Seven Brief Lessons on Physics

This brief, beautifully written book is not only a clear and profound discussion of the greatest achievements of modern physics, it is also a literary masterpiece. Rovelli's discussion of the great breakthroughs of modern physics covers familiar terrain--Einstein's theories of relativity, the development of quantum physics, and more recent theories that will eventually lead to the long-anticipated final theory-- and does not break new ground. Readers familiar with developments in physics in the 20th and 21st Centuries will find little new here. But what they will find are clear and elegant lessons about the meaning of these breakthroughs and why they matter. Rovelli's essays are among the clearest and most comprehensible summaries of the astonishing breakthroughs in modern physics that any reader will find anywhere. If one wants to acquaint one's self with the most profound breakthroughs in physics, these essays are a great place to start. Rovelli has a gift, a teacher's gift, to explain the most complex ideas in a way that a non-specialist can comprehend while still conveying the enormous consequences of the great ideas he discusses. But beyond being a wonderful discussion of the greatest ideas of science, this little book is above all a literary masterpiece. It is beautifully written, deeply human, and, ultimately, takes science to the level of poetry. Rovelli's essays convey the grandeur of the quest to understand our universe, and, beyond that, they discuss, in beautiful prose, the human significance of this quest. If you love science, and you love literature, do yourself a favor and buy this little book. It is profound, lucid, and deeply moving. It is about the meaning of life itself, and it is wonderful.

Not a difficult read and very interesting subjects, all explained in a non academic way. But if you have read his ‘Reality Is Not What It Seems’ then you can skip this book as except for just a few minor details, it’s a duplication of what’s in there. The only problem I have with this typical scientist is that he holds up an open minded approach to ‘what is’ as an ideal that should be adhered to by all, but trashes any belief in God. Modern science is a discipline without soul, as good a definition of it as any, and that could be where the ‘typical’ scientists problem lies. Soul, a substance which gives depth to life, it doesn’t skim across the top of it, like science, on a surface of ‘things’. Instead of being obsessed with the material universe science should also be investigating how did Jesus, (for instance, and others with ‘supernatural’ powers we call mystics), work the miracles he did. How was he able to manipulate matter, turning water into wine etc. using mind alone. What did he ‘tap’ into, especially as he stated we that follow would do more than he. It’s a field science has completely neglected. (Calling Jesus God, and thereby removing him from the plane of humanity hasn’t helped). But given the seeming mysteries of quantum behavior perhaps therein lies a little daylight, contradictions to what we thought we knew, (it’s happened often enough). Please note I am not ‘religious’ at all, I do not believe Jesus was divine, but all my life I have been on a path to discover ‘what is’ and I do know there is an entity in this universe that somehow permeates everything in it, detectable by man, that we are calling God, and therein lies a limitless source of energy. A life form not carbon based. It’s difficult to discern the source of this ‘miraculous’ energy, does it come from ‘God’ or is it all around us and it’s our own limitations that keep us from utilizing it to the extent that some already have.

It’s Not What You Think By Bob Gelms I have two science books that, over the years, have become my favorites, The Elegant Universe and The Field. I have just found a third, Carlo Rovelli’s Seven Brief Lessons on Physics. Keep reading, it’s not what you think. First of all I have to tell you that there isn’t any math in the book. There is one equation that Mr. Rovelli prints just to show you what it looks like. It’s not very famous unless you are already a physicist. In the preface he states, “These lessons were written for those who know little or nothing about modern science. Together they provide a rapid overview of the most fascinating aspects of the great revolution that has occurred in physics in the twentieth and twenty first century…” In the spirit of Mr. Rovelli’s book, physics is the concrete explanation of the magic of the universe. It is the search for the truth about how everything in the universe operates interdependently on a grand scale (galaxies) and on the minute scale (electrons, protons, neutrons, quarks, gluons, etc.) This search, at times, has been fraught with the real danger of losing your life. Galileo was almost burned at the stake, commuted to life imprisoned under house arrest, for simply saying that the Earth revolved around the Sun. Scientists in the twentieth century are a little better off. The book is very short. If you have the print version, it’s 81 pages long, with only seven chapters called lessons. It starts at the beginning of the twentieth century with, next to Isaac Newton, the most important physicist in all of history, Albert Einstein. Einstein’s theories are simply and elegantly explained in plain non-scientific language. The culmination of his work is called A General Theory of Relativity, in addition to three or four other papers that were glossed over and initially laughed at. Once the scientific community caught up with Einstein’s brain they were struck dumb with the beauty and simplicity of his vision for the operation of the universe. It has always struck me curious that when he won the Nobel Prize it wasn’t for relativity (E=MC2). It was for one of those glossed over papers on the nature of light. He did all of his work on relativity and the photoelectric effect in 1905, when he was 26 years old. Over the years, he became a towering giant in the history of science while remaining a gentle and kind man. The second lesson covers the exact opposite of Einstein’s theories. Planck, Bohr, and Heisenberg all contributed in some degree to the theory of the littlest “things” in the universe, which came to be called quantum mechanics. It deals with atoms and the particles that make them up, showing how they interact with the ever-changing landscape around and in them. Then all hell broke loose. It seems that the rules and regs that describe perfectly Einstein’s big universe of galaxies, stars, solar systems and planets do not work if you apply those rules and regs to the little world of quantum mechanics. Conversely if you take the rules and regs of the little universe of quantum mechanics and apply them to Einstein’s big universe you will find that they don’t work. WELL. Both theories contradict one another and they shouldn’t because they both work perfectly in their own space and time. The big prize in physics these days is to find the link between the two because it is inherent in both theories that there be something that draws them together. Einstein called it the unified field theory and he tried to find it his whole life. He failed. Lessons One, Two and Seven are the far and away the most interesting and most important in the book. The other essays cover more popular topics like time, black holes, probability, particles, and a lesson called Grains of Space which is a brief explanation of a theory founded by Mr. Rovell, himself a theoretical physicist. In it, he attempts, I think, to reconcile the big with the small worlds of physics. It is called loop quantum gravity and it’s where general relativity meets quantum mechanics. In many ways the most interesting of all the essays is the last one. It’s simply called Ourselves. This is where Mr. Rovelli attempts to equate us, homo sapiens, to the interworking of the universe. We are all made of stardust put together using the immutable laws of nature. Our bodies conform to how the atoms we are made of obey quantum mechanics and the way in which we pass through time and space. It is utterly fascinating. I had an “oh wow” moment. I’d like to close with Mr. Rovelli’s words. “Here, on the edge of what we know, in contact with the ocean of the unknown, shines the mystery and the beauty of the world. And it’s breathtaking.”

It is an excellent book. It gives great insights in simple language. Some may feel it to be too simplistic or plain. But if one has put some genuine thought or effort to make head or tail out of these baffling theories, then he/she would understand that the insights given in the book are the core ideas of these baffling concepts. The book gives more than a hint why all these seemingly absurd concepts in relativity or quantum mechanics (their mutual contradiction) arise. It is a light read, gives the feel of the thought process... A small book that excellently rounds up the conceptual foundations on which present day physics stands.

知らない単語が出てくる頻度が少ない そして興味深い 洋書を初めて読む人にもおすすめ

J'ai lu des tas de livres sur ce sujet, ai travaillé au CERN, et ce livre sort du lot par sa clarté exprimée en peu de mots et quelques figures. Je compte le recommander à mon entourage car c'est de loin l'exposé le plus facile à lire que j'ai lu sur ces sujets complexes. Chapeau bas à l'auteur, vraiment!! Je vais lire le reste de ses livres sans aucun doute! A lire absolument!

A very good summary of the current stage of Physics, with some personal inputs from the author.

La capacità dello scrittore di coinvolgere il lettore in un tema difficile quale può essere la fisica e riflettere sul senso della vita