Scrooge's Cryptic Carol by Robert Gilmore
When the destination sign in Scrooge's train reads Heat Death instead of Heathrow, when his dead partner Marley's face appears inexplicably as a talking head in a department store TV, and when the street lights outside his luxurious London flat begin acting strangely, it's a sign of a bad night to come. Like his famous ancestor, the modern Scrooge - who hews tightly to the credo it is enough for a man to understand his own business and look to his own advantage - is about to be visited by ghosts. But it's not his hard heart that needs opening this time; it's his closed mind. The wisdom these ghosts bring is not love and charity but Science. Physicist Robert Gilmore, author of the popular Alice in Quantumland, here presents a delightful takeoff on Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, where the three visitations represent Science Past (the Spirits of Energy and Entropy, who explain the laws of thermodynamics, equilibrium and that troublesome Heat Death sign), Science Present (the Spirit of Time, who tells him of inconstancy, of change and also of creation), and Science Future (the surreal world of quantum uncertainty, where it is the observer or measurement that creates a unique reality). For everyone who wants a playful, painless yet surprisingly sophisticated introduction to the ideas of modern physics, this is a brilliant tour de force and a charming read.Robert Gilmore is a professor at Drexel University's Department of Physics in Philadelphia. He is a member of the International Colloquium on Group Theoretical Techniques in Physics' Standing Committee and a Fellow of the American Physical Society. Group theory, catastrophe theory, atomic and nuclear physics, singularity theory, and chaos are among his scientific interests.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780387948003 |
| ISBN 10 | 0387948007 |
| Title | Scrooge's Cryptic Carol |
| Author | Robert Gilmore |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Springer-Verlag New York Inc. |
| Year published | 1996-08-29 |
| Number of pages | 252 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |