Keys to Reality

My dad got me Frank Wilczek's Ten Keys to Reality. Wilczek is most-famed for time-crystals. Here he's sort of speaking for Carl Sagan if Sagan's later, more Christian-tolerant self was writing his earlier pro-science work. Wilczek is wholly superior to Neil Tyson the Gaseous in any of that one's output in the past and, I expect, in his future.

A lot of Wilczek's stuff, I already knew; but I did perk up at a few points. Like: I appreciated the explanation of diffraction, how it got us maps of molecular structure, beyond the classical lenses. Also it was interesting that Newton didn't like his own theory of gravity on account it magically happened across vast distances without any medium of interaction of which Newton was aware. (I'd have added that the Three Body Problem stymied the great man too, such that it inspired Lagrange and, ultimately, the Chaos Theory.)

We also learn of quasi-particles, the holes in a crystal lattice which - as far as the chemist is concerned - act like real particles [UPDATE 10/28/23: excitons, I think]. So... like the missing electron in an ion, allowing its proton's positive charge through? This seems to be Wilczek's main deal. I mean, why not; the Standard Model had pretty-much solved mainline particle physics by the 1970s. The gaps where a particle should exist aren't as famed outside Wilczek's lab, but they have real uses, in semiconductors especially. So I'm glad someone's on it.

Where the book is covering stuff I don't know, I am - obviously - still not an expert, so don't take this poast's word for any of its content. Overall I'm enjoying the book (my dad enjoyed it) and I'm noting markers for followup reading.