Physics and Man by Robert Karplus (review)

270 Books he describes verbal language as 'too poorly structured to permit such representation by such (isomorphic) correspondence' (p. 251). A thought process which is dependent on isomorphic symbols is, he implies, less likely to generate nonsense than one which employs non-isomorphic symbols. I would be inclined to agree with this. But Arnheim does not give us a thorough analysis ofthe concept of isomorphism and of the problems involved in its application, and without such an analysis I am not very sure to what I would be agreeing. Arnheim believes that practical experience (in visual education) 'is best provided by work in the arts' (p. 315). 'In paintings ... one can observe how the sense ofvision uses its power oforganisation to the utmost' (p. 35). In the present book, he is not especially concerned with the content of particular works of art. He is interested in works of art as examples ofembodied thought. It is better thought in general that he declares he wishes to promote. 'It is not good strategy . . . to label perceptual sensitivity as artistic or aesthetic, because this means removing it to a privileged domain, reserved for the talents and aspirations of the specialist' (p. 315). Thus Arnheim does not deplore the neglect of artistic education as such, and in some respects those who want more and better art education might find Arnheim an unsatisfactory ally. I agree with Arnheim when he says that the education of visual sensibility has been relatively neglected and unnecessarily separated from the rest ofeducation. I do not know whether to agree when he attributes these faults to a theoretical tradition. A counter-tradition, asserting the connectedness of thought and perception might equally well be traced. He himself is aware of the counter-instances. 'Actually, Helmholtz had no intention of intellectualizing perception. Instead he believed, very much in keeping with what I am trying to demonstrate here, that the kind of process observed in logical thinking occurs at the perceptual level also' (p. 40). Arnheim's historical accounts are insufficiently consecutive and complete to justify his generalizations about a dominant theoretical tradition. But I think the tradition that asserts the connectedness of thought and perception has been insufficiently effective in education. I hope that Arnheim's book will help, despite the reservations that I have noted above. Physics and Man. Robert Karplus. W. A. Benjamin, New York, 1970. Paperback. 343 pp. $7.00. Reviewed by: Grace Marmor Spruch* 'Around 1660 two of the greatest monuments of modern history were erected-one in the West and one in the East; St. Paul's Cathedral in London and the Taj Mahal at Agra. . .. Between them these two monuments symbolize ... the comparative level of craftsmanship, ... of architectural technology, of * Physics Dept., Rutgers University, 101 Warren Street, Newark, N.J. 07102, U.S.A. affluence and sophistication the two cultures had achieved at that epoch of history. 'But at about the same time was also created, and this time only in the West, a third monument, a monument still greater in its eventual import for humanity. This was Newton's Principia . .. .' The quote is from the article 'Science and Technology in the Emerging Nations' by the Pakistani physicist Abdus Salam and is part of this collection of essays put together by physicist Karplus, dealing with various aspects ofscience-rather than physics -and areas where science directly touches man. Because the essays are by different authors from different disciplines, the level, from information content to style of writing, is uneven. And therein lies the collection's weakness and it's strength. What the reader gets from the book depends very much upon what he wants from it and upon his background. One does not learn science from this book, one learns only about science. I was interested in it as a possible text for a course called 'Physics as a Liberal Art' and for that purpose the book is fine, for it fleshes out the formal physics the instructor supplies. Without the formal physics, however, several essays that would otherwise be quite informative , are essentially unintelligible, if not meaningless . But this applies to less than a fifth of the material. The first ofthe seven sections, 'People in...