Un-book review

I like to review books I've read. And I haven't done that for a while. So I'd like to review the book which is to blame. The Road to Reality: A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe by Roger Penrose.

Now, if you're like me, you're thinking that there's no conceivable way to write such a book, because anything that could possibly be considered a "complete guide to the laws of the universe" would have to be about 1,000 pages long. As it turns out, it's 1,136. Yes, one thousand one hundred thirty-six pages. And it's not light reading. So after about 200 pages, I had to give up, because it's boring. Nerd books that I like to read have a few inherent problems.

First, they all feel the need to start with a discussion of math, and to go back to the beginning of math. As a result, I've got at least half a dozen books that all start with the very same first two chapters. One is on Pythagoras and mathematical proof, the other is on Euclid.
The next chapter then catches us up on other important mathematicians, such as Euler (rhymes with 'boiler') and Gauss and Godel.

The second problem the nerd books have relates to the level of information. In physics, there are 4 levels of mastery of material, which directly correspond to physics course work. First, you read about it or hear about it. You've read it, so you feel like you know it. But you don't. Second, you work the problems. Certainly you know it now, because you've done the math! These two levels are reached by introductory classes, which could be taken in high school, or early on in college. But it turns out that you never really understand it just because you did the math. You don't really understand it until you derive it. Some of those derivations happen in the advanced undergraduate courses, while others wait for graduate school. Once you can derive something for yourself, you really feel like you've mastered it. But you haven't. Each of these three levels can be moved up one notch by the last step, which is teaching the previous step. Then you've really learned it. Teaching people to work the problems puts you on the same level (roughly) as doing the derivations. And teaching the derivations is something that is generally left to graduate students and then professors.

Anyway, back the to book. The problem with nerd books is that they're usually stuck at level 1: talking about it. Because no one wants to do homework for a book they're reading in their spare time. Except Roger Penrose doesn't know that. So he has homework problems in his book. So to really get everything out of his book, you'd have to read it at the kitchen table with pencil and paper in hand. And it turns out, I don't want to. I want to read a book at 11pm as I'm laying in bed.

So once I'd reached chapters about 'hypercomplex numbers' and 'calculus on manifolds' I knew I was done. Penrose is just going too deep for what I want, particularly considering he's still got 800 pages of stuff building on the hypercomplex numbers and the calculus on manifolds.