In a Flight of Starlings
The Wonders of Complex Systems
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3.0 • 3 Ratings
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
From the 2021 Nobel Prize winner in Physics, an enlightening and personal journey into the practice of groundbreaking science
“[Giorgio Parisi is] an extraordinary scientist.” —Carlo Rovelli
With In a Flight of Starlings, celebrated physicist Giorgio Parisi guides us through his unorthodox yet exhilarating work, starting with investigating the principles of physics by observing the flight of flocks of birds. Studying the movements of these communities, he has realized, proves an illuminating way into understanding complex systems of all kinds—collections of everything from atoms and planets to other animals, such as ourselves.
Along the way, he reflects on the lessons he has taken from a life in pursuit of scientific truth: the importance of serendipity to the discovery of new ideas, the surprising kinship between physics and other disciplines, and the value of science to a thriving society. In so doing, he removes the practice of science from the confines of the laboratory and brings it into the real world.
Part elegant scientific treatise, part thrilling journey of discovery, In a Flight of Starlings is an invitation to find wonder in the world around us.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Theoretical physicist Parisi, who won the 2021 Nobel Prize in physics for his scholarship on how constituent parts organize themselves within larger wholes, delivers a stimulating debut for general readers that reflects on his work and the scientific method. "It is essential that the public have a fundamental understanding of the practice of science," Parisi contends, citing climate change and Covid-19 as threats to which understanding science plays a crucial role in preparing the public to mobilize and respond. To illustrate how scientists operate, he recounts episodes from his career, including his studies on spin glasses (metal alloys with spinning particles that cause the metals to behave like molten glass) and the behavior of molecules during phase transitions. Discussing his investigation into how starlings fly in flocks without colliding, the author describes taking 3D images of the birds in flight and discovering that turns are usually initiated by small groups on the side of a flock, with each bird following its immediate neighbors. Parisi also waxes philosophical about how scientific innovation happens and suggests that unconscious thinking contributes to breakthroughs. He largely succeeds in making accessible such complicated subjects as particle physics, and the personal anecdotes are revealing. This ode to the scientific process fascinates.
