REVIEWS OF DR. ASPDEN'S BOOKS
In view of the controversial nature of the what is presented in these Web pages and the fact that there seems some reluctance by physicists of the orthodox establishment to pay any attention to what is here disclosed, it seems appropriate to present a few excerpts from the reviews of my books by those who can be deemed to be fair judges. It is pointed out that the books were published privately with no commercial agents to solicit reviews. Just a few copies were sent to review editors for consideration.
PHYSICS WITHOUT EINSTEIN
This was a quite provocative title. The book was published in 1969 without being offered to regular publishers. The subject matter is indeed controversial. Its aim was to show how much further physics could advance by by-passing Einstein's theory. Of course, to many lay readers Einstein is synonymous with E=Mc2 and no one in his right mind can challenge the truths of that relationship. What the lay physicist does not realize is that the equivalence of mass and energy was part of the physics scene before Einstein got into the act. My book did not ignore this and paid attention to the realities of the physics world that had led to that conclusion. It all goes back to the efforts of J J Thomson, the man who discovered the electron, and his explanation of how the mass of the electron increased with speed, becoming infinite at the speed of light. Another Cambridge scientist, J H Jeans, made a further contribution by his article in Nature (June 2, 1904) at p. 101 where, under the title 'A Suggested Explanation of Radio-Activity', he attributed radio-activity to the neutral annihilation of negative and positive charge which he argues is a 'rearrangement of the adjacent ether structure'. He then argued that there could be mutual annihilation of positive and negative charge resulting in "conservation neither of mass nor of material energy; the process of radioactivity would consist in an increase of the material energy at the expense of the destruction of a certain amount of matter."
So you see, I was merely, in my book, developing physics as it should have developed from the work of J J Thomson and J H Jeans, relying on aether theory to take us forward, whereas Einstein sought to ignore the aether by pretending that physics could be explained away in terms of illusory mathematical notions. Einstein developed a mathematical scheme moulded to fit what he imagined was a valid physical interpretation of experimental observation, but the experiments could be explained in other ways and with better prospect on onward advance. That was what my book was about. I did not want to say that Einstein was wrong, just that we could do better without following in his footsteps!
In the event I was lucky to get the few reviews that were published by journal editors. I have kept a record of the following:
'An extremely well-written and challenging book which should be read by all physicists.'
ASLIB BOOK LIST
'The reviewer welcomes this new and stimulating challenge of the orthodox views of modern physics ... well-written ... a bargain.'
Geophysics
'Aspden is right to criticize many books on relativity for their faulty discussion of electron acceleration and for giving too little consideration to the radiation field.'
Annals of Physics
'Without taking up a position, I am confining myself to drawing attention to this remarkable work which certainly contains some ideas meriting further consideration. The presentation is carefully done and very instructive with a chapter by chapter summary.'
Physicalia
‘If the fine-structure constant is indeed obtainable from the first principles of the theory, independently of any knowledge of the values of fundamental constants like e, c or h, the result is remarkable. Remarkable also is the subsequent calculation of the constant of gravitation G in terms of e/m, where e and m are the electronic charge and mass, and of the magnetic moment of the Earth in terms of its radius and angular velocity, and of e and c. Innovators who claim such achievements deserve a hearing and as electricity is the foundation of Aspden's cosmology, some electrical engineers may find it worth while to study his work and to decide for themselves whether his claims are justified or not.'
Electronics and Power
AND THEN - in 1975 - six years after publication and without a review being solicited, the Institute of Physics in Italy for some reason chose to present a very supportive review, noting that:
'From a close analysis of the grounds of this theory, new physical concepts of great potential arise.'
Il Nuovo Cimento
The book Physics without Einstein is now out of print, but the theory lives on in later books and in these Web pages.
MODERN AETHER SCIENCE
The title of this book was not well chosen. Book shops which did stock it on their shelves tended to locate it away from the physics section. The word 'aether' has an occult connotation. The book, published in 1972, did not sell and, indeed, even today, some 27 years on, a hundred or so copies remain unsold. I present below two of the more favorable reviews, but note that the Establishment physicist was here seeing the need to assert a hostile position and so the book attracted ridicule by the journal Nature and by the members' journal of the Institute of Physics in U.K.
'I must admit that I was fascinated by many of the ideas.'
International Journal of Electrical Engineering Education
'The reviewer enjoyed reading this thought-provoking book.'
Geophysics
It will be noted that both books attracted good reviews by the periodical Geophysics. No doubt this is because geophysicists have their feet on the ground and do not let their minds drift into outer space as do theoretical physicists. The physical phenomena that matter and pose real problems are those affecting our local environment and getting to grips with the causes of gravity and geomagnetism is the pursuit that commands interest. My books were very much concerned with those topics.
PHYSICS UNIFIED
This book was published in 1980. By then I was beginning to break through in getting my papers accepted by the peer-reviewed periodicals, but only in the face of considerable resistance. I set out to argue the case for a Unified Field Theory by giving full qualitative and quantitative account of the Constant of Gravitation G and the creation of protons in terms of a theory which also delivered the quantum of action, Planck's constant, in terms of the electron charge and the speed of light with part per million precision. Again, however, there was hostility and reviews were not forthcoming. One notable exception was the U.K. Institute of Physics. This time the reviewer chosen was not an author having his own rival theory! Accordingly, the book was reviewed on its merits.
'From his basic thesis Dr. Aspden develops an intriguing relationship between the properties of elementary particles and a postulated lattice structure of the medium permeating space. This is a quite interesting attempt to produce the long awaited unified field theory.'
Physics Bulletin, March 1981.
Harold Aspden
