Glimpses of wonderment
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I can only surmise that the bulk of reviewers of this wonderful book are ersatz intellectuals - Galileo's Finger counts as one of the most exciting, lively and enlightening popular science books I have come across. Atkins writes with a fizz, vim and clarity that beguile you into complex spaces where startling ideas and deep insight ballet within your reach. The reviewer below is undoubtedly right - you damn well do need to be a bright student with an interest in science to appreciate this book. Go figure.
If you tick the boxes, buy it. Only Pinker rivals Atkins in my view for acuity and penetration of the reserves of earthly knowledge.
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Pretty good
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On amazon.com this book scores very highly, with all the reviews (with the exception of one repeated review) being 4 or 5 stars. This makes me think, maybe Americans could care less about the "tone" of the prose. I mean, come on! Someone is writing about the laws of quantum mechanics, which may well be fundamental to every physical phenomenon, and all you care about is the prose?
Target audience is always a problem with popular science books and this is no exception. Not everything can be explained simply. The discussion of the interpretation of quantum mechanics is confused and confusing, but then, so is much of the relevant literature (I myself don't see what's wrong with "shut up and calculate").
The discussion of arithmetic is particularly confused, because it is never made clear (and I suspect the writer did not have it clear in his head either) exactly what is meant by "arithmetic". [In what follows I shall use the word Arithmetic to refer to common arithmetic, Peano arithmetic to refer to Peano arithmetic, and arithmetic to refer to Atkins' use of the word "arithmetic"].
Sometimes it seems like he means Arithmetic in the common sense, that is, the collection of statements about natural numbers that are true in the standard interpretation (a.k.a. number theory). But sometimes it seems like he means Peano arithmetic, which is a specific formal axiomatic system, a fragment of the former Arithmetic. These two things are not to be identified - there are number theoretical facts which are not a part of Peano arithmetic. This confusion doesn't really rear its head until the end of chapter 10, when Atkins concludes that the universe is made of arithmetic, so Godel's theorem applies to the universe, and the universe cannot prove itself consistent because arithmetic cannot prove itself consistent. If arithmetic here means Peano arithmetic, then it might make some sense. But there is no reason to think that all the mathematics that nature makes use of can be formalised in Peano arithmetic (this would exclude fairly elementary combinatorial statements, for one thing). If Atkins means by "arithmetic" the common Arithmetic, which I suspect he does, then what he wrote does not make sense. Godel's theorems do not apply to Arithmetic. In fact it is senseless to talk of the consistency of Arithmetic. One cannot define what Arithmetic is, so one cannot lay out a statement asserting the consistency of it.
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Dangerously inept
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Atkins may be a good chemist, but this book does a disservice to the world of science in general and physics in particular. It is poorly written, ponderous and pompous in its style, obtuse in its explanations of relatively straightforward concepts, and would possibly maim a young person attracted by its catchy title and promise of a broad understanding of important scientific ideas before embarking on a serious scientific career.
I wasted money and time on this book, but I do wish it could be withdrawn, or at least restricted to those who have lost the will to imagine.....
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Emm......no
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Galileo's Finger - it's all thumbs. I don't disagree that these may be ten of the greatest ideas of science, it's just the way they're presented. Overly cumbersome and awkward style of writing leave you bored and re-reading the same page as you've drifted off. After a while you can't be bothered trying to understand exactly what it is the author is trying to explain. Given the amazing reviews on the cover of this book, I found it a huge disappointment. Science explained easily - I don't think so - as someone who has a scientific background, I could only wonder what someone who hadn't would make of this.
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Panoramic view of modern science
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This captivating book deals with the ability of the scientific method to explain the wondrous nature of the universe. The author's elegant style, clear explanations and understated humour ensure an engaging read. Atkins has chosen 10 simple concepts of great import that manifest into a giant tree of application. With its patient explanations, it is an excellent guide for the lay reader to become literate in modern sciene. The major insights of modern science discussed here are evolution, DNA, energy, entropy, atoms, symmetry, quanta, cosmology, spacetime and arithmetic. The book includes black and white photographs and illustrations, a bibliography arranged by chapter and an index. Galileo's Finger is the perfect guide for those who wish to understand science more clearly.
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