The Institute publishes books and brochures related to our exhibitions and other topics of interest. See here also for other beautiful IFF related materials.

A new book by IFF Director Margaret Wertheim, exploring the geniuses, mavericks and outsiders who invent alternative theories of the universe. 

What drives a man with no science training to think he can succeed where Einstein and Stephen Hawking have failed? In 1993, Jim Carter, a trailer-park owner in Enumclaw, Washington, sent out to a select group of scientists a letter announcing the publication of a book in which he proposed a complete alternative theory of physics. Gravity and matter, the periodic table, and the creation of the universe – all these Carter explained through wildly creative ideas developed while working as a gold miner and abalone diver. He tested his theories through backyard experiments using garbage cans and a fog machine to make giant smoke rings.

For the past fifteen years, Wertheim has been collecting the works of Jim Carter and other "outsider physicists,” many of them without formal training and all convinced they have found the true theory of the universe. By considering the motivations of men like Carter, with their do-it-yourself theories and homemade experiments, Wertheim raises the question of what role an amateur can play in relationship to science. Deeply human, literally fantastical, infused with wit and humor, Physics on the Fringe challenges our conception of what science is, how it works, and who it is for.

ISBN 978-0-8027-1513-5

Physics on the Fringe: Smoke Rings, Circlons and Alternative Theories of Everything

by Margaret Wertheim

$25 (plus S+H)

This elegant book provides an introduction to the subject of hyperbolic space and a how-to guide for making hyperbolic crochet models. The volume is a wonderful aid to the IFF's Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef project.

For two thousand years mathematicians knew about only two kinds of geometry – the plane and the sphere. But in the early nineteenth century they became aware of another space in which lines cavorted in aberrant formations. Offending reason and common sense, this new space came to be known as the hyperbolic plane. Although the properties of this space were known for 200 years, it was only in 1997 that mathematician Daina Taimina worked out how to make physical models of it. The method she used was crochet. Here, IFF director Margaret Wertheim presents a brief history of hyperbolic space in mathematics and nature, and offers a "field guide" to its crocheted manifestations. An invaluable resource for those interested in the Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef.

A Field Guide to Hyperbolic Space:
An Exploration of the Intersection of Higher Geometry and Feminine Handicraft

by Margaret Wertheim

$20 (plus S+H)

Members receive a complementary copy.

The third volume of the Institute’s in-house series of individually printed and hand-bound books inspired by IFF lecture and exhibition topics.

Menger's Sponge - named for its inventor Karl Menger and sometimes wrongly called Sierpinski's Sponge – was the first three dimensional fractal that mathematicians became aware of. In 1995 Dr Jeannine Mosely, a software engineer, set out to build a Level 3 Menger Sponge from business cards. After 9 years of effort, involving hundreds of folders all over America, the Business Card Menger Sponge was completed. The resulting object is comprised of 66,048 cards folded into 8000 interlinked sub-cubes, with the entire surface paneled to reveal the Level 1 and Level 2 fractal iterations. In conjunction with the IFF curated show at Machine Project gallery, the Institute presents this handsome Field Guide to the Business Card Menger Sponge. Learn how to fold cubes yourself and make your own business card sponges! Fun for all the family. Perfect as gifts - and educational too.

This book is individually hand-made at the Triage Bindery.

Field Guide to the Business Card Menger Sponge

by Margaret Wertheim

Currently Out of Print

The first volume of the Institute’s in-house series of books inspired by IFF lecture topics.

Based on our Inaugural Lecture in April 2003, The Figure that Stands Behind Figures is a charmingly erudite essay from mathematician Robert Kaplan about the history of figuration in Western culture. From the whimsical drolleries that encrusted the margins of medieval texts to the geometry of periodic and aperiodic tiling patterns, Kaplan traces the evolution of the “figure” in Western thought and challenges readers to discover for themselves the protean algebraic figure that stands in for all others.

The Figure that Stands Behind Figures:
Mosaics of the Mind

by Robert Kaplan

$25 (plus S+H)

This item is the Catalog Pack of The Institute’s first exhibition, “Lithium Legs and Apocalyptic Photons: The Imaginative World of James Carter”, held at the Santa Monica Museum of Art (2002). Carter, a former abalone diver and gold-miner, has created an entire alternative theory of physics from the subatomic to the intergalactic, a radically other vision of reality based on the concept of absolute motion and a new kind of particle that Carter terms the “circlon.” The pack contains a catalog essay booklet that accompanied the exhibition, plus a selection of images illustrating Carter’s alternative theory of everything.

Lithium Legs and Apocalyptic Protons

$8 (plus S+H)

See the entire theory in a book written and published by James Carter himself. From his subatomic theory of circlons to his radical denial of gravity, Carter is never one to tow the line. Learn about “lithium legs,” “chromium crosses,” and “apocalyptic photons” so powerful a single one might contain the energy of a galaxy. The ultimate expression of outsider science, gorgeously illustrated throughout.

The Other Theory of Physics

by James Carter

$25 (plus S+H)

As part of his theory of physics, James Carter has conceived an alternative explanation for the atomic elements, in which each element is composed of a set of tiny interlocking rings called “circlons.” In Carter’s conceptualization, circlons fit together like subatomic Lego and build up naturally to form a pattern that matches the Periodic Table. This item is a handsomely produced wall chart, printed by Carter himself, that outlines his atomic theory. On the back is his alternative explanation for the creation of the universe.

James Carter’s Periodic Table of Elements

$15 (plus S+H)