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Helgoland by Carlo Rovelli

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Helgoland by Carlo Rovelli

Named a Best Book of 2021 by the Financial Times and a Best Science Book of 2021 by The Guardian

"Rovelli is a genius and an amazing communicator... This is the place where science comes to life." ―Neil Gaiman

"One of the warmest, most elegant and most lucid interpreters to the laity of the dazzling enigmas of his discipline...[a] momentous book" ―John Banville, The Wall Street Journal


A startling new look at quantum theory, from the New York Times bestselling author of Seven Brief Lessons on Physics, The Order of Time, and  Anaximander.

One of the world's most renowned theoretical physicists, Carlo Rovelli has entranced millions of readers with his singular perspective on the cosmos. In Helgoland, he examines the enduring enigma of quantum theory. The quantum world Rovelli describes is as beautiful as it is unnerving.

Helgoland is a treeless island in the North Sea where the twenty-three-year-old Werner Heisenberg made the crucial breakthrough for the creation of quantum mechanics, setting off a century of scientific revolution. Full of alarming ideas (ghost waves, distant objects that seem to be magically connected, cats that appear both dead and alive), quantum physics has led to countless discoveries and technological advancements. Today our understanding of the world is based on this theory, yet it is still profoundly mysterious.

As scientists and philosophers continue to fiercely debate the meaning of the theory, Rovelli argues that its most unsettling contradictions can be explained by seeing the world as 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.

Rovelli makes learning about quantum mechanics an almost psychedelic experience. Shifting our perspective once again, he takes us on a riveting journey through the universe so we can better comprehend our place in it.

Carlo Rovelli was born in 1956 in Verona, Italy, and received his Ph.D. from the University of Verona. In 1986, he received his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Padua. For the creation of the loop approach to quantum gravity and research on the foundations of the physics of space and time, he received the Xanthopoulos International Award in 1996. General relativity, gravitational physics, and the philosophy of space and time are among Professor Rovelli's principal research interests. He has over 100 articles in international physics journals to his credit, as well as contributions to major encyclopedias.

SKU Unavailable
ISBN 13 9780593328897
ISBN 10 0593328892
Title Helgoland
Author Carlo Rovelli
Condition Unavailable
Binding Type Paperback
Publisher Penguin Putnam Inc
Year published 2022-05-24
Number of pages 256
Cover note Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.