LONGING FOR THE HARMONIES

Reviewed 11/25/2000

Longing for the Harmonies by Frank Wilczek and Betsy Devine

LONGING FOR THE HARMONIES: Themes and Variations from Modern Physics Frank Wilczek Betsy Devine New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1988				Rating: 4.5 High
ISBN 0-393-02482-2	361pp.	HC/GSI	$19.95

Errata:

Page 185:	"...the lines of equal temi1 are not horizontal, so they intersect an infinity of horizontal lines — an infinity of times."
	In this example, as in all his "world line" graphs, Wilczek puts time on the vertical axis, space on the horizontal. He must mean "an infinity of spaces". No; Wilczek is correct here. With the clarity of a newly dawned 2004, I see that I had it backward.

Page 227:	"The strength of this coupling remains, however, is a pure number, the so-called fine-structure constant, which is a parameter of QED that QED itself is powerless to predict."
	Here, there is an unwanted word — either "remains" or the first "is". Or, perhaps this is meant to say "remains . . . as a pure number".

Page 250:	"Two new colours are involved; distinct from the three colours that appeared in the strong interactions."
	Here, the semicolon should be replaced by a comma.

1 Wilczek uses the made-up word "temi" to represent the divergent (or wild) time experienced by rapidly moving observers. Its first use is on page 184. He also employs the British spelling of "colour" for the strong-force property analogous to electric charge. And on page 237, he speaks of "Piet Hein's grook". I grok not "grook".