Under The Microscope

THE FIRE IN THE EQUATIONS, by Kitty Ferguson; Bantam, 1994; 308 pages hardback; $45.00

Irritating is the word I would use to describe this long-winded tome. It waffles on and on until you finally find yourself asking, why doesn't she just say whatever it is she's trying to say?

In a nutshell, the book asks, "Does the uncertainty factor in sub-atomic activity give validity to religious thought?" Conclusion -- "Who knows?"

Ferguson writes in a smooth, flowing style and uses simple language. Unfortunately, her sentences often juggle such complex ideas and use so many qualifiers that by the time you reach the end you've lost the thread.

On the brighter side, Ferguson has a good handle on the subject and writes with ease and authority on this bewildering field. It's also worth noting that this is not one of those "Gee Whiz" physics books that leap to comic book conclusions about the relationship between quantum physics and ESP or out-of-body expriences.

In her roundabout way, Ferguson covers a colossal amount of ground here, including virtually the entire history of physics, and puts ideas such as worm holes, singularity, chaos theory and so on, into language that even I can almost understand.

Subtitled, Science, Religion and the Search for God, about half the book is devoted to philosophical discussion on the whys and wherefores of religious truth, all of which struck me as something like a discussion on flying watermelons -- before devoting countless hours to such melons, it might pay to find one first.

Yet despite my seemingly unfavourable comment, my view of Fire In The Equations isn't altogether negative -- it's more that I just don't get what it's about. It's a good-natured book, doesn't have any ridiculous barrows to push, and is written by a woman with good credentials. All told, I would encourage people to read it; not only for their own edification, but, perchance, to write letters to the editor telling me where I went wrong in my interpretation.

Carl Wyant is an Auckland freelance writer.