Name: Disturbing the universe
ISBN: 9780465016778

Disturbing the universe

Spanning the years from World War II, when he was a civilian statistician in the operations research section of the Royal Air Force Bomber Command, through his studies with Hans Bethe at Cornell University, his early friendship with Richard Feynman, and his postgraduate work with J. Robert Oppenheimer, Freeman Dyson has composed an autobiography unlike any other. Dyson evocatively conveys the thrill of a deep engagement with the world-be it as scientist, citizen, student, or parent. Detailing a unique career not limited to his groundbreaking work in physics, Dyson discusses his interest in minimizing loss of life in war, in disarmament, and even in thought experiments on the expansion of our frontiers into the galaxies.

What Hacker News says

Jun8Oct 2022

Recently I randomly came across the book Dear Prof Dyson (https://www.amazon.com/Dear-Professor-Dyson-Correspondence-U...) in Half Price Books. I had loved Dyson’s literary-scientific style from Disturbing the Universe so bought this one, too. His patience in answering letters from undergrads on topics ranging from physics to philosophy is amazing, what a learned man! It seems like having a literary bent was more common among scientists in older times compared to now.

On a different note, the bombing event at UCSB mentioned at the event was very interesting, never heard of it before, here’s more information in case you want to dig in: https://livinghistory.as.ucsb.edu/2019/12/04/faculty-club-bo...

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RadimJan 2021

You forgot the father of scientist-nutcase-weirdos, Isaac Newton himself!

Perhaps there's a different lesson here: at some level of intelligence, you pierce through the patterns of stability your fellow men had weaved for their survival and sanity (and yours). And then anything goes.

Maybe you also realize the "should of giants" are really the shoulders of men? Capricious and agenda-driven and haphazard, if you care to zoom in with enough resolution.

For Christmas I got Freeman Dyson's "Disturbing the Universe". I never realized how poetic the man was. I always admired Dyson for his courage to speak out and his scientific insight, but he makes beautiful connections between poetry and science, Faust and Newton, creativity and sanity, integrity and death (he served in WW2 and died last year). A chillingly honest and humane read.

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ctchoculaOct 2020

Bach is definitely unfashionable. Compared to Bach written for other instruments (Chaconne for violin or Cello Suites for cello), his solo keyboard works---Two- and Three-part Inventions or his WTC fugues---have a reputation for being polyphonal rather than emotionally moving, because piano is uniquely positioned as the instrument that allows an individual performer to exhibit counterpoint. Compared to other composers such as Chopin or Debussy, the difference in emotional response is stark.

Unless they are trained in music, the average listener has listened to monophonic music their entire life and isn't capable of appreciating the nuances of polyphonic music, so it takes a talented pianist to make Bach's music leave an impression on the listener. Absent the appeal to emotion, one must appeal to the listener at an intellectual level. I've heard the Two- and Three-Part Inventions referred to as music that would appeal to a music professor, which is not exactly drawing room fare. These two factors: (1) monophonic style used in pop music, and (2) Bach's solo keyboard works being predominantly contrapuntal rather than emotionally moving compared to his other solo instrumental work might give Bach for solo keyboard (amongst casual music audiences) a reputation for being "boring" and "unfashionable" (which I think is completely undeserved).

Exceptions of course exist such as WTC preludes, which might appeal more to an untrained listener.

For example, Prelude 8 from Book 1 WTC (one of my favourites): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFTvjRpaU38

Funny anecdote: Freeman Dyson wrote an excellent essay about Edward Teller, father of the H-bomb, playing this piece. It's included in his collection of essays, Disturbing the Universe, which I'd highly recommend.

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abecedariusMar 2019

Freeman Dyson is excellent. I'd say my favorite of his is Disturbing the Universe, technically a memoir but not so different from his essay collections.

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jamesashFeb 2019

For a different source, Freeman Dyson's biography, Disturbing the Universe, is extraordinarily worthwhile. He has crazy Feynman stories too, and Dyson is a very sober witness to the bongo-drum-playing, picking-up-hitchhikers, getting-pulled- over-for-speeding Feynman that comes across in the books.

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abecedariusJul 2018

My fave is his memoir Disturbing the Universe. HN types would probably especially like the chapters on 'startups' he worked on: the TRIGA nuclear reactor and the Orion nuclear rocket.

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