I didn't participate in the amazing alternative funding discussion going on in the main room friday night.wow! it was really neat.i overheard a tiny bit of it.
you'd like HOW THE HIPPIES SAVED PHYSICS
it discusses the role of unusual self-help gurus like eckhard tolle during the 1970s. weird rich guys like that saved the discipline of quantum physics during a time of deep government cutbacks. a lot of those physics phds were unemployed and working in factories.
very neat stuff, especially considering that quantum physics is used today for the most sophisticated bank encryption.
i enjoyed the book even though i'm not a physics expert.
the mixture of lsd + ESP studies and the colorful people is very entertaining to say the very least!