How the Hippies Saved Physics

Science, Counterculture, and the Quantum Revival

By: David Kaiser

Narrated by: Sean Runnette

The surprising story of eccentric young scientists who stood up to convention—and changed the face of modern physics.

In the 1970s, amid severe cutbacks in physics funding, a small group of underemployed physicists in Berkeley decided to throw off the constraints of academia and explore the wilder side of science. Dubbing themselves the “Fundamental Fysiks Group,” they pursued a freewheeling, speculative approach to physics. Some dabbled with LSD while conducting experiments. They studied quantum theory alongside Eastern mysticism and psychic mind reading, discussing the latest developments while lounging in hot tubs. Unlikely as it may seem, this quirky band of misfits altered the course of modern physics, forcing mainstream physicists to pay attention to the strange but exciting underpinnings of quantum theory. Their work on Bell’s theorem and quantum entanglement helped pave the way for today’s advances in quantum information science.

A lively and entertaining Cinderella story, How the Hippies Saved Physics takes us to a time when only the unlikeliest heroes could break the science world out of its rut.

©2011 David Kaiser (P)2011 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“How the Hippies Saved Physics takes readers on a mind-bending trip to the far horizons of science—a place where the counterculture’s search for a New Age of consciousness opened the door to a new era in physics. Who knew that the discipline that brought us the atom bomb had also glimpsed Utopia? Amazing.” (Fred Turner, author of From Counterculture to Cyberculture)

For the title

or shall we say "How Physics Saved Hippies" ?
nice listening and review of weirdness of quantum physics

Quantum entanglement meets LSD

Fascinating history of 1960s to 1980s physics, where counterculture meets theory. Well written by physicist and social scientist. Performance is weakest part. Narrator does not know his physics well enough to get the cadence right, and sometimes mis pronounces important terms. Still worth a read or a listen.

Finally, I understand entanglement

Tells a great story about entanglement or as Einstein would say "spooky action at a distance". The people involved in proving Bells theorem and its significance are discussed at length. "The Dance of the Photon" tells a better story about the science of entanglement while this book tells a better story about the people involved and the significance of the science.

I can’t stand his voice

I feel like I’m in a 1970s lecture hall. No intonation. Not even a feigning of interest. Just a professor droning on endlessly, uncaring about the level of interest of his audience.

I’ll buy the book, because it seems interesting, but the narrator makes me fall asleep.

Where's the physics?

Well narrated, and a somewhat interesting story that should have been told in a third of the time. It could have been titled "what little good came from crackpot science"

The main emphasis was on the crackpot science, not the little good that came indirectly from it.

A tad disappointing for my taste.

Fascinating and fun

So glad this story is being told. It engages so many important questions about academics, the evolution of knowledge, search for truth, culture and creativity within scientific pursuits. I have no background in physics but found the debates engaging and the story exceptionally well told!

All physicists should take LSD & cut to the chase.

An interesting enough story about brilliant minds, some of which were opened to inner dimensions by psychedelics, others of which were influenced by their proximity, and some which were simply a product of their time and space. Like the similarly themed "A Quantum Story", it traces the intellectual path from linear (and arbitrarily constructed) Newtonian physics and its pompous 19th century presumption to know and explain everything to the 20th century realization we don't know much about anything and probably never will. (How big is infinity anyway?) It also reveals the practical application of sciences both in its references to Cold War weapons development and, more interestingly to me, the discovery of quantum encryption which makes it possible for us to buy things and bank online reasonably safely. My only gripe is that I'm not a physicist and, as with "A Quantum Story", I could have done without the tedious blackboard formula reading. This much shorter version of the story is a better choice for the layman, and even then you had better be really interested.

fills in blanks that point to the future

If you could sum up How the Hippies Saved Physics in three words, what would they be?

necessary

What other book might you compare How the Hippies Saved Physics to and why?

decoding the universe

What does Sean Runnette bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

he takes you for a pleasant ride

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

yes

Any additional comments?

it tells a story, that had to be told.

Important story for us old hippies

I did like finding out what was going on during those years. Especially interesting, is his description of the personalities of the movers and shakers.

Interesting if you can look thru idolization

The material is interesting, but the author’s idolizing writing style often becomes stifling and moves away from objective reporting. The members of the Fundamental Physics Group are presented like supernatural Davids against the conservative mainstream science Goliaths, which devoid them of humanity.