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A review by thomasgoddard
Helgoland by Carlo Rovelli
4.0
I love books that make me feel stupid. This one is a prime example.
Rovelli tells the story of Werner Heisenberg, a prominent figure in the realm of quantum physics. Young, he escapes to an island to avoid a bad bout of hayfever. There he is able to think. To tease out his ideas and develop a new theory to explain key questions in physics.
I've never read a book that did a better job of explaining quantum mechanics. Nor have I read one that burst so many popular myths. Misunderstandings about Schroeder's cat, multiverse theory, quantum entanglement... To name a few.
It's not an easy read, but it's way either than an actual textbook.
As soon as I finished this I gifted it to a young guy who asked what I was reading. I placed it down, after reading the final sentence, and he appeared out of nowhere. So that's his now. And I hope he gets as much from it as I did.
I'll probably buy the paperback when that comes out. It is definitely a book I'll have to read again.
Rovelli tells the story of Werner Heisenberg, a prominent figure in the realm of quantum physics. Young, he escapes to an island to avoid a bad bout of hayfever. There he is able to think. To tease out his ideas and develop a new theory to explain key questions in physics.
I've never read a book that did a better job of explaining quantum mechanics. Nor have I read one that burst so many popular myths. Misunderstandings about Schroeder's cat, multiverse theory, quantum entanglement... To name a few.
It's not an easy read, but it's way either than an actual textbook.
As soon as I finished this I gifted it to a young guy who asked what I was reading. I placed it down, after reading the final sentence, and he appeared out of nowhere. So that's his now. And I hope he gets as much from it as I did.
I'll probably buy the paperback when that comes out. It is definitely a book I'll have to read again.