The Tao of Physics (Flamingo)

If you are painfully familiar with classic Western thought, with its fixed rules based upon "known" facts and repetitious cycle of discoveries that disprove those same facts, treat yourself to this non-jargon based exploration of Eastern thought. 2500 years ago Buddhist, Taoist and Hindu thinkers intuited a unitary concept of the universe that comports very well with today's scientific observations at the sub-atomic level. Through observation and meditation, they did what Einstein could not do, developed a theory of how the universe works for galactic and sub-atomic sized events and objects. In the process, they suggested that everyone and everything in the universe may simultaneously both contain and compose every other aspect of that universe.

This book is blowing my mind. The author weaves together Eastern philosophy and physics in a way that engages the reader...fascinating.

I am physics undergrad and had been intrigued and confused with the realities of quantum mechanics. Probabilities weren't enough for me, I thought there must be something else that determines observational outcomes. The thought had crossed my mind but reading this book confirmed it for me. The universe is conscious, human consciousness is a quantum phenomenon. As a race we have enormous power and responsibility over our world. Reading this book provided me with a new way of looking at physics and science in general, and an optimistic expectation for the future of our race that we can leave behind our outdated and unhealthy ideals.

An on-line friend, whose opinion I trust, suggested this book to me. I have thanked him more than once. This book is incredible. I learned so much reading it! I am suggesting it to all my friends, and some people I barely know.It's very well written and, I believe, understandable to people who are unfamiliar with physics. It's a book I will certainly be keeping -- and not loaning out!

Makes as many interesting insightful observations as speculative assertions.

Capra's exploration of the parallels between modern physics and eastern mysticism is a book I should have read years ago. I am familiar with the religions he calls "Eastern mysticism" but modern physics not so much. I try to keep up with developments in science but found his presentation of modern physics tough going though I was familiar with its general outlines. Of course, there have been a lot of developments since this book was published in 1975. But Capra's statement “Modern physics has confirmed most dramatically one of the basic ideas of Eastern mysticism; that all the concepts we use to describe nature are limited, that they are not features of reality, as we tend to believe, but creations of the mind" will certainly stand the test of time. I highly recommend this book and plan to read some of his other books.

This is a favorite book I lost. So happy I got it back. This book is easy to read and will open your mind.

Exactly as described. Fast shopping. Very pleased.

Absolutely life changing read. I personally am an atheist, but Capra does such a good job of articulating that what physics tells us now is what ancient Eastern mystics were writing thousands of years ago. One of the main themes throughout the book is how subatomic physics shows us that at that level, all things are interconnected and exist as mathematical possibilities. So even though we appear to exist separately on earth, we are not separate at all. I have no knowledge of physics so I found it hard to keep up at times but it was worth it. I honestly found it to be a comforting read and it has changed my willingness to be open to spirituality.

Tao of physicsI read the 1976 version with an addition suggesting a new set of paradigms.I found the parts outlining the thought forms of physics convincing ,especially:- the idea of the observer and the observed being one process;the idea that something can be characterized in more than one way seemingly contradictorily yet very effectively/the ideas of 'polarity in that opposites can exist within each other;the idea that truth is not an edifice but a organism in process of evolution ;the idea of a cosmic flux of phenomena in which 'centres' or 'things'' are part of a flow and only temporarily static;the idea of a ''field'' of phenomena rather than 'bits'of force flowing like a stream constituting akind of ''dance'';,and many others en route.The descriptions of ancient Hindu ,buddhist and chinese philosophy and their mystical staes of ''oneness'' etc were necessarlily abbreviated and a bit slender but convincing enough for one to see that in some way or other the ancient thoughts have reappeared in physics in its two main theories and riddles.There was a lot of credit given to Heisenberg and the copenhagen interpretation.However a glaring omission is the work of David Bohm especially ''wholeness and the Implicate order. Also his discussions on the operation of the brain with krishnamuurti and brain scientists.Surely this was worth considering.?It seems to me clear that when we as ordinary people interact psychologically ,and we always do... the basic physical fact of being separate people does not really apply with the newtonian sense of being separate lumps of flesh .Rather we observe each other like two boats on a river drifting past each other ;ie psychological observation obeys relativity.What we see and how long it lasts and how much weight we give our perception depends on our velocities and directions psychologically.If I am speeding towards being prime minister (god forbid) you will appear to me relative to that aim and the speed I am going towards it..Ditto if I as observer have prejudices against you then what you say will seem to me different than it does to you.if i am looking only to see if you want to to be PM too then I am only asking one thing from my perception and see nothing else.I obey quantum theory in the sense of there is no such thing as ''objectively 'what you said but only different perceptions of it..This might have been explored.In physics itself physicists ask questions.It seems to me that in all the structures they ''describe'' they are actually describing their own mental operations and not things in themselves.Yet I am not sure anyone really believes this ?But so it is.This leads to perhaps something missing.The ancient mystics describe something as reality which Evolution may just perhaps have given us for free.?What they describe DOES have correlates in the West ,partly in the mysticism of Plotinus or Cratylus Plato and evn in Aristotle ...a doctrine of THE IDEA or logos ...as described also as late as kepler....but alsoin the contradictions and ''koans''involved in german Idealism.There is so much seemingly oriental thought in Hegel or Fichte for esample.Being is Nothing etc etcThen the german romantics ,seeking the invisible Feminine in the purseit of science.Yin in Yang etcLet's remember that Heisenberg played beethoven excellently and his brother follwed Rudolf Steiner...that Schroedinger wrote ,like Goethe ,on colour and that very many of these guys knew faust by heart.In a way ''The human being''is the thing missing in the book.it tries to present HUMAN as just part of a great mystical flux which has many shapes and forms and we are just one more .but in fact we are the focus ...and maybe eastern mysticism ,much preferable to Baconian Violence needs to come to terme with its own relation to the fact that without the human being none of this would exist.We are the centre after all...the heart of things.

Very informative and it’s interesting to have quantum physics explained from a spiritual and a scientific perspective. The scientific side can get quite difficult to understand if you’re not already into physics but overall this book taught me a lot about what makes up our physical reality and how everything is connected from the very root. Would highly recommend for someone who’s trying to explore spirituality from a logical perspective.

When I was a boy, aged about 8, I used to lie awake at night worrying about how the universe could possibly have been created out of nothing. I wouldn't say Capra has made me feel alright, but I have certainly reduced my consumption of valium.To get serious I am not at all a physicist, but have a longstanding interest in mysticism. For me this book went quite a long way towards explaining modern physics. I am amazed how 'far out' it gets - Capra starts by taking us through relativity and quantum theory - explaining that electrons can be seen as particles or waves but not both, it depends how you set up the experiment. He winds up with Geoffrey Chew and Bohr suggesting that matter of any description can ultimately only be understood as to some degree a function of the mind.Along the way he drops in elegant and pithy summaries of the philosophy of Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucius and the Tao, drawing parallels between physics and the eastern view of the universe as a creation of the mind.Having said this, to my mind, untutored (completely) as it is in physics or for that matter science in general, Capra presents a lot of ideas, admittedly in coherent form, without fully explaining them. Therefore, if this book whets your appetite to understand physics properly you are maybe going to have to go somewhere else.But for its stated purpose, to express and point up links between mysticism and physics, you can't go wrong.

I am an atheist .. for I believe Life in general has No Meaning , Man is just a psychotic form of ape originating in Africa a few million years ago, there is no Meaning, Purpose, or Significance to our lives except those we Chose to give them. Cosmologically or Biologically our individual lives are less than nothing.I would love to believe in a Spiritual Dimension to Life, I guess its my yearning Emotional Intelligence.This book has planted a seed in my subconscious mind that I hope will grow into a less Rational and more Intuitive me.Even an electron in the far flung Andromeda Galaxy is somehow connected directly to me .. just one observation I learned from Mr Capra.