Properties of Light [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

"The science doesn't work well, either. Bohm was not the unrecognized genius everybody wanted to destroy because he argued against die Copenhagians Heisenberg and, Bohr. His papers in the early Fifties were taken seriously and discussed at length. He was able to explain the larger picture behind his ideas in a 1957 booklet, "Causality and Chance in Modern Physics," a remarkable work I got for 85 cents in 1974. His physics just didn't work. First there was von Neumann's refutation of "hidden variables," then Bell's inequalities killed them for good - or at least for now. Goldstein's assessment in her Afterward, "For various reasons, none of them good, the formulation - and David Bohm - were dismissed," is simply untrue."

Whoever wrote the above is either deliberately lying or is ignorant of what he or she is talking about. "A little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing."

Von Neumann's "theorem" did not destroy Bohm's theory. Indeed Bohm found an error in it. Von Neumann's theorem, at best only eliminates a very special class of "local hidden variables, and does not apply to Bohm's "causal theory". J. S. Bell discusses this explicitly in "Speakable and unspeakable in Quantum Mechanics" as do Bohm and Hiley in "The Undivided Universe". The misguided reviewer's remark "Bell's inequalities killed them for good" as applied to Bohm's theory is a complete Red Herring, ludicrously untrue.

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This is not the place for detailed debate on the ideas, or is it?

The physics in Rebecca's book is accurate and well done. Readers of romance novels with a high IQ who are not brain-damaged with attention-deficit disorder from too many drugs should like it and also learn some important insights into how the universe works. This is not a novel for the Ersatz New Age Intelligenzia-Lite confusing skim milk for creme fraiche who get their wisdom watching Gary Zukav on "Oprah". :-)

The beginning is poetic enough, with the references to Yeats and Blake that will resound throughout the novel. Unfortunately, these literary interjections, although very skilfully placed by Goldstein, are a reflection of the very American campus 'Physics for Poets' courses that make me want to smirk uncontrollably. Samuel Mallach has been reduced to teaching such a course. Once a brilliant physicist, whom Einstein regarded as his successor, Mallach regards himself as "destroyed" by the reception his work on "hidden variables" received. Thus does Rebecca Goldstein strive to fight the cause for reality, a curious thing for a novelist to do. Justin Childs is also summoned to the cause. The product of an unconventional childhood, and a brilliant mathematician, Justin comes across Mallach's seminal work and is duly inspired. There are a few coincidences that bring Justin Childs and Samuel Mallach together, mainly through Mallach's beautiful daughter, Dana. It's the Kevin Bacon game and the Six Degrees of Separation all over again. Certainly, the physicist with whom Justin also works seems to have got his name cobbled together from the film poster for 'Judgement at Nuremberg', starring Spencer Tracey and Marlene Dietrich. 'Spencer Dietrich', you come to think, may not be the best pseudonym for a Nazi on the run.

The language of 'Properties of Light' seems quite modern. There appears to be an essence of timelessness about the novel. We know that it's probably set in the early 70's, but no one's smoking dope or saying "Peace Man!" 'Properties of Light' is nowhere near as humourous as 'Boogie Nights'. It's also rather dark and heavy, more akin to strange matter than a solar flare. The physics is quite hard going, so it's something of a relief to discover that Mallach is somewhat of an eccentric in his sexual habits. Justin is disgusted to discover that the otherwise rational Dana fully believes in the Kundalini mumbo jumbo that spouts forth from the Self-help books of her late mother. Justin is very willing to help Samuel Mallach complete his work, to produce the mathematical proof for his contentious physics, but the way that Mallach believes that the knowledge will be drawn out of Dana and Justin is most unusual.

Both Justin's parents were killed in a car crash, leaving him an orphan. Dana's eccentric mother was also killed in a car crash. Part of Mallach's work is that apparently distant particles can have an effect on each other. So it is that an announcement from Stockholm sends Mallach into a mad frenzy that threatens to undo all their work...

Rebecca Goldstein has mentioned elsewhere that only she could have written 'Properties of Light', and I would agree with that. Certainly, her husband, Sheldon Goldstein, a mathematician at Rutgers, has written a great deal about David Bohm, upon whom Samuel Mallach is based. Maybe Sheldon Goldstein has his own biases, since David Bohm certainly dated the author of 'The Feminine Mystique', Betty Goldstein (a relative perhaps?). Like Mallach, David Bohm did find complementarity with certain Eastern beliefs (along with Schrodinger). Mallach's name is taken from the Hebrew for "Angel", and maybe Goldstein's referring to Lucifer rather than Gabriel. Dana is also described as "this Pharaoh's girl". Maybe there is a tyrant hiding beneath Mallach's seemingly placid nature? Justin certainly regards him as a king of Physics. David Bohm himself seems to have been closer to Philosophy than Physics, and Goldstein has a philosophical basis herself. To a certain extent, Bohm mistrusted mathematical proofs, so it's not entirely realistic that he would have sought out a mathematician like Justin Childs to validate his work once and for all.

'Properties of Light' has been described as a Gothic novel, and I believe that this is where it falls down. The gothic melodrama is more akin to the risible antics of 'The Castle of Otranto' rather than the racy excitement of Matthew Lewis's 'The Monk'. The drama of 'Properties of Light' is simply light years away from Hamlet, and the book is only occasionally rewarding. The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy's approach to life, the universe, and everything is so much more fun, and you can always stick a Babel Fish in your ear to comprehend the more difficult parts. Rebecca Goldstein tries to do too much in 'Properties of Light': you can admire her bravery, but you wouldn't want to go there yourself.