The Universe Speaks in Numbers: How Modern Math Reveals Nature's Deepest Secrets

Not much technical detail; it's intended for readers with minimal knowledge of physics. But a worthwhile introduction to the longstanding debate in the physics community about the relative roles for experimental observation and "pure" mathematics.

Without using equations, except a few times mostly for aesthetic reasons, Farmelo explains how math has affected both discoveries in physics and the directions it has taken. He also shows why physicists have resisted high-level math in the past (and even sometimes now) and discusses the relation (or lack of it) between higher math in theoretical physics and actual and possible experiments. The discussion suggests both the promise and limitations of physics to explain the world. Both the non-physicist and non-mathematician can learn much from this book, even if some explanations slip over the reader's head.

Finally I got to see how all the ‘dots’ of modern developments in particle physics and string theory are connected.As a busy physicist working in other fields - I’ve lived and worked through this era - and picked-up bits and pieces of the Particles/Strings stories, but never fully appreciated the ‘big picture’ and its modern components. Now I have a much more complete appreciation of the fascinating key-steps achieved these past 50+ years.Thank you Graham Farmelo.

I will be honest. I knew nothing of Tensor theory, and I was not too firm on gauge theory. This book provides an excellent look into the theoretical mathematics that makes quantum physics a force in the universe. This book provides an excellent look at the intrinsic beauty of physics and the story of mathematics in physics as a story of a David who became a Goliath.

` Recently, several books have been published on this subject.This one stands out as one where the author is able to portray the people and events that have led to our present knowledge, and lack of knowledge, on physics. The role of mathematics in physics is carefully examined in a way that one comes to understand what Wigner called the “the unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics.” And there is also an acknowledgement of the role that experimentation has played and will play in physics. The two intertwined can give a better world.

I thought this book was going to live up to its title and show how math reveals nature. Instead it was a narrative history if the intersection of advanced math and physics. Don’t get me wrong , it’s an interesting story, but it’s a story , not a technical book. It talked about things like gauge theory, but it didn’t make an effort to explain what gauge theory is all about. Oh well.

An excellent book ! Well-written and pitched at the right level for those who know some physics but who want to know more. I rank this in the top-10 of all modern physics / cosmology books I have read in the past few years.

Farmelo talks with great competence about bigs as Witten, Dirac, Grothendik, researchers whose importance in the history of the relations between mathematics and physics is great, The style of the author is very particular, because he knows very well the value of the those researchers and he tryies to communicate this knowledge with strong empathy.

Bought this on the back of the author's biography of Paul Dirac which I really enjoyed. I was expecting something of similar quality. I didn't get it. For a book about the importance of maths to physics I found it strange that it contain next to no maths at all. Not a single mathematical equation for example. Furthermore, the whistlestop tour through 2000 years of science takes about two pages. It is all superficial and lacking any originality. It really doesn't tell you anything. Hugely disappointing.

This is a truly amazing book spanning over 2,500 years of the critical players and key moments of physical law discovery from Plato to the 21st century. The unifying insight across almost every major discovery is the “unreasonably effectiveness of mathematics in the natural world” (Eugene Wigner, 1960). After reading this book one can sense the feeling that we can now see the possibility that ‘pure mathematics and theoretical physics will, as Dirac tentatively suggested in his 1939 Scott lecture, “ultimately unify” ‘ [p237].It is difficult to imagine a more challenging task than to explain to the general public, cutting edge modern ‘pure’ mathematics living in multi-dimensional and highly abstract worlds, as well as cutting edge fundamental physics also living (interestingly) in multi-dimensional and highly abstract worlds. Yet, Farmelo has delivered on this with an unusual capability of combining beautiful prose, enlivened historical analysis together with a careful balance between the technicalities of the process of discovery and the deep underlying principles revealed by the discovery.I believe, that I am a typical reader, with a science degree (okay, only computer science!) and a genuine interest in the new world of physics which is increasingly revealing to us the hidden truth and beauty of the natural world. Based on the above, I enthusiastically recommend: if you are going to read one popular science book this year on physics or mathematics – make it this one. This book is likely to become one of the key books in the development of our understanding of the Natural World. It will change forever your outlook on these subjects in the most macro way possible and move you one giant step closer to a truly unified world.

I bought the book on the strength of the authors biography of Dirac and a review in one of the Sunday papers. I was very disappointed.I was expecting a book on physics but in fact it's a history and does not really explain things. For examplt it mentions that Maxwell was interested in topology but more or less leaves it at that.The second half of the book discusses the history of gauge theory and string theory. Lots of people are mentioned (with details of their contributions to the theories) but the theories themselves are never really discussed.It would be a good book for someone starting a graduate course in gauge theory or string theory who wanted to know who was responsible for which parts of the theory.

Fascinating study of the development of these theories. How many individuals contributed to these researches? What level of maths that most of us mere mortals have never even heard of. Wonderful. Very readable.

As neither a mathematician nor a physicist I found this book a delight and very informative. It stimulated my thinking and opened up previously unconsidered possibilities. It Is beautifully written as the subjects it addresses. The closing sentence is superb, “The universe is whispering to us, in stereo.”