There is much to be commended in this likeable history of an idiosyncratic recent period in science, but despite David Kaiser's engaging approach, the material feels thinly stretched and some of his assertions don't hold up to scrutiny.
For a start, the physics of the title doesn't refer to all of physics, but rather a small subset, quantum theory. The hippies were a loosely connected gang of misfit PhDs, based in California in the mid-1970s, who were fuelled by their disillusion with the formulaic and prescribed nature of their studies. They went by the name of the Fundamental Fysiks Group.
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