Reality Is Not What It Seems: The Journey to Quantum Gravity - Couverture souple

“Rovelli writes with crystalline simplicity. . . . he turns quantum physics into a coherent story, shaping it as a quest for a single, underlying 'substratum' of reality—from Democritus’s finite, indivisible atoms to Einstein.” —The Times

Praise for Seven Brief Lessons on Physics: 

“In clear, elegant prose, Rovelli guides the reader through a whirlwind tour of some of the biggest ideas in physics. His passion for his chosen field is evident on every page… One can easily imagine perusing these essays while comfortably ensconced in an overstuffed chair by the fire, a snifter of cognac in hand… The reader will come away…with a deeper understanding of how modern physics has brought us closer to an ultimate understanding of reality.” —The New York Times Book Review

“The essays in  Seven Brief Lessons on Physics arrive like shots of espresso, which you can consume the way the Italians do, quickly and while standing up. As slim as a volume of poetry, Mr. Rovelli’s book also has that tantalizing quality that good books of poems have; it artfully hints at meanings beyond its immediate scope. . . . [H]is book is a roll call of the scientists who have taken us so far, from Einstein and Niels Bohr through Werner Heisenberg and Stephen Hawking. . . . The lessons in Mr. Rovelli’s book, as elegiac as they are incisive, do them justice.” —Dwight Garner , The New York Times

“A startling and illustrative distillation of centuries of science.” — The Economist
 
“Lean, lucid and enchanting.” — New Scientist

“Delightful . . . The metaphors are vivid, the visions dramatic.” — Nature
 
“The writing is elegant and poetic, and Carlo’s explanatory clarity is compelling. He organized this short book into seven lessons that introduce the non-specialized reader to the most fascinating questions about the universe, including how we learn about it.” —NPR

“Rovelli has a rare knack for conveying the top line of scientific theories in clear and compelling terms without succumbing to the lure of elaborate footnotes . . . a breath of fresh air.” —The Guardian

“Brief but eloquent . . . The slim volume is stereotypically the province of poetry, but this beautifully designed little book shows that science, with its curiosity, its intense engagement with what there really is, its readiness to jettison received ways of seeing, is a kind of poetry too.” —Financial Times

“[Carlo Rovelli’s] concise and comprehensible writing makes sense of intricate notions such as general relativity, quantum mechanics, cosmology and thermodynamics. Rovelli’s enthusiastic and poetic descriptions communicate the essence of these topics without getting bogged down in details.” —Scientific American

“[A] quick, engaging read…fun and insightful…you wouldn’t go wrong taking [it] to the beach this summer.” —Forbes

“Fascinating on every level.” —Daily Herald

“This beautiful little volume playfully introduces its readers to several basic principles of physics in an easy-to-grasp style that will surprise and delight you.” —San Francisco Chronicle

From the New York Times–bestselling author of Seven Brief Lessons on Physics, a closer look at the mind-bending nature of the universe.

What are time and space made of? Where does matter come from? And what exactly is reality? Theoretical physicist Carlo Rovelli has spent his whole life exploring these questions and pushing the boundaries of what we know. Here he explains how our image of the world has changed over the last few dozen centuries.

In elegant and accessible prose, Rovelli takes us on a wondrous journey from Aristotle to Albert Einstein, from Michael Faraday to the Higgs boson, and from classical physics to his own work in quantum gravity. As he shows us how the idea of reality has evolved over time, Rovelli offers readers a deeper understanding of the theories he introduced so concisely in  Seven Brief Lessons on Physics. His evocative explanations invite us to imagine, beyond our ever-changing idea of reality, a whole new world that has yet to be discovered.