Waves in an Impossible Sea

January 22, 2024
Harvard University theoretical physicist Strassler debuts with a mind-bending investigation of “how the most esoteric-seeming physics affects every aspect of human existence.” Examining what makes mass possible, Strassler explains that though atoms are mostly “empty space,” humans “don’t sink through the Earth” because “two atoms cannot occupy the same space without the addition of a lot of energy.” The author devotes much of the volume to correcting oversimplifications of physics concepts, as when he notes that the common description of protons as “made merely of two up quarks and one down quark” is an “antiquated idea from the 1960s,” with more recent research revealing that protons also contain “strange quarks,” anti-quarks, and gluons, the latter of which help draw the proton’s particles together. Strassler strives to make the physics accessible through the use of helpful analogies (“Whereas atoms are elegant ballrooms, protons are chaotic dance floors,” he writes, emphasizing the energy and movement of protons’ constituent particles), but the nuanced discussions are still difficult to follow for anyone without a background in the subject (indirect interactions between Higgs and electromagnetic fields, Strassler observes, “rely on the quantum uncertainty of the top quark field and are possible only in a universe with a cosmic certainty limit”). This is tough going, but the enlightening science is worth the effort. Agent: Toby Mundy, Aevitas Creative Management.