Publication Date: 25/03/2021 ISBN: 9780241454695 Category:

Helgoland

Carlo Rovelli

Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Publication Date: 25/03/2021 ISBN: 9780241454695 Category:
Hardback

£20.00

Out of stock

Mr B's review

In ‘Seven Brief Lessons on Physics’, the mechanics of the universe was made intelligible for us laymen – now Rovelli turns his attention to the lives of those individuals whose intellectual endeavours shaped that knowledge. In this author’s hands, these scientists were adventurers.

Description

CHOSEN AS A BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE TIMES, FINANCIAL TIMES, SUNDAY TIMES, GUARDIAN AND PROSPECT

The instant Sunday Times bestseller — a beautiful story of rebellion and science

‘Popular science has rarely been so good’ Prospect

‘A thrilling story, written with wit and panache’ John Banville

In June 1925, twenty-three-year-old Werner Heisenberg, suffering from hay fever, 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 wrestled with an idea that would transform the whole of science and our very conception of the world.

In Helgoland Carlo Rovelli tells the story of the birth of quantum physics and its bright young founders who were to become some of the most famous Nobel winners in science. It is a celebration of youthful rebellion and intellectual revolution. An invitation to a magical place.

Here Rovelli illuminates competing interpretations of this science and offers his own original view, describing the world we touch as a fabric woven by relations. Where we, as every other thing around us, exist in our interactions with one another, in a never-ending game of mirrors.

A dazzling work from one of our most celebrated scientists and master storyteller, Helgoland transports us to dizzying heights, reminding us of the many pleasures of the life of the mind.

Translated by Erica Segre and Simon Carnell

Publisher Review

A global superstar. . . Rovelli is making the grammar of the universe accessible to a new generation * Channel 4 News * With the publication of his million-selling book Seven Brief Lessons on Physics, Rovelli took his place with Stephen Hawking and Richard Feynman as one of the great popularisers of modern theoretical physics — Sam Leith * Spectator * Rovelli is a brilliant and lucid teacher who uses his understanding of theoretical physics and the quantum world to talk about the complexity of our everyday reality — Russell Brand Carlo Rovelli’s imaginative rigour, his lively humour and his beautiful writing are inspiring — Erica Wagner Rovelli opens windows onto the imagination for all of us — Antony Gormley Physics has found its poet. . . Rovelli is a wonderfully humane, gentle and witty guide for he is as much philosopher and poet as he is a scientist — John Banville Carlo Rovelli is a genius and an amazing communicator. . . What I love about his writing is that it always comes back to people — people interacting with other people, who are interacting with their world. This is the place where science comes to life — Neil Gaiman

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