A Different Universe by Robert B. Laughlin

A Different Universe by Robert B. Laughlin describes the meaning and importance of emergence (versus reductionism) better than any other physics book. Laughlin meanders through many interesting tales; but he keeps returning to revolutionary physics ideas. No scientific dogma is too sacred to challenge. "Space is more like a piece of window glass than ideal Newtonian emptiness... The modern concept of the vacuum of space, confirmed every day by experiment, is a relativistic ether. But we do not call it this because it is taboo." If these words do not seem controversial enough, then consider Laughlin's words about quantum gravity, "I myself have come to suspect that all important outstanding problems in physics are emergent in nature, including particularly quantum gravity."  Unfortunately, few readable physics books are written with both Laughlin's charm and his brutal honesty. Laughlin powerfully criticizes the mathematical fetish of theoretical physics when he asserts that "the myth of the absolute power of mathematics... is still entrenched in our culture." Laughlin suggests that too much physics is mathematical but without sufficient physical basis in idea, metaphor, insight or even potentially observable phenomenon. He poetically asserts that, "The physical idea precedes the mathematics, and the act of writing it down as a simple equation is like capturing a song or a poem." Robert B. Laughlin's ideas are grounded in experiment; "careful quantitative study of microscopic parts has revealed that at the primitive level at least, collective principles of organization are not just a quaint side show but everything--the true source of physical law." His assertion that  "all physical law we know about has collective origins, not just some of it" is grounded in physical experiment. His prediction that "One of the things emergent phenomenon can do is create new particles" which are physically indistinguishable from "real particles is grounded in experiment. And his skepticism that  "A large portion of the accepted knowledge base of modern science is untrue than was true in the Age of Reductionism, obliging us to look at it more skeptically than we did before and to value consensus less" is grounded in experiment. A Different Universe should be carefully read by every student of science and professional physicists. His assertions and conclusions can not be ignored, not because he is a Nobel Prize winning physicist; but because they are well reasoned and well supported by experimental evidence.