The Magick of Physics
Uncovering the Fantastical Phenomena in Everyday Life
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- $13.99
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
An award-winning Oxford physicist draws on classic sci-fi, fantasy fiction, and everyday phenomena to explain and celebrate the magical properties of the world around us.
If you were to present the feats of modern science to someone from the past, those feats would surely be considered magic. Theoretical physicist Felix Flicker proves that they are indeed magic—just familiar magic. The name for this magic is “condensed matter physics.” Most people haven’t heard of the field, yet more than a third of physicists identify as condensed matter researchers, making it the most active area in the subject—with good reason. Condensed matter is the solids, liquids, and gasses that surround us—and the more exotic matters—which dictate every aspect of our present existence and hold the keys to a brighter future, from quantum computing to real-life invisibility cloaks.
Flicker teases out the magical threads that run through our daily lives. Condensed matter physics allows you to create anything abiding by the laws of reality—and often, we find that those laws can be bent. Flicker explains how to create new particles that never existed before, how to make crystals shoot out of such intense light they can cut through metal, how to separate the poles of a magnet, and more.
The book’s endearing conceit is that you are an aspiring wizard whose ability to cast spells (i.e. to do science) is dependent on your grasp of the fundamentals of our universe. This book contains no equations or charts—instead, it’s full of owls and mountains and infinite libraries, and staffs and wands, and martial arts and mythical islands ruled by sage knot-makers. Part of the book’s magic is that, for all these fanciful trappings, it still feels practical and applicable. The Magick of Physics will open your eyes to magic that surround us everyday.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
"The modern name for magic is ‘physics,' " according to this whimsical study. Theoretical physicist Flicker (The Magick of Matter) elucidates the behavior of atoms, the laws of thermodynamics, and other concepts related to condensed particle physics (the application of quantum mechanics "to many particles at once"), stylizing his explanations as a wizard's manual under the conceit that a modern understanding of physics would appear to be magic to contemporary humans' distant ancestors. Expounding on the magical properties of "crystals" (i.e., minerals), he describes how magnets arise from the spinning of electrically charged electrons and how liquid crystal displays work by taking advantage of the polarization of light. The wizardry references add welcome levity to complicated discussions about how quasiparticles take on distinct properties from their constituent "elementary particles" and how magnetism shapes the structure of crystals known as "spin ice." The prose can be dense ("Emergent quasiparticles in the fractional quantum Hall effect break the rule that all particles must be bosons or fermions"), but the bounty of helpful analogies ensures that readers are unlikely to find a more accessible primer on condensed particle physics. Those willing to tackle the challenging concepts will be well rewarded.
