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cicciogattaccio's review against another edition
4.0
Parte storia della scienza del 900, parte riassunto delle ipotesi attuali su come interpretare i fenomeni quantistici, parte aneddoti personali sul proprio rapporto con la fisica, il libro di Ravelli è un affascinante viaggio di scoperta delle relazioni fondamentali alla base di quella che chiamiamo realtà.
Un libro che invita a ragionare, che ci espone ai diversi modelli di realtà che nel corso del tempo abbiamo usato per cercare di fare quadrare il mondo che via via siamo stati in grado di osservare sempre più in dettaglio, propone a sua volta un'interpretazione senza pretendere di fornire una verità ultima perchè le domande che poniamo, la capacità di mettere indiscussione qualcosa in presenza di nuovi elementi sono essi stessi la parte più importante del il viaggio di scoperta.
Un libro che invita a ragionare, che ci espone ai diversi modelli di realtà che nel corso del tempo abbiamo usato per cercare di fare quadrare il mondo che via via siamo stati in grado di osservare sempre più in dettaglio, propone a sua volta un'interpretazione senza pretendere di fornire una verità ultima perchè le domande che poniamo, la capacità di mettere indiscussione qualcosa in presenza di nuovi elementi sono essi stessi la parte più importante del il viaggio di scoperta.
farhan_reads's review against another edition
5.0
Helgoland by Carlo Rovelli
★★★★★
I stand truely with Neil Gaiman when he said 'Carlo Rovelli is a genius and an amazing communicator'. The book Helgoland is the story of evolution of Quantum Mechanics, it's strange and peculiar laws and hypothesis and what is its future.
In June 1925, twenty-three-year-old Werner Heisenberg, father of Quantum Mechanics, had retreated to the treeless, wind-battered island of Helgoland in the North Sea in order to think. Walking all night, by dawn he had ween the idea that would transform the whole of science and our very conception of the world.
This was the start of a great field - Quantum Mechanics.
In the book, Carlo Rovelli goes through the riveting history of great minds who contributed in the development of the idea of Quantum. In between of prose, Carlo gives us some gripping facts which will enrapture the reader so much (at least it did for me) that makes the book unputdownable.
So you will ask, there are many books written on the history of Quantum Mechanics and conceptualization of the same. What makes this book different?
Carlo has written the book in a neighbourly way that would make the reader feel like he is talking with a friend and that friend is none other than you! He cracks even some jokes in between of paragraphs.
Carlo's field of expertise is Quantum Gravity and he is also a professor so there is so much expected from him to explain us about this thought-provoking field and this is where he succeeds.
The book is divided into 5 parts and the first two parts of it is like introduction with the history of Quanta and then the author moves to explain some of the unanswered questions and hypothesis of the nature's law from the view of Quantum. No matter you are the novice, apprentice or an expert you would certainly like this masterpiece.
“Rovelli tackles both the quantum realm and the ways it helps us make sense of the mind with refreshing clarity and without hand-wavy mystery-mongering” —The New York Times Book Review
The discovery of quantum theory, I believe, is the discovery that the properties of any entity are nothing other than the way in which that entity influences others. This is how Carlo described the quantum theory.
★★★★★
I stand truely with Neil Gaiman when he said 'Carlo Rovelli is a genius and an amazing communicator'. The book Helgoland is the story of evolution of Quantum Mechanics, it's strange and peculiar laws and hypothesis and what is its future.
In June 1925, twenty-three-year-old Werner Heisenberg, father of Quantum Mechanics, had retreated to the treeless, wind-battered island of Helgoland in the North Sea in order to think. Walking all night, by dawn he had ween the idea that would transform the whole of science and our very conception of the world.
This was the start of a great field - Quantum Mechanics.
In the book, Carlo Rovelli goes through the riveting history of great minds who contributed in the development of the idea of Quantum. In between of prose, Carlo gives us some gripping facts which will enrapture the reader so much (at least it did for me) that makes the book unputdownable.
So you will ask, there are many books written on the history of Quantum Mechanics and conceptualization of the same. What makes this book different?
Carlo has written the book in a neighbourly way that would make the reader feel like he is talking with a friend and that friend is none other than you! He cracks even some jokes in between of paragraphs.
Carlo's field of expertise is Quantum Gravity and he is also a professor so there is so much expected from him to explain us about this thought-provoking field and this is where he succeeds.
The book is divided into 5 parts and the first two parts of it is like introduction with the history of Quanta and then the author moves to explain some of the unanswered questions and hypothesis of the nature's law from the view of Quantum. No matter you are the novice, apprentice or an expert you would certainly like this masterpiece.
“Rovelli tackles both the quantum realm and the ways it helps us make sense of the mind with refreshing clarity and without hand-wavy mystery-mongering” —The New York Times Book Review
The discovery of quantum theory, I believe, is the discovery that the properties of any entity are nothing other than the way in which that entity influences others. This is how Carlo described the quantum theory.
oisincleere's review against another edition
challenging
funny
informative
reflective
fast-paced
3.0
astrochem's review against another edition
challenging
informative
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
2.75
allisonjpmiller's review against another edition
5.0
It’s Rovelli. I’ve yet to read a book by him that isn’t lucidly beautiful and life-affirming.
saulshanabrook's review against another edition
3.0
The first part about the history of quantum mechanics was interested but his own interpretation was uninspiring
peterdonelan's review against another edition
challenging
inspiring
medium-paced
4.0
Rovelli makes a convincing argument for how we can develop a way of understanding the universe consistent with the apparent paradoxes of quantum theory. Rather than privileging the science, he draws on philosophy, both western and eastern, and literature to make his case that the material and mental worlds are part of the same system built on relationships.
slow_spines's review against another edition
challenging
informative
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
4.75
Its hard to imagine reading this book and not feeling like you have just been administered a heroic dose of awe.
The title of the book comes from the name of the island where a young Heisenberg, at the start of the twentieth century, made a breakthrough in physics. A breakthrough which spurred the best minds of his generation into developing a powerful theory with demonstrable - and infamous - results. A theory which, despite never once being incorrect, puzzled all those who grappled with it. How could it be true (a notion which itself is interrogated through the course of the book) when it suggests such strange things? This question - of how we should understand a few "basic" principles - still stands, 100 years later.
The course Rovelli charts is roughly this: the history of the science, the science itself, the ideas behind the science (and here, the heart of the book: a discussion of the relational reading of quantum mechanics), the history of the ideas, and finally a discussion of the mind-body problem: how to address the 'hard' problem of consciousness and couch meaning itself in physical terms. If your immediate response is anything other than "sounds insane, leave me alone", this will be a richly rewarding read. Try saying that 10 times in a row.
This is science and philosophy told with real excitement and warmth. Rovelli wants to communicate subtle and difficult ideas to the lay person, and, at least as far as the science goes, I don't think it could have been done better. My only gripe is in the final philosophical sections of the book. I enjoyed these a great deal but it is odd that in a book where he has been so careful and patient, he makes assumptions about the readers familiarity with basic philosophical ideas. Its a minor gripe, but there's a danger of getting lost here and missing the broader point Rovelli is wanting to make.
And what a point it is. The last section of the book, quoting Prospero's immortal lines, gave me goosebumps. In the days after finishing this book I have felt a profound and sometimes moving sense of wonder suffuse even the most banal situations. If that's not worth the price of admission, nothing is.
The title of the book comes from the name of the island where a young Heisenberg, at the start of the twentieth century, made a breakthrough in physics. A breakthrough which spurred the best minds of his generation into developing a powerful theory with demonstrable - and infamous - results. A theory which, despite never once being incorrect, puzzled all those who grappled with it. How could it be true (a notion which itself is interrogated through the course of the book) when it suggests such strange things? This question - of how we should understand a few "basic" principles - still stands, 100 years later.
The course Rovelli charts is roughly this: the history of the science, the science itself, the ideas behind the science (and here, the heart of the book: a discussion of the relational reading of quantum mechanics), the history of the ideas, and finally a discussion of the mind-body problem: how to address the 'hard' problem of consciousness and couch meaning itself in physical terms. If your immediate response is anything other than "sounds insane, leave me alone", this will be a richly rewarding read. Try saying that 10 times in a row.
This is science and philosophy told with real excitement and warmth. Rovelli wants to communicate subtle and difficult ideas to the lay person, and, at least as far as the science goes, I don't think it could have been done better. My only gripe is in the final philosophical sections of the book. I enjoyed these a great deal but it is odd that in a book where he has been so careful and patient, he makes assumptions about the readers familiarity with basic philosophical ideas. Its a minor gripe, but there's a danger of getting lost here and missing the broader point Rovelli is wanting to make.
And what a point it is. The last section of the book, quoting Prospero's immortal lines, gave me goosebumps. In the days after finishing this book I have felt a profound and sometimes moving sense of wonder suffuse even the most banal situations. If that's not worth the price of admission, nothing is.