Fractals: Form, Chance, and Dimension by Benoit Mandelbrot (review)

248 Books most elementary constituents of matter. The cleverness of the experiments, the cost of the high-energy machines, the cooperation of teams of physicists and the persistence of theoretical interpreters all attest to the monumental dimensions of this accomplishment. But the beauty of the result is the most inspiring. A seemingly countless number of sub-particles are now being unified in the concept of the origin and decay of localized energy packets that obey certain rules of behavior. Most exciting, the rules by which these particles interact are now beingunified. It has for long been awkward that the four major forces in the world-gravitational, electromagnetic, strong (nuclear) and weak (radioactivet seemed completely unconnected to each other. Now the strong nuclear and weak radioactive forces have been shown to be related by means of the particle that is exchanged as each force operates. Most recently, the Weinberg-Salam hypothesis is an attempt to integrate leptonic color (electromagnetic forces connected with the electron) into the first two forces. Perhaps soon, the long-range gravity forces will be linked to the other three. Perhaps that final linking will come through astronomy, where it will be shown that gravity is an original ‘symmetry’of the first three forces that is broken by time. The author uses terminology in his book that isoversimplified, and his first chapter is slightlypompous. I was also prejudiced in in) expectation that, as in one of his previous books, The Violent Universe,hewould interview only the ‘establishment’experts and therefore get only the tired, conventional picture of the way the subject used to be. But the care and enthusiasm with which he communicates in later chapters the great new concepts in physics overcame my reservations. and I felt wholly uplifted by his book. I would urge those who deeplyappreciate the world they livein to read it. But what has this scientists’ realm of quarks, charm, color, strangeness and so forth got todo with art? It seemsto me that, aside from the element of curiosity scienceshares with art, there is the art of the experiment, which, in terms of reality, demonstrates something new. And, perhaps. most of all it is the matter of understanding. No matter how abstract the project, it must in the end be related to human understanding. It must work. it must be communicated and, above all, it must feel important to human beings. Science and Creation: From Eternal Cycles to an Oscillating Universe. Stanley L. Jaki. Scottish Academic Press, Edinburgh and London. 1974. 367 pp. €4.50. Reviewed by Ismond Rosen* This fascinating analysis of scientific method in its historical, religious and cultural setting is a lucid and near-encyclopaedic exposition. Jaki discusses the reasons why modern science took root and floweredwith Galileo in medieval Europe, having failed to do so in other major world cultures. The basic thesis is that scientificprocess depends on a linear attitude where phenomena lead empirically from a beginning towards pragmatic everexpanding lines of development. Such an attitude was made possible in the Judaeo-Christian tradition where a unitary god not only initiates matter but governs its laws. Other major cultures (Egyptian, Hindu, Chinese, pre-Colombian, Muslim) share a cyclical approach, which hinders scientific development because of the notion of the inevitability of phenomenological repetition. This approach is described in fine detail for the cultures mentioned. The case is argued for scientific fruitfulness when ‘faith in a personal rational Creator, permeating a culture, provided confidence in the rationality of the universe, trust in progress, and appreciation of the quantitative method’. But present-day cosmology provides some evidence that there may be an oscillating universe, expanding and contracting over billions of years, which would correspond to the cyclical notions of prescientific cultures. In what Jaki takes to be a present crisis of materialism, his solution is to unify and make rational his faith in a personal Creator by means of scientific knowledge and method. *3 Hampstead Hill Gardens, London NW3 2PH, England. Combinatoricswith EmphasisontheTheoryof Graphs.(Graduate Texts in Mathematics). J. E. Graver and M. E. Watkins. Springer, New Yorkand Berlin, 1977.351pp.. illus. Reviewedby Anthony Hill** In conversation once with M. H Newman. the distinguished topologist. I was lightly told off...