Art or quantum physics: which is better suited to aid our understanding of the universe and of our place in it? To point out, as A. Van Jordan often does in Quantum Lyrics, that neither will suffice without the other is not to suggest that these systems of thought are somehow equivalently fictional or constructed—that old myth so often mistakenly attributed to postmodern thought. For Jordan, to be a visionary—whether poet, philosopher, musician, or scientist—is to wrestle with the same inconveniences of wondering and speak the same language of awe.

Jordan’s visionary heroes are the dreamers who wake up, wonder, and take notes. Speaking as Richard Feynman, for instance, in “Richard P. Feynman Lecture: Intro to Symmetry,” Jordan writes: “What do we pray for but the equation that helps us make sense of what happens in our daily lives?… Sex, laughter, sweat, and equations elegant enough to figure on our fingers.” Simple, yes. But not simplistic.

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—Thomas March