The Idea of Music, an Introduction to Musical Aesthetics in Antiquity and the Middle Ages by Herbert M. Schueller (review)

explored the connections-superficial or deep depending upon one's disposition toward such matters-between Eastern mysticism and modern physics. At the other end of the spectrum , William Kauffmann being a notable and prolific example, bookstore shelves are filled with paperbacks that contain a considerably higher ratio of amazing facts to philosophy. Somewhere between these extremes, a legion of well-known, practicing physicists have made their own contributions , driven by a need to communicate the intricate and aesthetic beauty of nature as revealed in experimental results. Longingfor the Harmonies is one of those books. What distinguishes this book from earlier works, aside from the inclusion of the latest discoveries and the newest theories? Wilzcek and Devine 's book covers much of the same territory. But a book of this genre cannot be judged on the same basis as an encyclopedia. Rather, one looks to see that it provides new angles, new insights and new connections. It is precisely with these ends in mind that Longingfor the Harmonies was conceived and executed. Using a musical metaphor, the authors emphasize the recurrence of physical relationships and interactions ('themes') on different scales of size, energy and time (,variations'). In this manner the unity ('harmony') of natural law emerges with force and clarity . The book offers itself as an aid in developing an appreciation (an 'ear') for the exquisite subtleties of that unity-subtleties that, to the untrained observer, are at best dimly perceived. Possibly Wilzcek and Devine's greatest success is in their explanation of the physicist's concept of symmetry. The search for symmetry in natural law is one of the most prevalent and powerful methods of modern theoretical physics. Using examples drawn from everyday experience, the authors show how symmetries, which unify natural phenomena at high energies, are marked by an increasingly thick web of disguises that make those phenomena appear disparate and unconnected at low energies. For example, although a crystal's structure masks the inherently isotropic nature of the space it inhabits, that structure is not a property of space itself and the mask can be removed at high temperatures. In a similar way, physicists view much more abstract sym454 Current Literature metries of nature as masked by 'solidifications ' that occur at low energiesenergies that are often well beyond the reach of earth-bound laboratories . This is the source of an interesting dilemma for the theoretical physicist. Theories of physics live or die according to the agreement or discrepancy between their predictions and the results of experiments. Indeed, the identifying characteristic of a scientific theory is its disprovability. Interactions of the energies required for experimental tests of many current theories have not existed in sufficient abundance to be readily detectable anywhere in the universe since its origin in the Big Bang. Thus, the only likely source of experimental comment on those theories is the fossil-like evidence that the universe itself may contain processes that occurred during those first few instants. This fact has led to a strong alliance between cosmologists and particle physicists. The book has a few flaws: the discussion of inflationary universe models and the diagrams that illustrate it are unconvincing and confusing. The introduction of 'colour' lacks enough motivation to convince the reader of its necessity, and the ensuing discussion of gluons and their role in transforming quark colour is difficult territory . In truth, the last third of the book may require a second reading. The material becomes quite speculative in the last few chapters and the reader may be excused for wondering how the more exotic theories differ from the armchair philosophies that predate the rise of empirical science. At one point, the authors pause to explain that there is a hierarchy of theories to which an enormous range of faiths are attached. Overall, the book contains many gems: Pauli's characterization of a certain misguided theory as "not even wrong"; Treimans theorem-"Impossible things usually don't happen"; conservation laws as frustration principles ; the rigid enforcement of quantum states as nature's method of quality control; a nice diversion on the subject of genesis machines; and, of course, the image of the universe as a sounding board that reveals its laws by resonating...