Rating: 7/10
“These lessons were written for those who know little or nothing about modern science“, begins the preface of this bite-sized book (just 79 well-spaced pages).
Originally a series of newspaper articles, Rovelli’s seven brief lessons cover: (i) the general theory of relativity; (ii) quantum mechanics; (iii) the architecture of the cosmos; (iv) (elementary) particles; (v) quantum gravity; (vi) probability, time, and the black hole thermodynamics; and, finally, (vii) the nature of ourselves.
A great conceit, but I found it flawed. With some background in modern science, I expected either a polished refresher, or an approachable high-level summary. Instead, it was often neither, both, or everything in between. The lessons range from high-level theory to abstract explorations of science and philosophy. While interesting, the inconsistency stopped me from loving it.
Still, it’s short enough to overlook these issues and simply enjoy the journey. Rovelli’s clearly a skilled science writer, with memorable quotes and thought-provoking insights. I’ll certainly explore his other, more substantial works. For now, some quotes that stuck with me:
We are made of the same stardust of which all things are made, and when we are immersed in suffering or when we are experiencing intense joy we are being nothing other than what we can’t help but be: a part of our world.
- The difference between past and future only exists when there is heat
- In his youth Albert Einstein spent a year loafing aimlessly. You don’t get anywhere by not ‘wasting’ time- something, unfortunately, that the parents of teenagers tend frequently to forget
- Genius hesitates.
- Here, on the edge of what we know, in contact with the ocean of the unknown, shines the mystery and beauty of the world. And it’s breathtaking.
- We are perhaps the only species on Earth to be conscious of the inevitability of our individual mortality. I fear that soon we shall also have to become the only species that will knowingly watch the coming of its own collective demise, or at least the demise of its civilization.
- Ever since we discovered that Earth is round and turns like a mad spinning-top, we have understood that reality is not as it appears to us.
- Once again, the world seems to be less about objects than about interactive relationships.
- Life is precious to us because it is ephemeral.
- The heat of black holes is like the Rosetta stone of physics, written in a combination of three languages- quantum, gravitational, and thermodynamic- still awaiting decipherment in order to reveal the true nature of time.
- An individual is a process: complex, tightly integrated.
- People like us, who believe in physics, know that the distinction made between past, present and future is nothing more than a persistent, stubborn illusion.
- Perhaps it is we who have not yet learned to look at it from just the right point of view, one that would reveal its hidden simplicity.