A meticulous study composed in admirably accessible prose.
Physicist Hassani’s treatise critiques the appropriation of quantum physics by pop-spiritual gurus.
Hassani observes that quantum physics has always attracted those with an interest in New Age spirituality, especially since the “rush of gurus” to the West in the 1960s. The injection of Eastern thought into Western philosophy, and the fascination with occultism in the West, had much to do with this rush, as well as the inherent “weirdness of quantum physics.” Many of the founders of quantum physics, like Schrödinger, Bohr, and Heisenberg, encouraged this association by publicly linking their work to various versions of mysticism. But this is a “false marriage,” as the author spiritedly avers, one entirely based upon a rank miscomprehension of physics, a disingenuous sophistry, or both. Much of the alleged similarity between pop spirituality and quantum physics is the result of an astonishingly shallow analogy of the kind one finds in popular books like Deepak Chopra’s Quantum Healing. “They put a mystical statement next to a similar-sounding statement about science—or a quotation by a mystic scientist—and argue that the similarity of those statements implies the parallel between the contents.” The author explains that the stakes of these mischaracterizations are not purely theoretical: An unsuspecting public has been taken in by useless dietary supplements and ineffective alternative medical treatments as a consequence of this ignorance. Hassani impressively charts the principal mistakes made by the spiritual teachers looking for legitimacy via a connection to modern science, an undertaking that requires him to discuss quantum physics in some detail and with great clarity. He’s a touch out of his depth when he attempts to link his thesis more broadly to the history of Western philosophy—it is indefensible to assert that Augustine’s effort to link Christianity with Platonism is the same as what “New Age gurus are doing with Eastern theology and quantum physics.” Still, this is a rigorously researched and well-argued book that should be read by anyone interested in the commandeering of science by pseudoscience.
A meticulous study composed in admirably accessible prose.Pub Date: Oct. 27, 2024
ISBN: 9783031652585
Page Count: 275
Publisher: Springer
Review Posted Online: Aug. 21, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Some of Avant’s mantras are overstated, but her book is magnanimous, inspiring, and relentlessly optimistic.
Memories and life lessons inspired by the author’s mother, who was murdered in 2021.
“Neither my mother nor I knew that her last text to me would be the words ‘Think you’ll be happy,’ ” Avant writes, "but it is fitting that she left me with a mantra for resiliency.” The author, a filmmaker and former U.S. Ambassador to the Bahamas, begins her first book on the night she learned her mother, Jacqueline Avant, had been fatally shot during a home invasion. “One of my first thoughts,” she writes, “was, ‘Oh God, please don’t let me hate this man. Give me the strength not to hate him.’ ” Daughter of Clarence Avant, known as the “Black Godfather” due to his work as a pioneering music executive, the author describes growing up “in a house that had a revolving door of famous people,” from Ella Fitzgerald to Muhammad Ali. “I don’t take for granted anything I have achieved in my life as a Black American woman,” writes Avant. “And I recognize my unique upbringing…..I was taught to honor our past and pay forward our fruits.” The book, which is occasionally repetitive, includes tributes to her mother from figures like Oprah Winfrey and Bill Clinton, but the narrative core is the author’s direct, faith-based, unwaveringly positive messages to readers—e.g., “I don’t want to carry the sadness and anger I have toward the man who did this to my mother…so I’m worshiping God amid the worst storm imaginable”; "Success and feeling good are contagious. I’m all about positive contagious vibrations!” Avant frequently quotes Bible verses, and the bulk of the text reflects the spirit of her daily prayer “that everything is in divine order.” Imploring readers to practice proactive behavior, she writes, “We have to always find the blessing, to be the blessing.”
Some of Avant’s mantras are overstated, but her book is magnanimous, inspiring, and relentlessly optimistic.Pub Date: Oct. 17, 2023
ISBN: 9780063304413
Page Count: 288
Publisher: HarperOne
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023
Alternately admiring and critical, unvarnished, and a closely detailed account of a troubled innovator.
A warts-and-all portrait of the famed techno-entrepreneur—and the warts are nearly beyond counting.
To call Elon Musk (b. 1971) “mercurial” is to undervalue the term; to call him a genius is incorrect. Instead, Musk has a gift for leveraging the genius of others in order to make things work. When they don’t, writes eminent biographer Isaacson, it’s because the notoriously headstrong Musk is so sure of himself that he charges ahead against the advice of others: “He does not like to share power.” In this sharp-edged biography, the author likens Musk to an earlier biographical subject, Steve Jobs. Given Musk’s recent political turn, born of the me-first libertarianism of the very rich, however, Henry Ford also comes to mind. What emerges clearly is that Musk, who may or may not have Asperger’s syndrome (“Empathy did not come naturally”), has nurtured several obsessions for years, apart from a passion for the letter X as both a brand and personal name. He firmly believes that “all requirements should be treated as recommendations”; that it is his destiny to make humankind a multi-planetary civilization through innovations in space travel; that government is generally an impediment and that “the thought police are gaining power”; and that “a maniacal sense of urgency” should guide his businesses. That need for speed has led to undeniable successes in beating schedules and competitors, but it has also wrought disaster: One of the most telling anecdotes in the book concerns Musk’s “demon mode” order to relocate thousands of Twitter servers from Sacramento to Portland at breakneck speed, which trashed big parts of the system for months. To judge by Isaacson’s account, that may have been by design, for Musk’s idea of creative destruction seems to mean mostly chaos.
Alternately admiring and critical, unvarnished, and a closely detailed account of a troubled innovator.Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2023
ISBN: 9781982181284
Page Count: 688
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2023
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