The Dialogues: Conversations about the Nature of the Universe

A series of conversations about science in graphic form on subjects that range from the science of cooking to the multiverse. Physicist Clifford Johnson thinks that we should have more conversations about science. Science should be on our daily conversation menu along with topics like politics books sports or the latest prestige cable drama. Conversations about science he tells us shouldnt be left to the experts. In The Dialogues Johnson invites us to eavesdrop on a series of nine conversations in graphic-novel formwritten and drawn by Johnsonabout the nature of the universe. The conversations take place all over the world in museums on trains in restaurants in what may or may not be Freuds favorite coffeehouse. The conversationalists are men women children experts and amateur science buffs. The topics of their conversations range from the science of cooking to the multiverse and string theory. The graphic form is especially suited for physics; one drawing can show what it would take many words to explain. In the first conversation a couple meets at a costume party; they speculate about a scientist with superhero powers who doesnt use them to fight crime but to do more science and they discuss what it means to have a beautiful equation in science. Their conversation spills into another chapter (Hold on you havent told me about light yet) and in a third chapter they exchange phone numbers. Another couple meets on a train and discusses immortality time black holes and religion. A brother and sister experiment with a grain of rice. Two women sit in a sunny courtyard and discuss the multiverse quantum gravity and the anthropic principle. After reading these conversations we are ready to start our own.