Fritjof Capra eloquently displays the striking similarities between the ancient arts of enlightenment and the modern discoveries in Physics. If you read this book you're eyes will open wide, whether you're beginning to explore Physics or you're 30 years deep in Physics.

This book thought me that there is an another point of view to our life. We should learn it if we are interested in real life. Life is not only the living. My life has changed after this book.

Thank you dear Mr. F.Capra.

Enlightening, sometimes radical penetrations of thought revealed by one eminently qualified at the task.

Capra explores leading edge thought in a readable and enriching way.

Excellent book.

I have found all of FC's books very helpful. He has been able to take many exceptionally complex ideas in science and make them accessible to the lay reader - such as myself. In particular, he has made the link between the New Physics and Living Systems and the ancient wisdom.

Uncommon Wisdom takes a different approach to his other books. His traditional books are based naturally on explaining the ideas. This book is grounded in experience and in relationship. Here FC takes a personal and musing approach. He shares his own life journey, doubts, fears and hopes, as he meets, talks and develops relationships with some of the great thinkers of our time. He shows us through his story how his thinking develops. We as readers share the unfolding process in his own being as he too struggles with the import of what he is learning.

The ideas in this book are embedded in story and in people. As such they are more "sticky" than ideas simply defined and outlined. It is one thing to have Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle explained. It is so much better to listen, via FC's ears and eyes, to Heisenberg talk.

Another lasting impression I received from the book is what a time the 1970's 1980's was. Was it our Golden Age? Much of the book is located in the 1970's and 1980's when the idea of the breakdown of the Cartesian view and the rise of an interrelated view of reality was so new.

The book is out of print and I encourage him to persuade his publisher to get it back on the shelves. Why? In middle age, our youth has a pull. FC's current writing is already looking back at the 1970's which he now sees as a "Turning Point". Now in late middle age he and many millions of us are looking back with a new perspective. It is worth re-discovering the wonder of that time. In Uncommon Wisdom we travel back with FC and sit at his shoulder as he hears for the first time the ideas that are changing our world 30-years later. Maybe we have digested this time enough and we need to remember when we questioned more and to pick up the gifts we left aside as we turned away to raise our children and to get on in the world.

A wonderful book full of compassion and wonder

This book explores the relationship between music, consciousness and the physical world. The author makes an interesting argument that objects in the physical world generally form into harmonious relationships, and he cites the movements of the planets, oxygen atoms in H20 and so forth as examples. This is well written and argued, not a purely metaphysical line.

Having described the harmony of the physical world at atomic and astronomical levels, he goes on to consider Nada Brahma, an Indian Yoga technique of 'listening to the internal sound current'. The technique consists essentially of blocking ones ears and listening to the 'sound currents' which do actually come when one performs the technique (I've tried it). By meditating on these sound currents, one is taken into deeper levels of concentration. This 'inner music' is related to the concept of the music of the spheres, and this notion is investigated historically.

Overall, the book is an excellent read, and I just regret I lent my copy to someone and never got it back. Maybe I'll have to get the next edition from Amazon.com, as it seems to be on their website. If you're a musician and want something spiritual, this meditation might be for you!

This is an excellent book that acquaints you with the intellectual odyssey and personality of Mr. Capra. Filled with brilliant insights and fascinating discussions with people like E.F. Schumacher, R.D. Laing, Gregory Bateson, Geoffrey Chew, Krishnamurti, Warner Heisenberg, and many other giants of the 20th century who shaped Capra's thoughts in the writing of Tao of Physics and The Turning Point. Gives you an underpinning for The Web of Life too. An insider's multidisciplinary look into the intellectual cutting edge of the 60s and 70s. Warmly written and very pleasant. I highly recommend it as a starting point for a deep understanding of Fritjof Capra.

Upsizing seems more a visionary work to me than one to read to find out the environmental consequences of human industrialization (See review below). Pauli presents a vision for an economically viable world where there's ZERO pollution, and offers a number of real-world experiments that seem so far to have worked. However, the path he encourages won't be an easy one -- it requires systematically rethinking what industry is, how it works, and how it fits into our world. Upsizing begins to construct an argument for why we should do this and shows how the rethought world might look.

Basically, Pauli is making a case for turning all industrial waste toward productive purposes. Our current processes, for instance, to make paper result in a huge loss of productivity when waste wood products -- which could be turned to other uses -- are burned or disposed of such that they are lost forever.

While the ideas in this book are incredibly exciting, the delivery seemed to me a bit rough. While competently presented, as an argument this book seems a little bit disparate and untamed, and its style is a bit flat, if not boring. Still, kudos to Pauli for writing it. His is an exciting vision, and I only hope his projects get the press and consideration they deserve. I'm giving it four stars because of the extraordinary ideas: more people should know about how we can make our waste productive.

Pauli has succeeded in doing a rare thing indeed...that of demonstrating how the environment and the economy can complement each other to create synergies! All this in the context of protecting and preserving our environment for current and future generations.

The book is well written and supported by solid facts and well-developed case studies. It serves as a guide post for people of all walks of life, including CEOs, entrepreneurs, environmentalist and public servants, who want to act or promote action that will help reduce, even eliminate waste, while stimulating economic development. More importantly, this book gives hope that we can adopt ways of doing business that reduce the negative impacts on our environment.

This is an excellent book for anyone who's interested in the environmental consequences of human industrialization and development. I had never heard of the author or his organization (ZERI: Zero Emissions Research Institute), but it's all described in this book, and it's a fascinating proposition.

At first I was a little worried that this book would be a little boring, but it's succinct and well-written. You'll think that the proposals are impossible or unattainable, but the author backs them up at the end with real-world implementations that are successful.

I recommend this book for the CEO of any manufacturing company. The concepts presented in this book will show you how to expand your product offering, minimize environmental impact, and make more money all at the same time.

Networks rule! Capra traces the growth of networks ranging from the minute life functions established in the earliest cells through to today's global economic organizations. Asserting that life's origins began with fat globs providing a base, cells could then develop compound structures by absorption of chemicals or other, smaller, organisms. Biological patterns were expanded, not changed, as evolution progressed through time. Complexity increased opportunity for life to inhabit new niches and adapt more readily to change. Capra embraces the "Santiago Theory of Cognition" which expresses evolution as a recursive process. "Thinking" about adaptation to changing environments leads to new lifeforms. With the process established across all life, he's able to toy with Lovelock's Gaia thesis, adding fresh ornamentation to the idea of the biosphere as a single organism.

Capra weaves a picture of humanity as tightly threaded with the rest of nature's tapestry. Our composition, our habits, our creations are entwined with all other living things. He insists we must recognize our integration with the rest of the biosphere. He offers a novel mechanism to achieve that awareness. Past science has focussed too narrowly - a habit he decries as "reductionist." He urges the creation of a "new type of science dealing with qualities rather than quantities" a proposal emitting the aroma of some of the recent "post-modernist" philosophers.

In the second part of the book he addresses some of the human-designed mechanisms. Human structures are complex, even paradoxical, he argues. Our organizations carry a "dual nature" - the mechanistic drive for profit running in parallel with the community of humans who have personal needs to fulfill. These elements are essentially conflicting and many compromises must be made to achieve both ends. The effort also results in "two kinds of leadership," those with the drive to create and those protecting human values. The extension of the "creators" has given us "globalisation" while the "protectors" are struggling for recognition and acceptance. Today's striving for a global economy is the final extension of the biological networking process - only its aims differ. Almost as a sidelight, Capra sees globalisation as having created a new, almost parallel economy in the formation of a world embracing "crime economy." This bizarre force operates in parallel with "legitimate" business ends, although using similar mechanisms.

In order to cope with all these forces, Capra wishes us to foster his "new type of science" to gain further acceptance. Unfortunately, the first step is the major weakness of the book. Having already given us a biology resting on shaky assertions, he goes on to create a structure of straw. A whole section of the book rails against the sin of "genetic determinism." This is an outmoded and false concept, except to those who wish to attack science. Capra uses the term as a bludgeon to attack the failures of the "green revolution" and the promises of biotechnology. These are valid targets, but the weapon is flimsy. It's almost a non-sequitor when set against his view of corporate operations.

Capra's reliance on weak weapons is furthered by the limitations of his sources. His reading list is sparse, to say the least. He's chosen a few like-minded philosophers, but there is little in the way of serious scientific input. Given the scope of this book, that's regrettable. The edifice he's built is timely. We need to know more about nature, not just as "environment" but in the details that might provide more insight. Unfortunately, the many loose bricks in his structure tend to shake his credibility. If his work was more informative and less polemical, especially when he attacks targets he doesn't identify, there might be more reason to admire the grandeur of his construction. Instead, we must turn elsewhere for better material. Since the "quality" he seeks remains elusive, we must make new bricks of real data. His architecture is admirable, but the construction must be of firmer components. E.O. Wilson provides a more stable foundation.

Capra applies the principles of complexity theory to an analysis of the broad sphere of all human interactions. He posits that in order to sustain life in the future, the principles underlying our social institutions must be consistent with the organization that nature has evolved to sustain the web of life. Because most of our present environmental and social problems are deeply embedded in our economic systems, globalization has no future unless it is designed to be inclusive, ecologically sustainable, and respectful of human rights and values. He presents his plan for designing ecologically sustainable communities and technologies as alternatives to the current economic globalization, and demonstrates how the theoretical ideas of science can be applied to the practical concerns of our time, including the management of human organizations, the challenges and dangers of economic globalization, and the nature and problems of biotechnology. Lucid, inspiring, and insightful!

This book has something for almost everyone. It extends complexity theory into social networks, bringing in discussion of communication and the making of meaning. It addresses cognition and consciousness, even touching on spirituality, in Chapter 2. It moves into organizational practice beginning in Chapter 4 that includes a vision of leadership, then moves to the larger world stage, addressing global capitalism, biotechnology, the new civil society, and eco-sustainability. He even suggests a new tax structure!

There is a lot in this book, and Capra models the web of interconnectedness throughout. Because there is so much, sometimes I would like to see more depth in areas that interest me particularly, but he gives hints of where to look for deeper information for those interested. This book clearly builds on his previous work "The Web of Life" and while still theoretical, brings in a great deal more practical application. I highly recommend the book.

While I found this book very readable and a good survey of ideas from so called systems theory, I often wondered to what extent it was a subjectively revised version of what could be more objectively portrayed. What I found most telling in this regard was the fact that although he admits that systems thinking has died as an academic movement, he fails to mention the significant community of scientists (many of them Nobel prize winners) that have gathered at the Sante Fe Institute to study complex adaptive systems. Capra even very selectively mentions Kauffman's work without acknowledging the thriving academic community he is involved in (except in one sentence as a kind of afterthought). His intuitive synthesis is interesting but like most systems thinking an appealing guess that never seems to amount to much without the science to back it up.

I was delighted by the initial sections of the book - the first time I have seen 'systems thinking' properly defined, and also a very useful sketch of the historical development of these ideas. I will therefore be recommending it to my students - it really is a useful book. But do I agree with it? I think the whole thesis falls down in the application to ecosystems; here the evidence gets really shaky and I wasn't convinced.

I need to find this book of Capra in spanish. Would you please help me? Thanks,

Dr. Larry Dossey delivers far less than he promises in "Space, Time, and Medicine". Instead of a revolutionary "new paradigm", he presents us with many ideas that seem to have little to do with curing illness, and far more to do with Dr. Dossey's spiritual views. I seriously doubt that an individual suffering from heart disease or terminally ill with cancer would be comforted by being told that they are misperceiving time! Although the idea that modifications in consciousness can change the outcome of an illness does have scientific evidence backing it (as well as plenty of anecdotal evidence, and, in my case, second-hand experience), the book fails to cover how meditation and consciousness-altering practices can be effectively applied against disease- and, in the twenty years since this book was written, little progress has been made (other than a general acceptance of yoga and meditation as a supplement to orthodox treatments).

Despite this critique, however, Dossey does present several interesting arguments in favor of his approach, and some fascinating case studies, including one involving a psychic police officer suffering from stress-related illness, and some interesting observations involving the health of people with "type A" personalities and worldviews. Dossey demonstrates a mastery of physics uncommon among individuals outside the field, and does an excellent job of explaning the physical thought of Prigogine, Bohm, Heisenberg, Einstein, and Bohr, as well as the mathematical proofs of Kurt Godel.

"Space, Time, and Medicine" isn't beach reading, doesn't present any revolutionary new data, and won't shake the ground beneath your feet. But if you're a physician interested in following up on potentially effective "alternative" approaches, or a layman with an interest in how the "new physics" relate to your state of being- you can do far worse than read this book.

Originally published in 1982. Dr. Dossey gives a pretty detailed account of some of the more interesting challenges that Quantum Physics makes on our traditional mechanistic worldview. Spends a good deal of time on Bell's Theorem, David Bohm's implicate order and Progogine's dissipative structures in very clear and easy to understand language (and no math). Concludes that not only are we wrong about spacetime and the nature of our existence, but these errors make us ill. Argues that medical science is based on a classical physical model, and needs to catch up with the implications of uncertainty, non-locality, and the "Biodance" (this metaphor alone is worth the price of the book!). Implies a lot of things that I imagine he covers in his later books - this is the first one I've read, but I'm hooked!

This book brilliantly describes the essence of how various illnesses may be brought on by our misperceptions of space and time, and what we can do to change our perecpeptions and heal ourselves. As Dr. Dossey reminds us, "It is not man who is at the mercy of an external 'real' time -- it is time itself which is shaped by man." Since the effects of urgency can bring illness upon us, this book is a welcome guide to finding our way back to a healthier perception of space and time. Dossey explains how absorbing activities like fishing or needlepoint can help us kill the relentless push of time, and bring us to the healing perception of infinite space and time.

The Reductionist model of the world holds sway today with incredible tenacity and effect. Capra's tracing of it's history, implications and role in present society is outstanding. His advocacy for system thinking is likewise terrific. In the second portion of the book Capra attempts a prescriptive dialog in several areas. This prescriptive section was interesting and contains some good ideas, yet lacks the power of the first part. My recommendation: Everyone should read the first portion while the second is very optional.

It's all here. Everything we ever needed to know to begin to change our world and ourselves. Totally brilliant. Many years in the making, this book covers a very wide spectrum of knowledge and is fascinating all the way through. Like The Tao of Physics, this book looks toward a world view that encompasses a balance of science and spirit. Capra is also not shy about deconstructing or critisizing popular economic and political mythology, which may disturb some readers, but he has the benefit of input from some of the greatest minds of our time and his analysis is unassailable. Female readers will probably appreciate his sensitivity and balanced approach to feminist perspectives as he discusses what's wrong with our world and what we can do to change things.

My experience was that I read his other book "Uncommon Wisdom" first, which was in large part about Capra's experiences leading up to the writing of The Turning Point with the people and minds that inspired and enlightened him. Reading that first made all of The Turning Point flow even smoother. But Uncommon Wisdom is getting hard to find, so don't quibble. Read Turning Point no matter what! It is still 100% relevant to today and comes from a man who has been at the forefront of cutting edge thinking since the 1960s.

This book is filled with Capra's take on insights obtained over the years from people like Werner Heisenberg, E.F. Schumacher, J. Krishnamurti, Hazel Henderson, Gregory Bateson, Pitirim Sorokin, Stanislav Grof, Margaret Locke, R.D. Laing, David Bohm, Adrienne Rich, Lyn Margulis, and many others. With The Turning Point, you're getting into the thoughts of a whole lot of brilliant thinkers, both male and female, that Capra has known personally or studied thoroughly.

All of Capra's books are fascinating. Check out "The Web of Life" which is another 5 star book in my opinion.

The book has an extremely broad sweep and tries to get to the very root of our crisis as a civilisation. Building his case from a very logical historical perspective that covers the very essence of our academic and intellectual foundations, Capra argues for a paradigm shift in order to bring about sustainable development. The book is not a mere superficial recipe for survival but provides a blueprint for excellence in the new era of globalisation and economic change. Written in a lucid and fluent manner, the arguments flow systematically and call for a radical change in our approach to both seeing and solving problems. The book is both philosophical and practical in its approach and therein lies Capra's greatness. He has been able to weave the enormous research into a comprehensive tome that is as useful for the expert as it is fascinating for the layman. Highly recommended. Mohit Misra, Asian Institute Of Management, Manila.

Capra's discussion of physics is interesting reading, as are the "parallels" with Eastern Mysticism (though I follow a reviewer below in evaluating the arguments as hazy). Where Capra sells his reader short is in the criticism of the western mentality.

According to Capra, the western mind is not acclimated to mystical thought of the kind described in Tao of Physics. Serious students will detect a problem with this assertion: Heraclitus, Plotinus, Augustine, John of the Cross, and even the empiricist Francis Bacon evade Capra's criticism--but one must go to the actual writings, not generalizations about them, in order to discover this. In more recent philosophy, I'm reminded of Paul Tillich's notion of "historical realism," which would provide any reader with material for a re-critique of Capra's critique.

You might notice I still give this book a 6, despite these major flaws. This is because it is an accessible introduction to a major premise in modern thought: the compulsion toward extramaterial/extratechnological worlds. My fear is that some (note reviews below) might consider it the last word on a subject that merits extensive study.

As an analogy, take the seemingly common opinion that the film "Contact" is the last word on the science-religion question.

This book weaves a magical spell over the reader who is fascinated by both science and mysticism. It covers both in great depth and detail. The essential teachings of Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism and Zen are carefully distilled and the unifying principles of these paths are identified. The one characteristic all these '-isms' share is the awareness of unity of the connectedness of the whole. Capra compares and contrasts classical and modern physics while integrating the mystical truths as discovered in these religions. It is a daunting undertaking but he succeeds with aplomb! The close parallels between Eastern mysticism and modern physics (quantum physics) is amazing - each approaches reality from a different starting point but arrives at the same place. Capra writes about the cosmic dance of particle, energy, and consciousness - highly complex topics, in a very readable manner. He touches upon Geoffrey Chew's S-matrix theory (bootstrap philosophy) and Bohm's theory of Implicate Order. He calls the paradigm shift we are experiencing "a crisis of perception" from which all problems in the world arise. The manner in which scientific ideas are interspersed with mystical concepts is truly astonishing! Fritjof Capra manages to precipitate the essential kernal of truth from apparent divergent viewpoints ...This is a great book for anyone exploring the relationship of the rational scientific view and mysticism, i.e., the spiritual journey. This is a very valuable book for the modern world. Erika B.

"The purpose of this book," Austrian-born physicist and ecologist, Fritjof Capra writes, is to explore the "relationship between the concepts of modern physics and the basic ideas in the philosphical and religious traditions of the Far East" (p. 18). First published in 1975, THE TAO OF PHYSICS has since sold more than one million copies worldwide, and has been translated into more than two dozen languages (p. 324). Although some of his critics believe quantum reality is worlds apart from mystical phenomena, Capra also notes "that in all the criticism I have had from fellow physicists, not one of them has found any fault in my presentation of the concepts of modern physics . . . to the best of my knowlegde nobody has found any factual errors in THE TAO OF PHYSICS" (pp. 337-38).

THE TAO "aims at improving the image of science by showing that there is an essential harmony between the spirit of Eastern wisdom and Western science. It attempts to suggest that modern physics goes far beyond technology, that the way--or Tao--of physics can be a path with a heart, a way to spiritual knowledge and self-realization" (p. 25). In his non-technical book, Capra examines the way that twentieth-century physics reveals the world's web of nonlinear interconnectedness, an idea that is also central to the mystical experience of reality. In providing his reader with an introduction to "The Way of Eastern Mysticism," i.e., Hinduism (pp. 84-91), Buddhism (pp. 92-99), Chinese thought (pp. 100-111), Taoism (pp. 112-119), and Zen (pp. 120-127), Capra demonstrates that the essence of Eastern thought "is the awareness of the untiy and mutual interrelation of all things and events, the experience of all phenomena in the world as manifestations of a basic oneness. All things are seen as interdependent and inseparable parts of this cosmic whole; as different manifestations of the same ultimate reality" (pp. 130; 188). Similarly, modern physics "has abolished the notion of fundamentally separated objects, has introduced the concept of the participator to replace that of the observer, and may even find it necessary to include the human consciousness in the description of the world. It has come to see the universe as an interconnected web of physical and mental relations whose parts are only defined through their connections to the whole" (p. 142). Modern physics views matter not as passive and inert, "but as being in a continuous dancing and vibrating motion whose rythmic patterns are determined by the molecular, atomic and nuclear structures." This, too, is the way in which Eastern mystics view the material world, as an inseparable web with interconnections that are dynamic and not static. (pp. 192; 194). "The cosmic web," from both views, "is alive; it moves, grows and changes continually" (p. 192). Shiva's dance, Capra observes, is the dance of subatomic matter (p. 245).

For Capra, the everyday world is actually a network of relationships that cannot be understood properly without also understanding how one part is related to and influenced by the others (p. 304). Both modern physics and Eastern mysticism encourage us to think systemically, that is, to think in terms of the whole. In the insightful Afterward to the new 25th Anniversary Edition of his book, to live sustainably, Capra encourages us to adopt an ecological view in which we are not separate from the natural world, and to realize that all phenomena are fundamentally interconnected and interdependent. "Deep ecology," he writes, "recognizes the intrinsic values of all living beings and views humans as just one particular strand in the web of life. It recognizes that we are all imbedded in, dependent upon, the cyclical processes of nature" (p. 326). In short, Capra's physics are fascinating, and I highly recommend this book.

G. Merritt