I HAVE a confession: I groaned when I first saw the cover of this book. With a Nobel prize under his belt, Robert Laughlin is free to go a bit loopy or cantankerous without fear of sudden unemployment. Here we go, I feared – another slightly unhinged diatribe about the state of modern physics.
Then I started reading and, cliché though it be, I couldn’t stop. Despite the Nobel, Laughlin has an appealing, anarchic kind of sanity, and his company through this vivid and entertaining book is inspirational. A Different Universe should be required reading for physics researchers, teachers and students.…
