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Charged : The Unexpected Role of Electricity in the Workings of Nature
- GenresScience
434 pages, Paperback
Published September 16, 2025
3 people are currently reading
24 people want to read
About the author
Gerald H. Pollack
19 books84 followersProfessor Gerald Pollack is Founding Editor-in-Chief of the scientific journal, WATER and is recognized as an international leader in science and engineering.
The University of Washington Faculty chose Pollack, in 2008, to receive their highest annual distinction: the Faculty Lecturer Award. He was the 2012 recipient of the coveted Prigogine Medal for thermodynamics of dissipative systems. He has received an honorary doctorate from Ural State University in Ekaterinburg, Russia, and was more recently named an Honorary Professor of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and Foreign Member of the Srpska Academy. Pollack is a Founding Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering and a Fellow of both the American Heart Association and the Biomedical Engineering Society. He recently received an NIH Director’s Transformative R01 Award for his work on water, and maintains an active laboratory in Seattle.
Pollack’s interests have ranged broadly, from biological motion and cell biology to the interaction of biological surfaces with aqueous solutions. His 1990 book, Muscles and Molecules Uncovering the Principles of Biological Motion, won an “Excellence Award” from the Society for Technical Communication; two subsequent books: Cells Gels and the Engines of Life,and The Fourth Phase of Water both won that Society’s “Distinguished Award.”
Pollack is recognized worldwide as a dynamic speaker and a scientist willing to challenge any long-held dogma that does not fit the facts.
The University of Washington Faculty chose Pollack, in 2008, to receive their highest annual distinction: the Faculty Lecturer Award. He was the 2012 recipient of the coveted Prigogine Medal for thermodynamics of dissipative systems. He has received an honorary doctorate from Ural State University in Ekaterinburg, Russia, and was more recently named an Honorary Professor of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and Foreign Member of the Srpska Academy. Pollack is a Founding Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering and a Fellow of both the American Heart Association and the Biomedical Engineering Society. He recently received an NIH Director’s Transformative R01 Award for his work on water, and maintains an active laboratory in Seattle.
Pollack’s interests have ranged broadly, from biological motion and cell biology to the interaction of biological surfaces with aqueous solutions. His 1990 book, Muscles and Molecules Uncovering the Principles of Biological Motion, won an “Excellence Award” from the Society for Technical Communication; two subsequent books: Cells Gels and the Engines of Life,and The Fourth Phase of Water both won that Society’s “Distinguished Award.”
Pollack is recognized worldwide as a dynamic speaker and a scientist willing to challenge any long-held dogma that does not fit the facts.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 21, 2025
Gerald Pollack blew my mind with “The Fourth Phase of Water” and its implications for not just homeopathy, but biochemistry, and even the potential of pure water to act as a battery, storing charge separation.
True to form, he took those implications to the next several levels in “Charged,” daring to imagine that if water’s fourth phase truly does involve charge separation, this might explain many heretofore inexplicable phenomena in physics, that we simply had to accept as first principles in themselves. In “Charged,” Pollack tackles such diverse concepts as how wind works, what drives weather systems, how anything flies (from frisbees to birds to planes), why the earth spins (!) to what gravity actually is (!!). Honestly, a lot of these concepts only made vague sense to me before, from a macroscopic level—but I always had to just accept on the word of the experts that their explanations were sufficient at a certain point. Pollack, like a precocious child who asks “but why?” about absolutely every layer of explanation, drills down to expose the holes that were always there, and proposes an elegant alternative explanation that at least logically appears to hold, at every level of abstraction.
His last chapter echoes the last chapter of “The Body Electric,” in which Becker too explained why science is so rarely truly revolutionary anymore. Most science is conducted at the periphery of what is known, the “bleeding edge,” as it were. Pollack (and Becker, in his time) dared to question the fundamentals. Always an unpopular proposition for the powers that be, unfortunately.
True to form, he took those implications to the next several levels in “Charged,” daring to imagine that if water’s fourth phase truly does involve charge separation, this might explain many heretofore inexplicable phenomena in physics, that we simply had to accept as first principles in themselves. In “Charged,” Pollack tackles such diverse concepts as how wind works, what drives weather systems, how anything flies (from frisbees to birds to planes), why the earth spins (!) to what gravity actually is (!!). Honestly, a lot of these concepts only made vague sense to me before, from a macroscopic level—but I always had to just accept on the word of the experts that their explanations were sufficient at a certain point. Pollack, like a precocious child who asks “but why?” about absolutely every layer of explanation, drills down to expose the holes that were always there, and proposes an elegant alternative explanation that at least logically appears to hold, at every level of abstraction.
His last chapter echoes the last chapter of “The Body Electric,” in which Becker too explained why science is so rarely truly revolutionary anymore. Most science is conducted at the periphery of what is known, the “bleeding edge,” as it were. Pollack (and Becker, in his time) dared to question the fundamentals. Always an unpopular proposition for the powers that be, unfortunately.
January 4, 2026
*De Nederlandstalige versie begint halverwege*
An accessible book about the potentially manifold influence of electrical charge on the natural phenomena around us. Consciously accessible, because Gerald likes to explain natural phenomena simply. He refers to Ockham's razor, which symbolizes shaving away all unnecessary complexities to arrive at the simplest explanation. In modern science, there's been a decades-long trend of theories becoming increasingly complex. These complexities are necessary to smooth out nagging anomalies. Gerald doesn't want to go along with that. He illustrates his explanations with beautiful and clear illustrations (by his son).
Of the four themes, only the section on gravity appealed to me less. In that case, the chapter summary is a useful way to get an impression.
At the end, he philosophizes about the lack of scientific breakthroughs. He suspects that dissenting ideas are systematically dismissed by vested interests.
Furthermore, he points out that people often talk in terms of energy, but then fail to investigate the driving force behind a phenomenon. Personally, I find this a provocative statement because I assume a worldview in which consciousness and love are central. What, then, is the driving force there? This brings me to something like the increasingly conscious experience of our experiences. I find it characteristic that experiences cannot be suppressed. They wait until we have the space to experience them consciously. This can even happen several generations later. Thank you for your suggestion, Gerald. Because of this, I have also come to describe expressions like god and the source as timeless intelligence and our thinking capacity as temporary intelligence.
Gerald also talks about the elegance and beauty of theories. This reminds me of (unconditional) love; for me, it is a special force of nature. It only exerts its connecting and purifying influence when we ask for it of our own free will. I see the concepts of elegance and beauty reflected in love and what love does to water, and therefore also to ourselves.
*NL*
Een laagdrempelig boek over de mogelijk veelvuldige invloed van elektrische lading in de natuurverschijnselen om ons heen. Bewust laagdrempelig, want Gerald wil natuurverschijnselen graag eenvoudig uitleggen. Hij verwijst hierbij naar Ockhams' scheermes. Dit scheermes symboliseert het wegscheren van alle onnodige ingewikkeldheden om bij de eenvoudigste verklaring uit te komen. In de huidige wetenschap is er al decennia lang een trend gaande dat theorieën steeds ingewikkelder worden. Deze ingewikkeldheden zijn nodig om knagende anomalieën weg te poetsen. Daar wil Gerald niet in meegaan. Met mooie en duidelijke illustraties (van zijn zoon) licht hij zijn verklaringen toe.
Van de vier thema’s sprak alleen het onderdeel over de zwaartekracht me minder aan. Dan is de samenvatting per hoofdstuk een handige manier om toch een indruk te krijgen.
Aan het einde filosofeert hij over het achterwege blijven van wetenschappelijke doorbraken. Hij vermoedt dat afwijkende denkbeelden door bestaande belangen stelselmatig naar de prullenbak worden gedirigeerd.
Verder stipt hij aan dat er vaak in termen van energie wordt gepraat maar dat men dan nalaat te onderzoeken wat de drijvende kracht is achter een verschijnsel. Persoonlijk vind ik dit een prikkelende uitspraak omdat ik uitga van een wereldbeeld waarin bewustzijn en liefde centraal staan. Wat is daar dan de drijvende kracht? Ik kom dan uit bij zoiets als het steeds bewuster ervaren van onze ervaringen. Typerend vind ik het verschijnsel dat ervaringen zich niet laten wegdrukken. Ze wachten net zolang tot wij er ruimte voor hebben ze te bewust te ervaren. Dit kan zelfs enkele generaties later pas gebeuren. Dank je voor je voorzet, Gerald. Hierdoor ben ik uitdrukkingen als god en de bron ook gaan omschrijven als tijdloze intelligentie en ons denkvermogen als tijdelijke intelligentie.
Verder praat Gerald over elegantie en schoonheid van theorieën. Dit doet me denken aan (onvoorwaardelijke) liefde, zij is voor mij een bijzondere natuurkracht. Ze laat haar verbindende en zuiverende invloed pas gelden als we er vanuit onze vrije wil om vragen. Ik zie de begrippen elegantie en schoonheid terug in liefde en wat liefde met water en dus ook met onszelf doet.
An accessible book about the potentially manifold influence of electrical charge on the natural phenomena around us. Consciously accessible, because Gerald likes to explain natural phenomena simply. He refers to Ockham's razor, which symbolizes shaving away all unnecessary complexities to arrive at the simplest explanation. In modern science, there's been a decades-long trend of theories becoming increasingly complex. These complexities are necessary to smooth out nagging anomalies. Gerald doesn't want to go along with that. He illustrates his explanations with beautiful and clear illustrations (by his son).
Of the four themes, only the section on gravity appealed to me less. In that case, the chapter summary is a useful way to get an impression.
At the end, he philosophizes about the lack of scientific breakthroughs. He suspects that dissenting ideas are systematically dismissed by vested interests.
Furthermore, he points out that people often talk in terms of energy, but then fail to investigate the driving force behind a phenomenon. Personally, I find this a provocative statement because I assume a worldview in which consciousness and love are central. What, then, is the driving force there? This brings me to something like the increasingly conscious experience of our experiences. I find it characteristic that experiences cannot be suppressed. They wait until we have the space to experience them consciously. This can even happen several generations later. Thank you for your suggestion, Gerald. Because of this, I have also come to describe expressions like god and the source as timeless intelligence and our thinking capacity as temporary intelligence.
Gerald also talks about the elegance and beauty of theories. This reminds me of (unconditional) love; for me, it is a special force of nature. It only exerts its connecting and purifying influence when we ask for it of our own free will. I see the concepts of elegance and beauty reflected in love and what love does to water, and therefore also to ourselves.
*NL*
Een laagdrempelig boek over de mogelijk veelvuldige invloed van elektrische lading in de natuurverschijnselen om ons heen. Bewust laagdrempelig, want Gerald wil natuurverschijnselen graag eenvoudig uitleggen. Hij verwijst hierbij naar Ockhams' scheermes. Dit scheermes symboliseert het wegscheren van alle onnodige ingewikkeldheden om bij de eenvoudigste verklaring uit te komen. In de huidige wetenschap is er al decennia lang een trend gaande dat theorieën steeds ingewikkelder worden. Deze ingewikkeldheden zijn nodig om knagende anomalieën weg te poetsen. Daar wil Gerald niet in meegaan. Met mooie en duidelijke illustraties (van zijn zoon) licht hij zijn verklaringen toe.
Van de vier thema’s sprak alleen het onderdeel over de zwaartekracht me minder aan. Dan is de samenvatting per hoofdstuk een handige manier om toch een indruk te krijgen.
Aan het einde filosofeert hij over het achterwege blijven van wetenschappelijke doorbraken. Hij vermoedt dat afwijkende denkbeelden door bestaande belangen stelselmatig naar de prullenbak worden gedirigeerd.
Verder stipt hij aan dat er vaak in termen van energie wordt gepraat maar dat men dan nalaat te onderzoeken wat de drijvende kracht is achter een verschijnsel. Persoonlijk vind ik dit een prikkelende uitspraak omdat ik uitga van een wereldbeeld waarin bewustzijn en liefde centraal staan. Wat is daar dan de drijvende kracht? Ik kom dan uit bij zoiets als het steeds bewuster ervaren van onze ervaringen. Typerend vind ik het verschijnsel dat ervaringen zich niet laten wegdrukken. Ze wachten net zolang tot wij er ruimte voor hebben ze te bewust te ervaren. Dit kan zelfs enkele generaties later pas gebeuren. Dank je voor je voorzet, Gerald. Hierdoor ben ik uitdrukkingen als god en de bron ook gaan omschrijven als tijdloze intelligentie en ons denkvermogen als tijdelijke intelligentie.
Verder praat Gerald over elegantie en schoonheid van theorieën. Dit doet me denken aan (onvoorwaardelijke) liefde, zij is voor mij een bijzondere natuurkracht. Ze laat haar verbindende en zuiverende invloed pas gelden als we er vanuit onze vrije wil om vragen. Ik zie de begrippen elegantie en schoonheid terug in liefde en wat liefde met water en dus ook met onszelf doet.
December 8, 2025
This is the most incredible book I have ever read. It has been life changing for me. Not only because of the questions he asked that I had never even wondered about, but because I will never watch a swarm of insects, a flock of birds, or a school of fish without being in awe of the secret forces that bind/separate/and configure them.
Every turn of the page brought into focus the graceful simplicity of nature.
The loving bond between author and illustrator (father & son) not only helped visualize the concepts, but paved each page with mutual love and admiration.
From cover to cover the author exemplifies courage, common sense, and community respect. His self-deprecating softness belies his firmly based scientific inquiry and steadfast investigation. His exemplary mentorship entreats, encourages, and energizes the fortunate student in his/her lab-of-life.
Frequently the last chapter of a book seems trite and thrown together - possibly due to the insistence of a publisher with a deadline. However, the last chapter of this masterpiece has the sacred whisper of an epitaph that seeks for us to continue the journey: "I saw. I asked. I found."
Every turn of the page brought into focus the graceful simplicity of nature.
The loving bond between author and illustrator (father & son) not only helped visualize the concepts, but paved each page with mutual love and admiration.
From cover to cover the author exemplifies courage, common sense, and community respect. His self-deprecating softness belies his firmly based scientific inquiry and steadfast investigation. His exemplary mentorship entreats, encourages, and energizes the fortunate student in his/her lab-of-life.
Frequently the last chapter of a book seems trite and thrown together - possibly due to the insistence of a publisher with a deadline. However, the last chapter of this masterpiece has the sacred whisper of an epitaph that seeks for us to continue the journey: "I saw. I asked. I found."
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews