Here is the book that brought the mystical implications of subatomic physics to popular consciousness for the very first time—way back in 1975. This special edition of The Tao of Physics includes a new preface by the author, in which he reflects on the further discoveries and developments that have occurred in the years since the book’s original publication. “Physicists do not need mysticism,” Dr. Capra says, “and mystics do not need physics, but humanity needs both.” It’s a message of timeless importance.

The text of this book was updated by including results from recent research in subatomic physics. I did this by slightly changing certain passages in the text to make them more consistent with the new research, and by adding a new section at the end of the book, entitled “The New Physics Revisited,” in which the most important new developments in subatomic physics are described in some detail. It has been very gratifying for me that none of these recent developments has invalidated anything I wrote twenty-five years ago. In fact, most of them were anticipated in the original edition. This has confirmed the strong belief that motivated me to write the book—that the basic themes that I use in my comparison between physics and mysticism will be enforced, rather than invalidated, by future research…

It is becoming ever more apparent that mysticism, or the “perennial philosophy,” as it is sometimes called, provides a consistent philosophical background to our modern scientific theories.

Also by Fritjof Capra are The Web of Life and Hidden Connections.