Blackfoot Physics: A Journey Into The Native American Universe is a melding of anthropology, history, metaphysics, cosmology, and quantum theory. Written by F. David Peat (a theoretical physicist who has also studied Native American ceremonies and traditions such as the Blackfoot Sun Dance), Blackfoot Physics strives to bridge the gap between diverse understandings of the universe, while crafting parallels between science and spirituality. A unique and original work of insight, Blackfoot Physics in a unique and strongly recommended contribution to Metaphysical Philosophy and Native American Studies.

This is a wide reaching and clearly thought out presentation. The ideas presented here should form a basis for thinking about science as well as about how we see life in general. Clearly, an outstanding book.

I was really hoping this would be a good one. It had all the right qualities to turn out a great piece of literature. Unfortunately, it ended up being an insight to the not-yet-matured mental ramblings of its authors. Briggs and Peat insult everything from mountain climbing to the Rennaissance to the Mendelbrot Set itself. Then they glorify things like the Dark Ages! The book seems to be a struggle to overcome a Kantian mindset, in which the authors present themselves as incoherent and more "searching" than their proposed audience. The only reason I've granted it two stars, is that perhaps it could serve as an introduction to Chaos Theory, or more likely the philosophical disease of Collectivism. To anyone with any knowledge of Chaos, on the other hand, this book will leave you frustrated when the authors continually misuse terms such as "feedback loop," or when they generalize with terms such as "scientists found..." or "researchers say..." but fail to cite specifics. This kind of circumlocution leaves me wishing I had gotten more out of the book, and even insulted by the book's presumption that I would overlook such emotive language. Read at your own risk! I advise something a little less societally degrading. Look for a book that will actually teach you something about this amazing scientific discovery without slandering its position in academia and your own life. Try "Chaos," by James Gleick.If you need something that brings philosophy into a revolutionary science, look for "The Dancing Wu-Li Masters," by Gary Zukav. It deals with quantum physics rather than Chaos Theory, but in a much more respectable way.

I found this book to reverse every mental polarity in me, as if I had been pulled through infinity.

SEVEN LIFE LESSONS OF CHAOS : Spiritual Wisdom from The Science of Change. By John Briggs and F. David Peat. 207 pp. New York : HarperPerennial, 1999. 0-06-018246-6 (pbk.)

Writing in the thirteenth century, Japan's great Zen Master Dogen Zenji (1200-1253) told this little story :

"Long ago a monk asked an old master, "When hundreds, thousands, or myriads of objects come all at once, what should be done?" The master replied, "Don't try to control them." What he means is that in whatever way objects come, do not try to change them. Whatever comes is the buddha-dharma, not objects at all.... Even if you try to control what comes, it cannot be controlled" (trans. Ed Brown and Kazuaki Tanahashi, 'Moon in a Dewdrop,' p.164).

All our life is spent trying to make things happen. Nice things, to us. But how often do we succeed ? Isn't it the case that we almost always fail ? And given the enormous effort that we all put into trying to make nice things happen, isn't it puzzling that we so very rarely succeed ?

Could it be that our constant failures hold a message for us ? Could it be that we cannot in fact make things happen ? And if this is so, why is it so ?

Is it because that behind any event there are so many causes that we could never hope to have personally generated more than a few? And that those few are not enough to nudge an event in the precise direction we would like it to take ? A happy direction, and one that will bring good things to us ?

Rather than desperately trying to make things happen, wouldn't it be wiser to shift into alignment with the one big thing that is happening all around, letting it lead us along through the good and the bad, no longer struggling but calmly being guided, so that the event may unfold, naturally, like a Rose ?

If you are still with me and haven't yet read Briggs and Peat's marvelous and inspiring book on Chaos as the unfoldment of the Amazing Rose that is the Universe, and how best to play one's role within that ongoing unfoldment, I'd suggest that you get your nose into it now. The fantastic news it brings was brought for you.

I found the explanations of the standard modern physics subjects to be mediocre except the part about Bell's Theorem. The significance lies not in the treatment of the subject (Bell's Theorem) but in the fact that Peat has tackled the subject at all. This theorem may prove to be the most important discovery in human history. Experimental proof (I've heard tell that it has been proven.) of local indeterminacy is mind-boggling. Why every science writer worth his salt isn't jumping to come up with a better write up is beyond me. This book is a must read--even for real students of quantum mechanics.

What a good book! The metaphors for the layman are usually dead-on, although the heart of the paradox of Bell's Theorem is fuzzy, and better handled in "Shroedinger's Kittens". Otherwise, this book does the best job of navigating clearly through the history of the debate over reality.

Einstein thought quantum uncertainty would eventually be explained by "Hidden Variables" . Little did he realize those "Hidden Variables" would travel faster than the speed of light. I wonder what Einstein would say about the breakdown of his speed of light constant by those variables?

I am scientist at the European Patent Office. I do not often read very popular books but came accross that one. It succeeds in explaining many things easily, however it is very inaccurate and unreliable, there is an average of one fatal, major mistake per page, both concerning the interpretation, or the history of the experimental sciences, etc. The book has also very strong New Age bias in its use of modern physics, etc. It may be recommandable for New Agers, but for other readers I would rather recommend searching another book, I assume there are some reliable introductory books on the market.

If on one hand as I was saddened by all the mistakes in the book, on the other hand I found some funny (e. g. that the medieval scientists believed that the planets and stars were alive or inhabited by gods, etc.)

I recieved this book on a Tuesday. I couldn't stop picking it up until Friday. Even now I still have it out on my desk. This isn't the type of book that you'll want to read from front to back at one sitting. Its a good reference book and an outstanding introductory book to not only the new style of physics, but physics in general.

The meat of the book does exactly what it says, it introduces the reader to the most advanced scientific principles of today. However, what I became even more interested in, (although I was plenty interested in the new ideas) was the epistimological difference between newtonian physics and quantum physics. In sparked in me an interest into the philosophy of science.

The length of the definitions of the ideas range from a half a page to three and a half pages. There is somewhere around 200 different "new ideas" of science that it introduces. All the definitions are written well with exceptional clarity, (which I was glad to see because I would of been lost otherwise.)

Reading this book has reawakened an interest in me to learning about math and physics. Though the book does not delve into the mathematics of the topics discussed, it provides a clear, well-sculpted image of each, meant for the lay-reader. It is particularly exciting to me because the ideas explained in "Who's Afraid of Schrodinger's Cat?" are revolutionizing the way that humans view their world, their perspective in it, and, as is necessary to address at such a philosophical level, our possible purpose for being in it. The resulting conclusions from comtemporary physics are profound and inspiring, presented in this book, fittingly, in a non-linear, or 'quantum', fashion, so that the reader is brought to an understanding of the ideas presented by the greatest scientific minds of our century with an open mind leaping at the possibilities and thought-provoking implications of it all. This book makes a great introductory gate-way to its subject and a very convenient reference work (for the second read that is virtually necessary and equally profound). I am eager to explore other works by the authors.

While Peat does an excellent job at reporting of broadcast power from a critical standpoint, some very speculative statements are made about Tesla himself (e.g. He completely suppressed his own emotions in an attempt to use reasoning only) I had some objections to the reliability of part of the information presented. Peat offers alot of good information and the book is worth reading if your interested in Tesla and his works, particularly broadcast power.

Dr. Peat gives a scientific perspective to Tesla's work, specifically, the wireless power transmission theories. The book is very narritive in his search for the truth about Tesla. His endeavors of searching for info are quite interesting. I recommend the book to any scientist out there. The book was originally published in 1983.

David Bohm ignores the "usual" approaches to the investigation of fundamental questions in science, in fact in human life in general, and always provides a fresh and creative perspective. In this book he looks at the idea of order in the universe and the mind as well as the basis of creativity in human thought. Instead of assuming that order has already been understood as it is often portrayed in the popular science press he unveils the ideas of degree and levels of order and sidesteps the seemingly antagonistic concepts of order and disorder (the approach used by a mind whose thinking is habitualised by anaytical thinking of the world into separate and distinct pieces). He avoids this routine type of thinking and draws forth fascinating concepts giving a basis for a new science of order and a whole new way of "seeing" the creative mind. It is unfortunate that Bohm's thinking is generally ignored by mainstream scientists who could gain astonishing insight from such new ideas about creativity, the mind and order. As the new science of chaos has shown it is possible to engender a whole new science using a fresh approach, Bohm once again demonstrates this ability whole heartedly.

I can say, without question, that Peat's biography is a disappointment. The book's only redeeming characteristic is that Peat makes ample use of interviews that would otherwise be unavailable or nonexistent. In other areas, however, Bohm is not well represented. Peat uses information obtained from Russell Olwell concerning Bohm's case before HUAC. Unfortunately, Peat corrupted much of Olwell's work and presented an inaccurate picture of Bohm's case. Further, Peat fails to fully explore the impact of Bohm's work in the foundation of quantum physics and his alternative interpretation. In his review of the book Dr. James Cushing wrote that Bohm deserved better. Sadly, Dr. Cushing is correct.

A neat overview of an inspiring life. Unfortunately, although the book read well, it felt somewhat unsubstantial in relation to the man himself. I could not pin-point exactly what left me with this impression as the author seems to touch on all bases. Perhaps it was a result of the extent of my own admiration for Bohm, but I think it also has to do with the depth and breath of his life and work. As a man and a thinker Bohm seemed to give so much- what a huge task it is to attempt to give some back! A previous interest in Bohm places this particular view within a greater whole, in which case I would recommend this book.

This book illuminates the life of David Bohm as both man and scientist--who was nothing at all like I imagined. I knew of Bohm chiefly through the reputation of "Wholeness & the Implicate Order" among New-Age/Fringe Science circles, and through his collaboration with J. Krishnamurti (the darling Theosophical saint, of lately tarnished reputation.) Here, we see Bohm *exactly* as depicted on the cover, wrinkles in high relief and all. Betrayed by squealing Oppenheimer, mentor to famous Feynmann, dumped by Jiddhu Krishnamurti, he was stripped of his citizenship and lived a sorrowful life, despondent & frequently bitter that he had not been given a fair chance to realize his true potential, his scientific contributions not properly acknowledged. He clung to his materialist Marxist philosophy throughout his life; indeed, his Communist connections partially explain (along with Oppenheimer's "tissue of lies") his citizenship problems. Most importantly for would-be devotees, Bohm's life-long devotion to Marxist dogma strongly influenced his materialist interpretation of quantum mechanics and should give pause to those attracted to the "Implicate Order" as somehow acknowledging consciousness in science and the universe. All in all, a good biography of a strangely moving man

I have this strange compulsion: once I start a book, I must finish it. Even if the book drones on and on, I have no choice but to read every word. Sometimes this compulsion pushes me into a quite uncomfortable corner. This book put me there quite early, and kept me pinned for a couple of weeks. If I were extremely masochistic, I would read it again and highlight identical themes. Never in my life have I read anything more redundant. It seemed as if, at the onset, the author outlined his major points, and then thought of ten ways to say each point. Then, each of the ten variations for each point were repeated two or three times. I won't go on and on about this book. It was somewhat interesting, but it was entirely subjective, every point that the author was trying to disprove could very easily be seen from other points of view, and it was about 100 pages too long. The editor on this one really fell asleep on the job.

Synchronicity shatters causality as being capable of applying to the entire macrocosm. It demands that we progress on from the Newtonian worldview. Though the explanations for synchronicity might seem just as incomprehensible, with this book synchronicity won't seem as impossible. We get the bridge between an artistic and mechanistic universe. Linearity and Nonlinearity, mind and matter, Acausality and causality are to be complimentary, not isolated dualities. With synchronicity we will variegate, but not transmogrify, the mechanistic Kosmos. He thoroughly examines two valuable sources of synchronicity work: Carl Jung and Wolfgang Pauli. Perhaps as Pauli believed, an integration will occur with synchronicity by bringing the objective into pyschology and the subjective into physics. In our universe, which is more of an organism than a machine, "everything is the cause of everything." We cannot observe phenomena without disturbing it, by being an integral participator in phenomena itself. With the development of the illusions of our distinct selfs and our Newtonian strict mindsets, a synchronicity can be the only moment in which we can see transcendant eternity. But if we are willing to break down these walls, we will be submerged in eternal creativity, and stop seeing life as linear in time and causality. Another thing, at some points in this book, it almost seems as if Peat was directly writing about God. I don't mean an anthropomorphised jealous demiurge, but rather, as I quote from his own words, "an eternally creative source that lies beyond the orders of time." pp. 195 Or how about pp. 88 "What if the laws of nature---the ones that really fly---are not simply abstractions of experience but are realization, within the world of mind, of something that is creative, generative, and formative, of something that lies beyond mathematics, language, and thought?" If he realizes this, I cannot say. But later he does speak of how the ancients described this same thing as the Tao. So I think he does, but that using a word with such a negative connotation as G-d would be misleading. But when I hear him say "objective intelligence" it seems like nothing less than being politically correct talking about the Supreme Personality of the Godhead.

Or perhaps he was expecting a white beard.

All of us at sometime have had the experience of a "coincidence" which seems to odd to be random. This conjunction of co-incident encounter is explored brilliantly by the author from the early collaboration of Pauli and Jung to modern day expositions of quantum theory the non-physicist can understand. For anyone seeking the origin of currents surrounding our intuitive rock in the River, this book is a must read. Or, as Mark Victor Hansen warns, "Whatever you want, wants you;" This book helps explain, Why. MR

As a scientist familiar with quantum theory, but not a physicist, this book was very frustrating to read. I felt satisfied neither as a layman or a physical chemist. The book quoted several key concepts of superstring theory but did not really explain them in a way that I felt gave me more than a very superficial overview of the field. The digression into twistors was made at a point where more space could have fruitfully been spent adding flesh to the concepts presented early in the book.

The book starts of good and in chapter 7 he breaks of completely from superstrings and starts talking about some new unheard of idea of things called twisters. This would not be bad but twisters are supposed to replace spiners. Spiners to the uninformed are just a very small part of superstring theory.An example is writing a book on a 1998 Corvette and writing about the car for 6 chapers, then the other chapters are about the plug wires. Very Disapointing. If you want to read about some real superstring theory buy any book by Michio Kaku, much, much better books. They actually stick to what they say their about.

This book is non-technical -- it has almost no equations, but is well-illustrated. Just having finished it, I feel it gave a good sense of the major issues involved in this still highly speculative and uncertain field. Readable summary of the state-of-the-art in 1988. Author condescends nicely to the reader: he takes pains to repeat over and over, in slightly varying words, the technical points; this made book wordy; but it was a good strategy since, w/o equations, these esoteric ideas come across vaguely at best. Repetition allows at least "ear knowledge" of the jargon. Please don't expect much more at this level.

Like another reviewer, I was not happy with one-third of the book being devoted to twistors, since these strike this outsider as higher on mathematical elegance than on physical content. I will not fault Peat, however, for doing this since: A) due to his friendship with the Penrose Twistor group he is specially qualified to popularise this subject, and B) the Twistor program, a child of Penrose's brain, is rich in guiding principles, and provides therefore a healthy antidote to the superstrings, which grew up higgeldy-piggeldy by a sequence of "accidental" discoveries -- "It seems to work, but, heck, we don't really know why." Twistors have been less a matter of trial and error. At least they work well for massless particles. (Sidelight: In a blackboard discussion w/ Penrose at Cal Tech that I chanced to overhear about 25 yrs. ago, Feynman told Penrose that no one had succeeded in making massless fields cohere together so as to act like massive fields.)