiny electronic components that simply wouldn't exist without a clear understanding of quantum mechanics. And the general theory of relativity is what makes your GPS so accurate. But beyond the practical applications, you could argue that furthering our understanding of the world around us is one of the best and noblest things a human being can do. Fine, so quantum mechanics is a monumental achievements of human understanding. Well, Paul Dirac was one of the most talented, successful theorists of the quantum mechanics revolution. He's what they call a "theorist's theorist". Dirac understood quantum mechanics so well that Einstein regularly used Dirac's textbook as a reference. Dirac understood quantum mechanics so well that he was able to predict the existence of antimatter. Dirac understood quantum mechanics so well that quantum mechanics would call Dirac on the weekends, asking for advice about its love life. If quantum mechanics is the greatest achievement of the human mind, and if Paul Dirac is one of the superstars of the quantum mechanics revolution, then you might as well read a book about Paul Dirac. To appreciate one of the best, most important things any human being has ever done? Yes? A question, then. Is Graham Farmelo's "The Strangest Man" that book? My answer is a resounding "yeah, probably". It's a biography, written for a general audience. As such, it deals a whole lot with Dirac The Man. Which is great. And interesting. And very well researched and written - Farmelo is a very good writer. But did you notice how I just spent 4+ paragraphs talking rhapsodically about the importance of the ideas involved in quantum mechanics? Since this is a popular biography and not a physics text, the overwhelming weight of this book is spent on talking about who Dirac was, what he was like, what his marriage was like, etc. If you're looking for an exhaustive treatment of Dirac's contribution to physics, this is not your book. Being a physicist, I was a little disappointed on that score. On the other hand, if you really want to understand that stuff, you might as well read his primary source material. And if you're not inclined in that direction, this book is the one you want. And listen, there's a lot of good stuff in here. In addition to being one of the smartest people ever, Dirac was a Grade A Weirdo. (I say this with a heart full of love.) Leaving aside your noble intentions to better understand a triumph of the human mind, you could read this book just to read about the life of a very unusual person. (Q.v. the title of this book.) Paul Dirac is the embodiment of the scientist stereotype - a frightfully smart person who is not great at normal, day-to-day interpersonal stuff. Here's an example from page 164: It is easy to imagine Dirac at one of these evening balls, sitting at a table and gazing quizzically at Heisenberg as he jived on the dance floor. Heisenberg long remembered being asked by Dirac, 'Why do you dance?' After Heisenberg replied, reasonably enough, 'When there are nice girls it is a pleasure to dance,' Dirac looked thoughtful. After about five minutes of silence, he said, 'Heisenberg, how do you know beforehand that the girls are nice?' In fact, there's quite a lot in this book that would make for a solid Hollywood-style biopic. There's the humor of Dirac's weirdness, the pathos of his upbringing by some not-great parents, his nonstandard but functional marriage, and the triumph and validation of his Nobel Prize. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll eat all your popcorn in the first ten minutes. Really and truly, the story of Dirac's life is a good story. Which brings me to my only really substantive criticism of this book. Towards the end, I started to feel like Farmelo focused a bit too much on the narrative arc of Dirac's life: difficult upbringing -> brilliant student -> iconoclastic physicist -> Nobel Laureate -> late-career productivity slump -> sad old guy whose friends are old. Without a better, deeper description of Dirac's work, you have no compass with which to navigate this narrative. You just have to follow Farmelo's lead. And since Farmelo is so focused on a (kind of simplistic) narrative arc, there's an inevitability to the end of the book. And in the end of the book, Dirac is old and sad and not very productive. I ended up feeling pretty melancholy during the last 50 pages or so. It's a great story, but it's missing an important dimension. Yes, absolutely, read this book. Read it to appreciate the people who laid the foundation of quantum mechanics. Read it to enjoy a good story about a thoroughly unique individual. Read it and just keep in mind that the most important dimension - his work - is something you'll have to read elsewhere.