''The Dancing Wu Li Masters'' is a 1979 book by Gary Zukav, a

popular science Popular science (also called pop-science or popsci) is an interpretation of science intended for a general audience. While science journalism focuses on recent scientific developments, popular science is more broad ranging. It may be written ...

work exploring modern physics, and quantum phenomena in particular. It was awarded a 1980 U.S.

National Book Award The National Book Awards (NBA) are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. ...

in category of Science."National Book Awards – 1980"

National Book Foundation The National Book Foundation (NBF) is an American nonprofit organization established with the goal "to raise the cultural appreciation of great writing in America." Established in 1989 by National Book Awards, Inc.,Edwin McDowell. "Book Notes: ...

. Retrieved 2012-03-07. This was the award for paperback Science.
From 1980 to 1983 in National Book Award history there were dual awards for hardcover and paperback books in many categories, including several nonfiction subcategories. Most paperback award-winners were reprints of earlier works; this one was eligible for both awards as a new book. Although it explores empirical topics in modern physics research, ''The Dancing Wu Li Masters'' gained attention for leveraging metaphors taken from eastern spiritual movements, in particular the Huayen school of Buddhism with the monk Fazang's treatise on the Golden Lion, to explain quantum phenomena and has been regarded by some reviewers as a

New Age New Age is a range of Spirituality, spiritual or Religion, religious practices and beliefs that rapidly grew in Western world, Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclecticism, eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise d ...

work, although the book is mostly concerned with the work of pioneers in western physics down through the ages. The toneless

pinyin Hanyu Pinyin, or simply pinyin, officially the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet, is the most common romanization system for Standard Chinese. ''Hanyu'' () literally means 'Han Chinese, Han language'—that is, the Chinese language—while ''pinyin' ...

phrase ''Wu Li'' in the title is most accurately rendered in

Chinese characters Chinese characters are logographs used Written Chinese, to write the Chinese languages and others from regions historically influenced by Chinese culture. Of the four independently invented writing systems accepted by scholars, they represe ...

, one Chinese translation of the word "physics" (wù lǐ 物理) in the light of the book's subject matter. This becomes somewhat of a pun as there are many other Chinese characters that could be rendered as "wu li" in atonal

, and chapters of the book are each titled with alternative translations of ''Wu Li'', such as "Nonsense" (wú lǐ 無理), "My Way" and "I Clutch My Ideas". Zukav participated as a journalist in a 1976 physics conference of eastern and western scientists at Esalen Institute,

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

; and he used the occasion as material for his book. At the conference, it was said that the Chinese term for physics is 'Wu Li', or "patterns of organic energy." Zukav, among others, conceptualized 'physics' as the dance of the Wu Li Masters – teachers of physical essence. Zukav explains the concept further: :''The Wu Li Master dances with his student. The Wu Li Master does not teach, but the student learns. The Wu Li Master always begins at the center, the heart of the matter...''

Editions

*''The Dancing Wu Li Masters: An Overview of the New Physics'' (1979). New York: William Morrow and Company, hardcover: , paperback: , 352 p. **(1984) Bantam mass market paperback: , 337 p. **(1990) Audio Renaissance audiocassette: (abridged) **(2001) Harper Perennial paperback: , 416 p. **(2001) Audio Renaissance CD: (abridged)

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dancing Wu Li Masters, The 1979 non-fiction books National Book Award–winning works New Age books Quantum mysticism Taoism in popular culture Physics books Books about the history of physics

Editions

See also

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References