Lake Views: This World and the Universe

Weinberg, a co-recipient of the 1979 Nobel Prize for physics, is well known for his articulate essays on many subjects. In this collection, he aims his laser gaze primarily on three areas: science, Israel and religion. Weinberg has been on the realist side of the science wars (asserting that science explains, rather than merely describes, the world), and he revisits that battlefield here. He also ventures into science and politics, expressing skepticism about the need for a missile defense system. Elsewhere he argues against manned exploration of space, saying that probes and robots will always be faster, better, cheaper and certainly safer. Weinberg, long known for his support of Israel, comes out with guns blazing against British academics who organized a short-term boycott of Israeli academic institutions. In the last essay, “Without God,” Weinberg expresses his atheism without the shrillness of a Dawkins or a Hitchens. These essays started out as dinner speeches, book reviews (some from the New York Review of Books ) and other occasional pieces that feel slight (such as a pep talk to postdocs). Nevertheless, Weinberg fans will find nuggets of insight and wisdom. (Jan.)