Physics on the Fringe

Smoke Rings, Circlons, and Alternative Theories of Everything

By: Margaret Wertheim

Narrated by: Christine Williams

For the past 15 years, acclaimed science writer Margaret Wertheim has been collecting the works of "outsider physicists," many without formal training and all convinced that they have found true alternative theories of the universe. Jim Carter, the Einstein of outsiders, has developed his own complete theory of matter and energy and gravity that he demonstrates with experiments in his backyard - with garbage cans and a disco fog machine he makes smoke rings to test his ideas about atoms. Captivated by the imaginative power of his theories and his resolutely DIY attitude, Wertheim has been following Carter's progress for the past decade.

Centuries ago, natural philosophers puzzled out the laws of nature using the tools of observation and experimentation. Today, theoretical physics has become mathematically inscrutable, accessible only to an elite few. In rejecting this abstraction, outsider theorists insist that nature speaks a language we can all understand. Through a profoundly human profile of Jim Carter, Wertheim's exploration of the bizarre world of fringe physics challenges our conception of what science is, how it works, and who it is for.

©2011 Margaret Wertheim (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Disappointing

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The first part of the book was interesting but then deteriorated when there was no evidence to support his claims.

If you’ve listened to books by Margaret Wertheim before, how does this one compare?

This is the only one I have read/listened to.

Was Physics on the Fringe worth the listening time?

No. I was intrigued by the Carter character but annoyed that there was no scientific basis for his beliefs.I don't understand how someone with training in physics can write about nonsense just because the fellow is very bright. .