- Dyson, Freeman J.
The Scientist as Rebel.
New York: New York Review Books, 2006.
ISBN 1-59017-216-7.
-
Freeman Dyson is one of the most consistently original thinkers
of our time. This book, a collection of his writings between
1964 and 2006, amply demonstrates the breadth and depth of his
imagination. Twelve long book reviews from
The New York
Review of Books allow Dyson, after doing his
duty to the book and author, to depart on his own
exploration of the subject matter. One of these reviews,
of Brian Greene's
The Fabric of the Cosmos,
is where Dyson first asked whether it was possible, using
any apparatus permitted by the laws of physics and the
properties of our universe, to ever detect a single graviton
and, if not, whether quantum gravity has any physical meaning.
It was this remark which led to the Rothman and Boughn paper,
“Can Gravitons
be Detected?” in which is proposed what may be the
most outrageous scientific apparatus ever suggested.
Three chapters of Dyson's 1984 book
Weapons and Hope
(now out of print) appear here, along with other
essays, forewords to books, and speeches on topics
as varied as history, poetry, great scientists, war
and peace, colonising the galaxy comet by comet,
nanotechnology, biological engineering, the post-human
future, religion, the paranormal, and more. Dyson's
views on religion will send the Dawkins crowd around
the bend, and his open-minded attitude toward the
paranormal (in particular, chapter 27) will similarly
derange dogmatic sceptics (he even recommends
Rupert Sheldrake's
Dogs That Know When Their
Owners Are Coming Home). Chapters written some time
ago are accompanied by postscripts updating them
to 2006.
This is a collection of gems with nary a clinker in the lot.
Anybody who rejoices in visionary thinking and superb writing
will find much of both. The chapters are almost completely
independent of one another and can be read in any order, so
you can open the book at random and be sure to delight in what
you find.
June 2007 