What is the nature of identity? What does it mean to be an individual? What differentiates one thing from the next? The danger in tackling interesting but difficult questions like these is becoming bogged down in philosophical jargon, in moving so far from language and concepts that we can all grasp that you end up talking to a handful of other experts and losing touch with the rest of us. The alternative is to simplify, to patronise, to smooth out the 'difficult' material so that what remains lacks any depth or any power to challenge the reader.
Peter Pesic's book manages to avoid these trap completely, and as a result it's a sheer pleasure to read.
In looking at the question of identity - a central component of what it is to be human - he begins by looking at Greek mythology, phrasing the question in terms that are interesting and directly accessible. From there he looks variously at different philosophers and scientists, drawing from literature, philosophy and science. The question expands and yet becomes more precise as he examines different theories of identity, looking at, for example, the implications of Newtonian physics or Einstein's relativity. Although physics is central to this discussion, Pesic does not assume that the reader is an expert and introduces his material in a manner guaranteed not to alarm the science-shy.
Towards the end of the book he moves the discussion into the quantum realm. He introduces the idea of identicality, suggesting that at the heart of the strangeness of the quantum realm is the idea that sub-atomic particles have no individual identity. We cannot tell one electron from another. This sounds simple enough, but the implications are that we cannot follow the path an electron takes as we cannot tell, from one moment to the next, which electron we are looking at. It's an interesting idea, and one that I've never seen expressed in any physics book (but then again I'm not a physicist). This is possibly the most challenging section of the book, but it's the most radical and again, Pesic takes care to pitch the argument at the right level.
At the end of the day this is a challenging, interesting read. I only wish that more books tackled difficult material in the same way. Highly recommended.Hit the 'back' key in your browser to return to subject index page