Scan barcode
bookomens's review against another edition
4.0
A clear and interesting introduction to the ideas embedded in what the word quantum brings. I love the first half of the book. The second half - deals more with philosophical and linguistic aspects, is less intriguing to me just because of my personal preferences. Regardless, the first half already introduces me and helps me to rethink a lot of the ongoing forever existent objective assumptions of the world.
rjhughes's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
4.0
Carlo Rovelli is a poet of physics. Simplicity at its rawest and most beautiful.
pcastleton's review
5.0
Stunning! Rovelli is compared to Hawking, Sagan, and Greene, but he's the only one who so beautifully links the topic of quantum physics with the humanities. His knowledge of the branches of philosophy, the history of scientific thinking, and how our way of seeing the world has grown, through art, literature, and even politics and the institutions we build is unparalleled.
All of Robelli's books have a place on the shelf of those who're curious about the world.
All of Robelli's books have a place on the shelf of those who're curious about the world.
americalovesbooks's review
5.0
Carlo Rovelli is one of the world's most renowned theoretical physicists. He has done it again with his new book ‘Helgoland: Making Sense of the Quantum Revolution.’ I was excited to read this since I loved his other book ‘The Order of Time.’
Helgoland is a poetic argument that reality is relative. The world is fundamentally made of relationships rather than substances. We and everything around us exist only in our interactions with one another. This bold idea suggests new directions for thinking about the structure of reality and even the nature of consciousness.
Does a chair exist if nobody sits on it? What if things only exist in their interactions with one another?
Expecting objects to have their own independent existence – independent of us, and any other objects – is actually a deep-seated assumption we make about the world. He claims the objects of quantum theory, such as a photon, electron, or other fundamental particles, are nothing more than the properties they exhibit when interacting with – in relation to – other objects.
According to Rovelli’s relational interpretation, these properties are all there is to the object: there is no underlying individual substance that “has” the properties.
On this view, the world is an intricate web of interrelations, such that objects no longer have their own individual existence independent from other objects – like an endless game of quantum mirrors. Moreover, there may well be no independent “metaphysical” substance constituting our reality that underlies this web.
The title of the book references a treeless island in the North Sea where Werner Heisenberg made the crucial breakthrough for the creation of quantum mechanics, setting off a century of scientific revolution.
In the end:
“We are nothing but images of images. Reality, including ourselves, is nothing but a thin and fragile veil, beyond which … there is nothing.”
Helgoland is a poetic argument that reality is relative. The world is fundamentally made of relationships rather than substances. We and everything around us exist only in our interactions with one another. This bold idea suggests new directions for thinking about the structure of reality and even the nature of consciousness.
Does a chair exist if nobody sits on it? What if things only exist in their interactions with one another?
Expecting objects to have their own independent existence – independent of us, and any other objects – is actually a deep-seated assumption we make about the world. He claims the objects of quantum theory, such as a photon, electron, or other fundamental particles, are nothing more than the properties they exhibit when interacting with – in relation to – other objects.
According to Rovelli’s relational interpretation, these properties are all there is to the object: there is no underlying individual substance that “has” the properties.
On this view, the world is an intricate web of interrelations, such that objects no longer have their own individual existence independent from other objects – like an endless game of quantum mirrors. Moreover, there may well be no independent “metaphysical” substance constituting our reality that underlies this web.
The title of the book references a treeless island in the North Sea where Werner Heisenberg made the crucial breakthrough for the creation of quantum mechanics, setting off a century of scientific revolution.
In the end:
“We are nothing but images of images. Reality, including ourselves, is nothing but a thin and fragile veil, beyond which … there is nothing.”