The Atom and the Apple: Twelve Tales from Contemporary Physics Book

In the very last paragraph of this work, Balibar writes:

If you think that science is incomprehensible, especially contemporary science' and especially physics; if you're afraid of looking ridiculous if you don't understand; if you still feel the sting from a dogmatic teacher and the way he graded you; if you think that things are either true or false'and are so now and forever; if you don't dare to ask naïve questions; if you are a victim of the intellectual terrorism called "scientism", I've written this book for you and have tried to bring you to the frontiers of science, with a few anecdotes align the way, in the hopes that you might understand why scientific research is my passion'and perhaps even share it.

This is a perfect introduction to this charming and accessible work. Balibar uses personal stories to introduce and discuss aspects of the physical world in a dozen chapters. He thus manages to bring such lofty subjects as chaos theory, cosmology, climatology, etc. down to a layman's perspective. By transferring his own sense of awe and curiosity to the reader Balibar shows us how the science of physics can open up a rich and wonderful world which can absorb one completely for the rest of one's life. His approach effortlessly shows how such a pursuit of knowledge and understanding is not only the adventure of a lifetime, thoroughly satisfying in its achievements and in its enduring mysteries.

As if that is not enough, Balibar also has pertinent questions to ask of popularisers of science, especially those who are more concerned with what today we would call 'sound bites', since they can and too often do result in the ordinary layman being misguided in their understanding of what science is about. These could also result in a kind of politicising of science, and the threat that provides regarding funding and research, and introducing as it does a corrupting influence into the discipline. Worse, when such approaches are taken up by non-scientists, pseudo-science and gibberish is the result. As Balibar says: … I'm disturbed when non-scientists pretend to master esoteric vocabulary and dress up their talks with scientific adornments in order to seem wise; they contribute to the image of science I'm trying to resist. Instead of stimulating people to engage in independent thought, instead of developing their audience's sense of critical awareness, they foist their claims upon them, they indoctrinate, they abuse their power through the use of jargon. That's exactly the opposite of what I try to do.'

This applies not only to scientific literature, but also to literature in general. The current darling of a certain type of French intellectual literary circle, the highly successful writer Michel Houellebecq, comes in for a particularly extensive serve. Writers such as this appear to deliberately create the illusion of profundity by using 'scientific' terminology when in fact they are writing gibberish, and are ultimately incomprehensible. A reader needs to know and be more cognisant of what true science is about so that pseudoscientific gobbledegook can be seen to be what it is, in order to circumvent and neutralise its 'popular' poison and prevent its spreading.