I am at odds with myself at how to review this book. Frankly, I was reluctant to read a book that had AI anywhere in its title because so many works in the sphere are purely theoretical or are likely to be outdated within the span of a few months as we understand more about what AI can do, what it can't do, its impact on society, its impact on the environment, and on and on and on.

However, what this book ends up being is a vehicle for a question that cannot be nor particularly attempts to be answered within the confines of its page count: if scientific discoveries (that term in itself being slightly problematic) were made in the "wrong" order due to human limitations, how might AI unburdened by a human frame of reference come to understand science and the arrangement of physics and the universe? It's a thought provoking question to be sure and Edwards proffers that the correct view might be that it would begin with the concept of entropy vis-a-vis the second law of thermodynamics.

Personally, I am a complete amateur - if an enthusiastic one - in terms of pure scientific knowledge, so the necessary historical narrative of scientific discovery that composes the bulk of the book was quite helpful for me though I could imagine it being somewhat tedious for others more well versed in the subject. Edwards frequently provides long-ish passages of noted works to illustrate points, makes healthy use of analogies and then points out that the necessity for analogies in science frequently caters to the human ability to understand a concept but in doing so, misrepresents the concept slightly in ways that may impede a deeper understanding or proper scaffolding of knowledge. It's all bloody fascinating.

Is this a good book? Yes, I believe it is. It is an odd one, and I think it might have been helped a bit by the inclusion of graphic illustrations to more succinctly convey some of the concepts as there were more than a few instances in which I had to re-read an explanation several times to wrap my head around the concept, but it succeeds in being a succinct narrative of science, advocating for an understanding of science starting from the second law of thermodynamics, and positing that an AI understanding of science could help to organize our current information in ways not limited to human understanding and could therefore lead to greater "discoveries" yet.

I apologize deeply for any misrepresentations or misunderstandings of the text; I am but a humble enthusiast. My equally deep thanks to NetGally, The Globe Pequot Publishing Group, Inc., and Prometheus Books for advanced access to this book.

Overall would give 3 stars, but did not finish. I ended up skipping about 25% of the book to get to the section that wasn't historical recordings to get to the AI content. It is intriguing how AI might rearrange discoveries and in a way that isn't influenced by culture and society. Did enjoy the comment about "the stoichiometry of Lavosier."

this was a really interesting book! It was filled with lots of information and data. Some of it was very dense and hard to get through, but it was expected due to the nature of this book topic. I think it was a good read

Thank you to NetGalley, to the author, and to the publisher for this complimentary ARC in exchange for my honest review!!!

The New Order is a book of significant scope. While reading I wondered a few times how a book whose central thesis is about AI, delineated so many things that did not seem related to it. I offer this as a caveat because if readers see AI and think it will be all about that, it's not so straightforward. And readers should count themselves fortunate for it. If you are looking for a book that is a volume of knowledge, rather than an a-la-carte proposition, this is a great book to dive into. It is also helpful to have some knowledge of physics, or a basic understanding of the work of Planck, Einstein, Bohr, Heisenberg, et. al. It isn't necessary (though it may help), because the language is accessible which helps neophytes and would-be nerds (myself among the latter) find it an enjoyable read.

Chris Edwards goes to what feels like an almost painstaking effort to establish the status quo "order" of science through existing understandings of time and space as they relate to movement in the universe. Edwards does not limit this to concepts such as the scientific method (though it is among them), but to peaks and valleys in the development of science in general. The scientists featured are relevant to artificial intelligence (meaning that it will not be densely packed with tangential references to the likes of Jung, Darwin, Mead, Freud, or others whose work focuses on the psychological and anthropological sciences; His purview is mathematics, chemistry, physics, quantum physics, and computer sciences). He highlights how thermodynamics and subsequently temperature, accounts for movement, rather than time as is currently privileged in sciences. It is, in short, a hot take (pun absolutely intended).

What may seem at first like tedious description of the history of science relevant to AI, comes full circle when Edwards begins describing how the field of science will change as generative AI's disruptive capacity is featured as all but inevitable. Among the incredibly insightful questions unrelated to thermodynamics that the book left me with (and answered in part) were: What will become of how we define "genuis" in humans when computational capacity replaces innovative breakthroughs by immediately finding the most efficient route? Will we lose entire epistemological art forms similar to the way that the architectures of the past are historical references (i.e. metallurgy, masonry, large scale carpentry, etc.)? What might replace our notions of how genius and high IQ are defined- will this be assigned based on access to and knowledge of AI in order to use it to demonstrate genius?

I highly recommend this book simply because it's very interesting, but I would suggest it to those who work in the hard sciences and seek to understand how the understanding of their field might change or be changed by AI. If one is so inclined towards future casting, another possible use of this book would be understanding the sharp turns and pivots ahead for what might be deemed worthy of grant and research funding: as epistemological terra shifts (hopefully not tectonically, but it is possible), so too do the ground floor priorities for what we need to know and how to know what we don't know. There are many reasons we are living in a time of precarity, but Edwards reminds me that there is also good reason to suggest (however quietly, with bated breath): what a time to be alive.

Thank you to Prometheus Books for the advance reader copy through NetGalley.