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Reviews!

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Many writerly friends of mine swear with a straight face that they never look at reviews of their books. I have tried but failed to comprehend the inner workings of these alien minds; personally, as much as I know it might pain me, I can’t help but read reviews. Sometimes I might even learn something! Or at least be gratified, in this nice review of The Particle at the End of the Universe by Adam Frank at NPR.

Or, on the other hand, simply be amazed and astonished. The most amusing “review” so far has come from one of the good readers at Amazon, working under the nom de plume “Chosenbygrace Notworks,” and coming with the to-the-point title “Arrogant atheist `science’.” Apparently Chosenbygrace is not handicapped by actually having read the book, but did hear me talk on Coast to Coast AM. Here’s the opening:

Sean Carroll is a typical atheist physicist who arrogantly disregards creationists to the point where he does not even acknowledge they exist unless prompted (like happened on Coast to Coast AM tonight). The liberal media and filled with money sapping money-obsessed morons like this, willing to indebt any generation of Americans into becoming slaves. It’s already happened, and Americans in general are all debt slaves because of atheism-theoretical-physics cultists like this, and the idiot atheists who worship delusional morons like this.

It goes on, but, you know, probably the gist has been conveyed. The physics/atheism connection is a classic, of course, but I hadn’t been aware that we in the cult were also responsible for plunging Americans into debt. 5 out of 425 people found the review helpful, so at least someone is being helped! (In fairness, the Amazon review by Ashutosh Jogalekar probably does a better job of conveying what’s in the book than any I’ve yet seen.)

Other reviews are puzzling, and I have to mention one in particular. …

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Shindig!

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This afternoon, 6pm Eastern/3pm Pacific, is the fun event I mentioned before: a “virtual book tour” discussion on a new-ish platform called Shindig. The idea is that I sit here with my webcam, talking to you and showing some pictures; you sit where you are, with your own webcam, as a potentially-participatory audience member. You can virtually “raise your hand” to ask a question, either by text or by audio in the post-talk Q&A. Different audience members can break off into groups to chat about things by themselves. It’s all free and open and quite experimental, so we’re trying to coax as many people into participating as possible. Certainly saves time (and fossil fuels) in comparison to jetting around the country.

The topic, of course, will be the new book, or really just the basics of the Higgs search and the Large Hadron Collider. I will give a brief overview, very casual, and anyone there should feel free to ask whatever they like.

Here’s an example of a Shindig event, featuring A.J. Jacobs.

Should be fun. Join us if you can!

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A Book Full of Particles

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Publication day! In case it’s slipped your mind, today is the day when The Particle at the End of the Universe officially goes on sale. Books get a bit of a boost if they climb up the Amazon rankings on the first day, so if you are so inclined, today would be the day to click that button. Also: great holiday present for the whole family!

A very nice review by Michael Brooks appeared in New Scientist. (It’s always good to read a review when you can tell the author actually read the book.) Another good one by John Butterworth appeared in Nature, but behind a paywall.

Brief reminder of fun upcoming events:

  • Today (Tuesday the 13th), you can Ask Me Anything over at Reddit, starting at 2pm Eastern, 11am Pacific. Of course you lovely blog readers already know everything worth knowing, but I’m looking forward to dodging personal queries from people around the world. (And hopefully explaining a little physics.)
  • Thursday I’ll be doing an online chat in a platform called Shindig. That’s 6pm Eastern, 3pm Pacific. Fire up your webcam and you can be part of the virtual audience.

FAQ: Yes, you should have no trouble reading and understanding it, no matter what your physics background may be. Yes, there are electronic editions of various forms. Yes, there will also be an audio book, but it’s still being recorded. No, nobody has yet purchased the movie rights; call me. Yes, I know that the Higgs boson is not literally sitting there at the end of the universe. It’s a metaphor; for more explanation, read the book!

Writing this book has been quite an experience. Unlike From Eternity to Here, in this case I wasn’t writing about my own research interests. So for much of the time I was acting like a journalist, talking to the people who really built the Large Hadron Collider and do the experiments there. It’s no exaggeration that I went into the project with an enormous amount of respect for what they accomplished, and came out with enormously more than that. It’s a truly amazing achievement on the part of thousands of dedicated people who are largely anonymous to the outside world. (But for the rest of their lives they get to say “I helped discover the Higgs boson,” which is pretty cool.)

Of course, being who I am, I couldn’t help but take the opportunity to try to explain some physics that doesn’t often get explained. So once you hit the halfway point in the book or so, we start digging into what quantum field theory really is, why symmetry breaking is important, and the fascinating history of how the Higgs mechanism was developed. (I had to restrain myself from going even deeper, especially into issues of spin and chirality, but this is supposed to be a bodice-ripper, not a brain-flattener.) At the end of the book, as a reward, you get to contemplate the role of the internet and bloggers in the changing landscape of scientific communication, as well as all the fun technological breakthroughs that we will get as a result of the Higgs discovery. (I.e., none whatsoever.)

Sean Carroll: The Particle at the End of the Universe

Hope you like reading it as much as I liked writing it.

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Publicity Machine Sputters Into Gear

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Now that you’ve voted, I know what question you must be asking yourself: where can I go to hear Sean do things like relentlessly flogging his new book, The Particle at the End of the Universe, in stores November 13? Well you’ve certainly come to the right place. Here are some upcoming opportunities in various media.

  • Here’s a video I just did with Chris Johnson, who is working on a book entitled “A Better Life: 100 Atheists Speak Out on Joy and Meaning In a World Without God.” Hear me at my arrogant, hubristic best. (I am talking about the difficulties of defining meaning in a purposeless universe but somehow managed to work in the Higgs boson.)
  • This weekend both Jennifer and I will be speaking at Skepticon 5, in Springfield, Missouri. Apparently there will be other speakers, as well.
  • Local folks, on Monday Nov. 12 I’ll be participating in an event called Uncorked, sponsored by Pasadena music/art organization MUSE/IQUE. The show is headlined by innovative cellist Matt Haimovitz, and his supporting cast includes me and Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers. (None of the preceding is a joke.)
  • On book release day, Tuesday, I’ll be doing a Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything). Scheduled to start at 11am Pacific time. Head over there to pester me about all the questions you think I avoid over here.
  • Later that day I’ll be on Attack of the Show, which I believe is broadcast live at 4pm Pacific, then webcast Wednesday morning at 10am Pacific.
  • That night, for you insomniacs, I’ll be on Coast to Coast AM, starting at 11pm Pacific.
  • This could be quite cool: on November 15 at 3pm Pacific, I’ll be doing an online presentation/Q&A on a new platform called Shindig. (See an example here.) I will give an informal talk, then anyone following from online who has a webcam can “get up on stage” with me and ask questions, or different audience members can chat amongst themselves. Could be awesome, or a disaster, we’ll have to see.
  • Friday the 16th I’ll be on Science Friday. Presumably a more focused discussion than on Coast to Coast.
  • Back here in Pasadena, on Sunday Nov. 18th I’ll be giving a public lecture on the Higgs boson at the Skeptics Society at 2pm Pacific. Apparently this will also involve a live webcast, so tune in.
  • On Thursday November 29 I’m scheduled to be on a plucky little cable TV show called the Colbert Report. Due to the vicissitudes of television, these things tend to get un-scheduled and re-scheduled with abandon, but that’s the current plan.
  • A day later I’m in Portland, giving a public talk at the First Congregational Church.
  • A week after that I’m in Toronto, appearing on a public panel on Dec. 7 talking about the Higgs.

And that’s it for 2012, as far as I currently know. Come January I’ll be in the UK for a bit, which should be fun. The above looks like a long list, but several of them are local and/or electronic, so I have high hopes for continuing to get actual work done over the next couple of months.

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Wal Sargent

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I’m very sad to report that Wallace Sargent, a distinguished astronomer at Caltech, died yesterday. Wal, as he was known, was a world leader in spectroscopy and extragalactic astronomy, with a specialty in studies of quasar absorption lines. He played a crucial role in numerous major projects in astronomy, including serving as the director of the Palomar Observatory. He was awarded numerous major awards, including the Bruce Medal, the Helen B. Warner Prize, the Henry Norris Russell Lectureship, and the Dannie Heineman Prize for Astrophysics.

A glance at Wal’s home page will quickly reveal that he led an active an extraordinarily productive life. Those who knew him, however, will remember a warm and enthusiastic personality who was always happy to talk. He mentored numerous students, and contributed greatly to the spirit of Caltech’s fantastically successful astronomy program. Our thoughts to out to his wife Anneila (also a distinguished Caltech astronomer) and all his friends and family.

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Mysteries of Time: New Teaching Company Course

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Just in time for the holidays (Halloween totally counts as a holiday), the Teaching Company (a/k/a “The Great Courses) is releasing a new course I recorded — Mysteries of Modern Physics: Time. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the format (and my previous course, Dark Matter and Dark Energy), this is a set of 24 lectures, each half an hour each, modeled on an undergraduate college course for non-scientists. Note that both are hugely discounted at the moment, by 70% off the ordinary price, which isn’t always the case. Unlike the previous course, this new one is available in an audio-only format as well as on video. But in the last few years they have upgraded their graphics and animation considerably, so the video version might be worth a look. Here’s the teaser:

Unsurprisingly, a lot of the course follows the outline in From Eternity to Here. But it’s also pretty different; the organization has been switched around, and the course has a lot more emphasis on time in everyday life and the psychology of time, less on cosmology and the multiverse. Here are the lecture titles: …

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Von Freeman

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Von Freeman, legendary jazz saxophonist, passed away Sunday. He was 88 years old.

Here he is at the 2002 Berlin jazzfest, when Von was a spry 78: Mike Allemana on guitar, Michael Raynor on drums, and Jack Zara on bass. Playing one of Von’s tunes, “Blues for Sunnyland.”

Von Freeman Berlin 2002 Blues For Sunnyland Slim

From 2002 to 2007, listening to Von play live was an integral part of my life in Chicago. He had two regular gigs: once a month at Andy’s downtown, where tourists would squeeze in shoulder-to-shoulder to experience something only Chicago had to offer, and every Tuesday night at the New Apartment Lounge on 75th Street, in one of the sketchier neighborhoods on the South Side. Andy’s was great, but the Apartment was special. A tiny little bar, no cover charge, where you could sit within three feet of the band as they explored the outer regions of improvisational possibility. Starting at 10:30, going into the early morning hours — I went often, but never managed to stay for the whole thing. An eclectic crowd of locals, jazz freaks, and University of Chicago students mixed with the musicians who would make the weekly pilgrimage, because after finishing his set Von would turn the stage over to a jam session that nurtured generations of jazz players.

This video was taken in 2010 by someone who was apparently sitting in my old seat at the Apartment. Matt Ferguson is now on bass.

Von Freeman - Produced by JazzOnTheTube.com

Von was absolutely unique, as a saxophonist and as a person. As a musician he managed to intermingle an astonishing variety of styles, from classic ballads to bebob all the way to free jazz, with more than a few things you would never hear anywhere else. Some thought that his playing was an acquired taste, full of skronks and trills and lighting-fast tempo changes. But once you “got it,” you could hear something in Von that you just couldn’t hear anywhere else. This isn’t just formerly-local pride talking; when John Coltrane left Miles Davis’s band in the 1950’s, Miles tried to get Von to replace him. But Von never left Chicago for more than a few days at a time.

As a person, Von was charming, roguish, stubborn, warm, irascible, and utterly compelling. Sometimes on stage he would get in the mood for talking instead of playing, and honestly it was hard to tell which you preferred. The wisecracks, the wisdom, the Billie Holiday stories, all mixed with the smoke and the cheap beer to create an unforgettable atmosphere.

There wasn’t anybody else like him, and there never will be. We’ll miss you, Von.

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Avoid the Christmas Rush!

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Hard to believe I wrote another book. How did that happen? But it must be true, as The Particle at the End of the Universe is now available for pre-order on Amazon and elsewhere. Back to real work for me, for the foreseeable future. (Unless someone wants to give me a million dollars, which to date they have been reluctant to do.)

I’m actually putting finishing touches on the copyediting as we speak. Events have prodded the publisher to move up the release date quite a bit (as I expected), so now it’s coming out in November rather than in February. So we’ve been in a mad dash against the clock, although I’ve tried my best to be careful in the actual writing. And many people have been extremely generous with their time, reading over chapters and talking with me about the issues. Compared to From Eternity to Here, this book is obviously less about presenting a novel take on some deep issues in physics and more about helping people understand why the Higgs boson is important, and how the experiments actually look for the thing. But there are a couple of chapters in there where I get to try to explain gauge invariance, connections, and symmetry breaking. I can’t help myself; it’s in my nature.

Speaking of generosity, even with the short timescale I scored pretty big with the back-cover blurbs. Check these out:

“In this superb book, Sean Carroll provides a fascinating and lucid look at the most mysterious and important particle in nature, and the experiment that revealed it. Anyone with an interest in physics should read this, and join him in examining the new worlds of physics to which this discovery may lead.”

–Leonard Mlodinow, author of The Drunkard’s Walk

“Carroll tells the story of the particle that everyone has heard of but few of us actually understand. After you read his book — an enticing cocktail of personal anecdote, clever analogy, and a small dose of mind-bending theory — you will truly grasp why the Higgs boson has been sought after for so long by so many. Carroll is a believer in big science asking big questions and his beliefs are infectious and inspiring.”

–Morgan Freeman, Actor and Executive Producer of Through the Wormhole

“The science is authoritative, yet bold and lively. The narrative is richly documented, yet full of human drama. Carroll’s saga pulls you aboard a modern voyage of discovery.”

–Frank Wilczek, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics

If only the actual writing in the book could be that good! “Obtain blurbs from Oscar winner and Nobel laureate for same book” is now checked off my bucket list.

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