The Tao of Physics

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Summary: Eastern mysticism meets Western science
Review: The Tao of Physics is a fascinating exploration of the parallels between Western Science and Eastern Mysticism. The insights that Fritjof offers does help one understand the similarities among the different philosophical worldviews of the East and theWest. There are many "gaps" in Physics that cannot explain the Universe in itself. Fritjof Capra suggests an integration of the two different perspectives to get a better understanding of the universe.
This book is very easy to read. This book is a very good starting point if you wish to find the parallels by yourself. I highly recommend this book to everyone.

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Summary: Tough Read
Review: This is a good comparison of the "new physics" and Eastern mysticism, however some of the chapters are hard to read and understand.

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Summary: A classic that stand the test of time
Review: What a wonderful book full of wonderful ideas! When it comes down to it, "truth" is what resonates in our hearts, whether it is an object that you believe you are seeing or something you feel inside. Many of the things explained in the tremendously insightful book resonates in our hearts. That is why people keep buying it after almost 30 years of publication. I enjoyed joining the author in his exploration and will continue to do so on my own. I recently found another fascinating book that puts eastern and western thought together called "Rhythm, Relationships, and Transcendence" by Toru Sato. If you like these types of books you'll probably love this one too! Happy exploration...

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Summary: Fascinating!
Review: I thought this was a fascinating book! The author allows us to see the parallels between eastern philosophy and quantum mechanics with ease even though they are slightly vague at times and perhaps necessarily so. It helped me take another step toward understanding our own nature. If you'd like something like this that relates more directly to your personal life I'd also recommend Rhythm, Relationships, and Transcendence by Toru Sato. It's also a fascinating book!

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Summary: A Classic of Deep Thought, but Not Quite Convincing
Review: In this book Fritjof Capra dwells on the parallels between modern physics and traditional Eastern thought. In classical physics and in most Western thought, the tendency is to break down the universe into smaller and smaller objects and systems that are supposedly self-contained and only interact in a linear cause-and-effect pattern. These views started to break down with Einstein's relativity, which shows the duality (or inseparability) of space and time, and even more so with quantum mechanics. The key aspect of QM used here is Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle, which basically states that you can't observe a subatomic particle (or possibly any part of the universe) without interacting with it. It turns out that these new physical concepts of duality and interconnectedness, while a major shock to Western minds, are right in line with what has been thought in the East for thousands of years. In fact, many modern theoretical physicists have become interested in Eastern mysticism to help interpret their seemingly strange findings.

With that aside, this book is not quite convincing as Capra attempts to draw these parallels into an overall unified theory, and unfortunately he is quite a dry and repetitive writer. The book starts usefully with an intro to modern physics, then intros to the main schools of Eastern mysticism (Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism). Things start to break down however, in the third part of the book as Capra begins to analyze the parallels between the two worlds. Capra tends to explain the same concepts again and again is slightly different ways, in an attempt to beef up the book, only to reveal the shaky foundation on which these concepts stand. Alas, while there are certainly intriguing parallels, the grand connection fails to materialize as the book drags on. When this book first appeared in the 70's, it kicked off a new mini-revolution of deep thoughts, and Capra is surely on to something big here. Unfortunately this book doesn't quite bring home the true revolution in Western thinking. Perhaps the last 30 years of deep thoughts that this book inspired will lead to a true manifesto by Capra or one of his followers, but this book can only be seen as a good start.

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Summary: Reality Must Be Explained!
Review: The fact-of-the-matter is that conventional explainations of reality do not suffice to incorporate all of the phenomenon, or any of them really, if one takes consciousness as a starting point. The Tao of Physics does not explain reality either, as reality can only be lived, but it does begin to provide a 'hard-core' science-based-perspective that allows for mystical and parapsychological experiences. Capra does a good job at explaining the concepts and history of quantum physics. For me personally, I can say that this book is the most important book I have ever read because it opened the door to Eastern religion and so much more. We in the West are taught the primacy of science, reason, and logic, and because of that are led to discount certain types-of-thought as mumbo-jumbo. But quantum physics is wholly logical, and wholly proven, and if fully excepted, should blow your mind.

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Summary: Parallels are not equivalents.
Review: There are many solid books on connections and continuity in history and religion and physics. However Jacob Bronowski, "The Ascent of Man", would turn me over in my grave if he found out that I was reading such books as this. There are too many quasi science quasi religion books that want to take some principle and reinterpret it to be a New age truth or prove the some old blind philosopher beat us too it for example (The Seat of the Soul.) Dr. Capra is drawing parallels in two fields and not trying to say "see I told you so". He takes the time and pages to describe the science and also does a pretty good job of distilling complex religions down to single chapters. I leave it up to Dr. Capra and you to determine if there really is any parallel. A parallel does not mean equivalents. If you are a Gary Zukav sort of person this book will not help you at all.

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Summary: The Map is not the Territory.
Review: Capra has been charmed by a metaphor. Once you clear the underbrush away, what he's saying is essentially this:

1. Many of the scientists who have delved into quantum physics since 1900 have said some things that sound similar to what many eastern mystics have said about the nature of reality.
2. Therefore, quantum physics is like eastern mysticism.

It is easy to see that the conclusion doesn't necessarily follow from the premise. What people say about reality isn't the same as reality, and it's unclear that the physicists and mystics are talking about the same thing, even if they are using similar language.

I am not saying that Capra is necessarily wrong. I just don't think we know enough to say one way or another. Capra's argument basically comes down to an argument over the meaning of words...which is pretty thin stuff to base a theory about ultimate reality on.

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Summary: Simply Interesting
Review: A short review will suffice for this book. I found it so fascinating.

Physics, Eastern Mysticism. Is there a parallel?

You'll learn about both Eastern religion and physics at the same time and the mutually reinforcing nature of the two contributes to an understanding of both.

Modern Physics really has seemed to step out into this beyond that only mysticism can seem to encompass. Has even modern math stepped out into that realm of touchable (but not graspable) mystery?

Such an intriguing read.

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Summary: Thin Ice
Review: First of all, let me say that this book was certainly an interesting read. Secondly, the level of scholarship in the book is quite impressive - it is rare to find an individual who is so conversant in the world of science as well as Eastern civilizations (I am assuming that Mr. Capra's level of scholarship in science is high, since I'm incapable of making an intelligent judgment on that).

However, there are two facts about the book that bother me. One is the premise that Hinduism, Buddhism and Taoism share some common denominator that can be quantified, and that is a premise that I am uncomfortable with. It is true, of course, that Buddhism had a strong influence on Taoism in its later period. It is true too that Hinduism and Buddhism have a generic relationship, rather similar to Judaism and Christianity, but if you then go on to compare Judaism and Christianity and you realize how far apart they are in terms of actual belief you can see how little the relationship between Hinduism and Buddhism can mean.

As far as I can see the only real premise that all three of these systems of belief inherently share is a negative one, i.e., they eschew the concept of a personal god as understood in the three monotheistic religions of the Western world. One can indeed point out a similarity between Taoism and Buddhism in their concentration on attention in the present and "going with the flow", but you can also show a very strong similarity on several points between Christianity and Mahayana Buddhism, to the extent that when the Chinese were exposed to Christianity in the 1500's and 1600's many of them thought it was a Buddhist sect. That doesn't mean that the two systems of belief are starting from the same premise.

The second thing that bothers me is the conclusion that modern science is talking about the same things that the Buddha and Laozi were. It is true that many Asian religions, perhaps particularly Buddhism, talk about "enlightenment", and the history of science provides examples of how a flash of intuitive inspiration by one genius can provide a basis for research for a generation of scientists, but aside from that I don't think that science and Eastern thought are talking about the same things at all, regardless of what superficial similarities there may be in the way they describe things. I have a hard time accepting that when the Heart Sutra says that "form is emptiness, emptiness is form" that we are talking about Einstein's theory of relativity.

I will say this: Eastern thought, perhaps especially Buddhism, may possibly provide the wherewithal for a spiritual life for the committed scientist without requiring him or her to compromise any beliefs about the nature of reality, and that is about the only conclusion that I feel comfortable drawing from this book. Aside from that I would hesitate to ascribe to anything else here. Read the book, if you will; it was a landmark in its time and it is indeed one of the better works to come out of the crosscultural experiments of the sixties and seventies. But give each system of thought its due, whether it is Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism or the Weltanschauung of modern physics.