Book Review 2023.07: Life is Simple, How Occam’s Razor Set Science Free and Unlocked the Universe-Johnjoe McFadden, 341 pages, Paperback, 2021
Simplicity as a core value of CimplyFive, the company that I co-founded ten years ago, probably influenced me to pick up this book titled “Life is Simple”, a book that looks at the history of scientific discoveries through the lens of Occam’s Razor, that uses simplicity as a lens to view and validate a concept best described in one sentence “it is futile to do with more what can be done with less”.
Organized in four parts, the author starts with astronomy, before moving on to classical physics, then to biology and finally to quantum physics. Tracing key scientific discoveries in the four fields from the 14th century to the 20th century, this book highlights how Occam’s Razor of simple explanations forms the basis of the scientific revolution that propelled Europe to its material prosperity and the global centre stage.
The first part of the book is a bit slow and taxing to read as it weaves through attempts by medieval scholars to break the theological strangle hold of the Church in permitting free thinking to move away from the creationist theory with earth at the center of universe which is advocated in the Bible to a more rationale concept of evolution and our current understanding of the solar system. Using William of Occam, the 14th century Franciscan monk as the anchor, it paints a vivid picture of the extreme hardship the scholars had to face in their search for truth.
Once the concept of simplicity as the viewing lens for scientific thinking is established in the first part, the book races through key discoveries in physics, biology, and quantum physics that is key to the current developments in space exploration and the world as we see it today. The context in which these discoveries are made and the questions that the scientists sought to answer helped me understand many basic concepts that I had trouble wrapping my head around.
This book is for all those curious minds who want to understand a little bit more of science, especially like me, if they have not studied science as part of their formal education. Even for those who have studied science this book, by providing the context for key discoveries and the sequence of discoveries, makes it a compelling and gripping tale of scientific discoveries.
Happy reading as we seek to understand the world around us better.
