Jay Barmann:
Good evening. And you're listening to Composed on the Tongue. My name is Jay Barmann. And tonight I am speaking with Professor Stuart Samuel [um] about The Bible According to Einstein: A Scientific Complement to the Holy Bible for the Third Millennium. Good evening, Professor Samuel.

Professor Samuel:
Oh, thank you.

Jay Barmann:
So tell me, how did this book come about? [um] It is a very unique and [um] complex text.

Professor Samuel:
Well, I [ah] saw an early version of this book. And when I saw it, I was so amazed at the amount of scientific knowledge and wealth in it. It was such an extraordinary idea that I decided that I had to get involved. And so [ah] I became one of the editors of the book.

Jay Barmann:
Tell me [ah] you know [ah] how this all came about? What was the genesis of this book?

Professor Samuel:
Well, actually I am not exactly sure because I saw it at a stage [um] where I had already seen the outline and format of the book. I think perhaps [um] I should first briefly describe what the book is. I would characterize it -- if I could in one sentence -- as science and nature in a biblical format. So it has the structure of the Holy Bible. It has an "old testament" and a "new testament." And both of those testaments are organized in short books. Each book is roughly 10 to 20 pages long and deals with a particular subject, [ah] usually a scientific subject. So for example, there is Homogenesis which deals with the emergence of man. There are Books of Physics, and so on. The old testament provides a complete history of the universe, earth and life. The new testament concerns man, his spiritual and intellectual development, his knowledge of science, and most importantly the laws of Nature.

Jay Barmann:
There is also [ah] a group of biographies of major spiritual figures as well: Buddha, Mohammed, and Jesus.

Professor Samuel:
Yes. And Moses is the fourth. That part concerns man's spiritual development. So this is done through the biographies of four of the greatest major spiritual leaders.

Jay Barmann:
Is there any connection [um] you know in the creation of this Bible According to Einstein with Einstein's own spiritual beliefs? I believe that he was described as a very faithful person despite his heavy contact with the sciences.

Professor Samuel:
Well, there is a Book of Einstein. And [ah] for the most part, it deals with his life and his theories. There are a few quotes from Einstein, although the book doesn't deal with his spiritual development because really the most important thing about Einstein was his scientific contributions. But there are a few quotes where he mentions God that are in The Bible According to Einstein. For example, at one point Einstein said, "I cannot believe that God plays dice with the Universe." And then in The Bible According to Einstein on the very next line, it is interjected "God may not but Nature does." And the idea here is that, in the world, there is uncertainty. It is provided by quantum mechanics. So [ah] in some sense dice are involved. There is uncertainty and probability. Nature does indeed play dice with the universe.

Jay Barmann:
Well, I want to devote a large portion of the program to having you read from the book and [um] just to talk about it a bit. So please take over from here. Where would you like to start?

Professor Samuel:
Well one thing I would like to emphasize is that there is solid science behind The Bible According to Einstein. Only the most highly regarded scientific sources were used in the book. And on the back cover, three Nobel laureates endorse the book. There's Glenn Seaborg who's at Berkeley, who won the Nobel prize in chemistry. And Sheldon Glashow, physics Nobel laureate, [ah] who's at Harvard. And Samuel Ting is at MIT -- he also won the Nobel prize in physics. These people would not have praised the book if it did not have a strong scientific basis. Also the president of the American Anthropological Association has endorsed the book, and physicist and best-selling author Michio Kaku says that the book is authoritative in its science. So even though the readings I am going to do today [ah] have a very literary slant to them -- and these sections do have some science in them -- the rest of the book is more scientific than what I am going to read.

[pause]

And I also would like to say something about the purpose of the book. Thousands of years ago, religions emerged as powerful influences in people's lives. And at the same time, great books, such as the Holy Bible, appeared. During the last few centuries, a new force has arisen that is shaping the way we live. It is science and the technology that it brings. As the third millennium approaches, [ah] we need a book to accompany these recent great scientific achievements, a kind of "science bible" to explain it all. And this is what The Bible According to Einstein strives to be.

Well, [um] you mentioned that I should read a section of the book.

Jay Barmann:
Yes, yes.

Professor Samuel:
I think this would illustrate some these things. So the new testament of The Bible According to Einstein begins with the evolutionary emergence of humans. I am going to read the first page and a half of that book. It [ah] exemplifies the very special language that The Bible According to Einstein is written in.

[Professor Samuel reads a part of Chapter I: Australopithecus from the Book of Homogenesis]

Jay Barmann:
OK. Again I am speaking with Professor Stuart Samuel about The Bible According to Einstein and he is doing some readings from it.

Professor Samuel:
I probably should mention what a hominid is. The word hominid means "man-like." Hominid refers to the evolutionary lineage of creatures that have human- like features including man himself. Man is the only living hominid. The first hominids were Australopithecines or African ape-men. They gave rise to Homo habilis, then Homo erectus, Home sapiens and finally modern man. A proto- hominid refers to [ah] the progenitor of the hominid, namely the ape that developed into the first hominid Australopithecus.

Now [ah] listeners probably noticed the almost poetic character of the text of The Bible According to Einstein. The language is different from all other popular science books.

First of all, it is narrative rather than expository. Five million years ago, the jungles of Africa are depicted as full of life. You have these giant elephants swinging long trunks, crocodiles are in the lookout in the swamps and so on. Then a storm sweeps over Africa. Rain pelts the jungle. When the clouds clear and the Sun appears, an almost mysterious mist is created. Out of this jungle and mist emerges an ape-woman. Her fur is [ah] warmed briefly by the Sun and then she disappears into the jungle. Later, she gives birth to a male, who has both ape and human characteristics. The same is true of his descendents and this leads to a new species, the Australopithecus.

The second point is rhythm. The Bible According to Einstein is written in rhythmic prose that approaches verse. Let me read one line

Jay Barmann:
Well, I just had one question which is [um] how was that choice made to depict science using a kind of rhythmic verse or actually a language that approaches that of the Bible?

Professor Samuel:
This was decided because it gives The Bible According to Einstein a very special feeling particularly when read aloud but also when read silently. So this rhythm for example -- I can read one line and exaggerate it. And you can really hear the rhythm if I do this:

"And rain streamed down in lines from clouds above and pelted trees and earth below." [Professor Samuel reads slowly with emphasis]

You have this iambic meter. In addition to rhythm, there is an occasionally rhyme, some internal rhyming and near rhymes. For example, listen to this sentence: "And screeching monkeys jumped chaotically in trees, while lonely lions roamed the wild."

So you have "monkeys" and "trees" rhyming and the near rhymes of "while" with "wild." See here:

[Professor Samuel pauses and rereads the line slowly emphasizing the rhymes]

Then, there are other poetic effects such as alliteration. You heard the phrase "tall grasses grew wherever grass could grow." You can hear the "g" sound there.

The Bible According to Einstein also uses metaphors: "And the movement of the mist did seem to have a purpose, as if someone with a finger stirred it."  

This mist is quite interesting by the way. It appears elsewhere in the book; for example, in the Book of Biogenesis. That book narrates the emergence of the first microscopic life forms that appeared on Earth 3 billion years ago. The mist is [ah] perhaps a literary device to create atmosphere; but perhaps it has a symbolic element to it. I'm really not sure. But The Bible According to Einstein definitely has some symbolism in it. It is the only popular science book I know [ah] that employs such literary devices.

But I think the key thing here is the following. At the same time as enjoying the text, one is actually learning science. In the Book of Homogenesis, one is witnessing the evolutionary development of the hominid that will lead to the emergence of modern man.

Jay Barmann:
Well, let's move on to a different section of the book. You said you were going to talk about the Books of the Solar System. I do not know whether you want to go to that next.

Professor Samuel:
Sure. [um] I liked to mention that there are going to be some book presentations in the Columbia University area.

Jay Barmann:
OK.

Professor Samuel:
In particular, there is going to be a poetry reading at Barnard College on Tuesday, April 14 at 8 pm. The title is "Cosmic Poems." It's going to be in the Ella Weed Room of Milbank, which is on the second floor of Milbank at Barnard College. And it will be a reading of selected poems from The Bible According to Einstein. Then the very next day on Wednesday, April 15 at 7 pm in John Jay Lounge of Columbia University, there's going to be a book presentation entitled "Predictions for the Next 100 Billion Years." The Bible According to Einstein has a Book of Prophets. And in that Book of Prophets, predictions are made for the next 100 years, then the next 1,000 years, 10,000 and so forth, all the way out to 100 billion years. So this may be your only chance to discover out what the vast future has in store.

[ah] So. [ah] Yes. Let's go on to one of the least scientific parts of The Bible According to Einstein. It is called the Book of Mythology. It actually serves as the introduction to a series of books called The Books of the Solar System.

[pause]

Thousands of years ago, people looked up to the heavens and saw patterns among the stars. And they assigned these patterns names [ah] thereby creating the constellations. They also observed planets and gave the planets names after their gods. The Book of Mythology of The Bible According to Einstein modifies the attributes [um] of these gods by assigning them a scientific meaning. What I would like to do here is to first read this Book of Mythology and then point out how the mythology has been modified.

[Professor Samuel reads the Book of Mythology]

Actually, [ah] there are scientific things mentioned here. And they are defined elsewhere in the book and described very much in detail. But I'd like to explain how the mythology has been changed.

In traditional Roman mythology: Mercury was the messenger of the other gods and the god of commerce. In The Bible According to Einstein, he becomes the god of transportation and makes sure that heavenly bodies move in conformity with Nature's laws. Venus, who was the Roman god of love, becomes in The Bible According to Einstein the goddess of attractive forces. Mars, of course, was the Roman god of war. But in The Bible According to Einstein, he is the god of violent activity, causing galaxies to collide and making stars explode in supernova.

[pause]

By the way, a supernova is a star that exhausts its nuclear fuels, first collapses and then rebounds in an explosive blast of enormous power.

Jupiter is traditionally the ruler of gods and men. He is often depicted throwing lightning bolts from Heaven. In The Bible According to Einstein, he becomes the god of electromagnetism. Electromagnetism is the unification of the electric and magnetic forces. In the nineteenth century, it was discovered that the electric force and magnetic force were closely related; in fact, manifestations of a single force, [pause] which we call electromagnetism today. [ah]

Saturn was traditionally the ancient Roman god of agriculture. Here, in The Bible According to Einstein, she is the goddess of cosmic dust. Instead of sowing fields, she sows outer space with dust and grains. Such clouds, if they contain enough material, collapse to produce stars and planets. Thus the god Saturn of The Bible According to Einstein is not a creator of crops and plants but a creator of stars and planets. Now Uranus was the Roman god of the heavens, and here Uranus plays an analogous role.

[pause]

Neptune was traditionally the Roman god of the sea. In The Bible According to Einstein, he becomes the god of cosmic seas and causes the universe to expand. By the way, [ah] I'm not sure if your listeners know what it means for the universe to expand. So perhaps I should explain it. According to Einstein's theory of gravity, space is dynamic. Space is like a piece of elastic cloth that can bend and stretch. Astronomers by making observations have discovered that space is indeed stretching, and in stretching, space is carrying the galaxies in the universe away from one another. This phenomenon [ah] is called the expansion of the universe.

[pause]

Well, let me get back to mythology. Pluto was the god of the underworld. I am not an expert on mythology but I believe he had the ability to make himself invisible by putting on a helmet, at least this seems to be implied in this section of The Bible According to Einstein. It's interesting in this regard that Pluto, being the farthest planet from the Sun, is invisible to the naked eye. In fact, [ah] even with a small telescope it is impossible to see Pluto from here on Earth. One needs [ah] quite a powerful telescope. In The Bible According to Einstein, Pluto watches over the black holes of the universe.

Well, I don't want listeners to have the misconception that The Bible According to Einstein is so literary. Most of it is scientific.

Jay Barmann:
Yeah. I wanted to ask you actually [pause] The Bible According to Einstein ends with prophetic books much like the Holy Bible. You mentioned this earlier. [um] And I wanted to ask you about this. Each chapter corresponds with the names of the prophets at the end of the Old Testament, don't they?

Professor Samuel:
Yes.

Jay Barmann:
Amos, Obadiah . . .

Professor Samuel:
Those are the minor prophets of the Holy Bible. And I am going to read those chapters on Wednesday at Columbia University.

Jay Barmann:
I wanted to ask you though [um] who for instance contributed to this section. Were there specific people?

Professor Samuel:
Actually, I don't know.

Jay Barmann:
But its fascinating because it talks about a glacial age coming about again on the earth and that this cycle will continue.

Professor Samuel:
That's correct. We're actually in the midst [ah, ah] of an ice age. And we just happen to be in a short warm period of that ice age. So the ice will return in thousands of years from now.

Jay Barmann:
I just find it fascinating that there are prophetic books in The Bible According to Einstein, and yet these prophetic books are based on actual hard scientific theories.

Professor Samuel:
Yes, they are based on science. These things WILL happen. Well. [um] I liked to end by reading one of the poems of the book.

Jay Barmann:
OK. That's a good idea.

Professor Samuel:
But before doing this [pause] [ah]. The Bible According to Einstein deals mostly with science but maybe 10% of the book is spirituality. Science is of course very different from religion. Science deals with the physical world, while religion deals with a [ah] moral and spiritual world. If, however, science is regarded as analogous or complementary to religion, what plays the role of God in science? Well, one possibility, which is mentioned in the book's Introduction, is Nature. Nature is everything there is. She is the personification of the Universe.

So [ah]. [pause] The Bible According to Einstein has a Book of Psalms. There are seven of them, one for each day. I would like to read the sixth psalm, which pays tribute to Nature. It is called Give Thanks Unto Nature.

[Professor Samuel reads the Sixth Psalm]

On the back of the cover of The Bible According to Einstein are written the first two lines of this psalm along with two other lines. I would like to end by reading them: "Give thanks unto Nature, Make known her laws among all men. So it was written. So it shall be."

Jay Barmann:
Thank you. Again, I have been speaking with Professor Stuart Samuel about The Bible According to Einstein. And I thank you for joining me.

Professor Samuel:
My pleasure.

Jay Barmann:
You've been listening to Composed on the Tongue. Please tune in next week. This is WKCR FM New York.