Doing Physics: How Physicists Take Hold of the World

Physicist Krieger ( Advice and Planning ) calls his unusual book ``an ethnographic or cultural report on the technical practices of a subculture.'' Brief but dense, this attempt to explain to the layperson how physicists approach the world arose from a course Krieger taught for nonscientists. His warning that some of the material is ``hard going'' is an understatement. The author first details the ``division of labor'' within nature, arguing that nature is like a factory; he then goes on to explore the analytic units of physics; systems within physics; strategies of looking at problems; and the ``craft'' of science. He produces some interesting and accessible analogies, comparing kinship systems, chemistry, market economies and physics--all involve ``fair exchange''--and showing how a telephone switching system is a model of the complex system that physicists study. However, the discussion is often abstract and hampered by baffling graphs and equations. Krieger has gone only part of the way toward bringing this complex subculture to light. (June)