Reality Is Not What It Seems: The Journey to Quantum Gravity

by Carlo Rovelli, Simon Carnell (Translator), Erica Segre (Translator)

Overview

“The man who makes physics sexy . . . the scientist they’re calling the next Stephen Hawking.” —The Times Magazine

From the New York Times–bestselling author of Seven Brief Lessons on Physics, The Order of Time, and the forthcoming Helgoland, a closer look at the mind-bending nature of the universe.

What are the elementary ingredients of the world? Do time and space exist? And what exactly is reality? In elegant and accessible prose, theoretical physicist Carlo Rovelli leads us on a wondrous journey from Democritus to Einstein, from Michael Faraday to gravitational waves, and from classical physics to his own work in quantum gravity. As he shows us how the idea of reality has evolved over time, Rovelli offers deeper explanations of the theories he introduced so concisely in Seven Brief Lessons on Physics. Rovelli invites us to imagine a marvelous world where space breaks up into tiny grains, time disappears at the smallest scales, and black holes are waiting to explode—a vast universe still largely undiscovered.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780735213937
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	01/23/2018
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	48,693
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.10(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Carlo Rovelli is a theoretical physicist who has made significant contributions to the physics of space and time. He has worked in Italy and the United States and currently directs the quantum gravity research group of the Centre de Physique Théorique in Marseille, France. His books, including Seven Brief Lessons on Physics, The Order of Time, and Helgoland, are international bestsellers that have been translated into more than fifty languages.

Read an Excerpt

INTRODUCTION Walking Along the Shore
(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "Reality Is Not What It Seems"
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Copyright © 2018 Carlo Rovelli.
Excerpted by permission of Penguin Publishing Group.
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Table of Contents

Preface 1

Introduction: Walking Along the Shore 5

Part 1 Roots

1 Grains 15

Is there a Limit to Divisibility? 23

The Nature of Things 32

2 The Classics 41

ISAAC and the Little Moon 41

Michael: Fields and Light 53

Part 2 The Beginning of the Revolution

3 Albert 67

The Extended Present 69

The Most Beautiful of Theories 77

Mathematics or Physics? 91

The Cosmos 94

4 Quanta 109

Albert Again 110

Niels, Werner, and Paul 114

Fields and Particles are the Same Thing 126

Quanta 1 Information is Finite 130

Quanta 2 Indeterminacy 132

Quanta 3 Reality is Relational 134

But do we Really Understand? 137

Part 3 Quantum Space and Relational Time

5 Spacetime Is Quantum 147

Matvei 151

John 154

The Loops' First Steps 159

6 Quanta of Space 161

Spectra of Volume and Area 163

Atoms of Space 169

Spin Networks 171

7 Time Does Not Exist 175

Time is not What we Think it is 177

The Candle Chandelier and the Pulse 179

Spacetime Sushi 183

Spinfoams 186

What is the World Made of? 192

Part 4 Beyond Space and Time

8 Beyond the Big Bang 201

The Master 201

Quantum Cosmology 206

9 Empirical Confirmations? 210

Signs from Nature 214

A Window onto Quantum Gravity 218

10 Quantum Black Holes 222

11 The End of Infinity 230

12 Information 238

Thermal Time 249

Reality and Information 253

13 Mystery 258

Notes 266

Annotated Bibliography 270

Index 273

Editorial Reviews

Some physicists, mind you, not many of them, are physicist-poets. They see the world or, more adequately, physical reality, as a lyrical narrative written in some hidden code that the human mind can decipher. Carlo Rovelli, the Italian physicist and author, is one of them…Rovelli's book is a gem. It's a pleasure to read, full of wonderful analogies and imagery and, last but not least, a celebration of the human spirit.”—NPR Cosmos & Culture
 
“If your desire to be awestruck by the universe we inhabit needs refreshing, theoretical physicist Carlo Rovelli…is up to the task.”—Elle

“[Reality Is Not What It Seems] is simultaneously aimed at the curious layperson while also useful to the modern scientist… Rovelli lets us nibble or gorge ourselves, depending on our appetites, on several scrumptious equations. He doesn’t expect everyone to be a master of the equations or even possess much mathematical acumen, but the equations serve as appetizers for those inclined to get their fill, so to speak.”—Raleigh News & Observer

“With its warm, enthusiastic language and tone, [Seven Brief Lessons on Physics] is also deeply humanistic in approach, using words like elegant and beauty about a subject…that can seem impenetrably dense and abstract…Reality Is Not What It Seems takes much the same approach.”—New York Magazine

“Rovelli writes beautiful prose while walking the reader through the history and concept of 'reality' and what it all means for the yet to be discovered universe and thus our own lives.”—Pasadena Star-News

“Rovelli writes with elegance, clarity and charm. . . . A joy to read, as well as being an intellectual feast.”—New Statesman

“Rovelli offers vast, complex ideas beyond most of our imagining—‘quanta,’ ‘grains of space,’ ‘time and the heat of black holes’—and condenses them into spare, beautiful words that render them newly explicable and moving.”—On Being with Krista Tippett

“Rovelli’s lyrical language, clarity of thought, and passion for science and its history make the title a pleasure to read (albeit slowly), and his diagrams and footnotes will allow readers to understand the material better and tackle a more expert level of insight.”—Booklist

“Rovelli smoothly conveys the differences between belief and proof. . . his excitement is contagious and he delights in the possibilities of human understanding.”—Publishers Weekly

“Science buffs will admire Rovelli's lucid writing…Cutting-edge theoretical physics for a popular audience that obeys the rules (little math, plenty of drawings), but it's not for the faint of heart.”—Kirkus Reviews

“A fascinating adventure into the outer limits of space and into the smallest atom…Rovelli manages to break down complex, proven ideas into smaller, easily assimilated concepts so those with little to no scientific background can understand the fundamental ideas…Rovelli's infectious enthusiasm and excitement for his subject help carry readers over the more difficult aspects, allowing one to let the imagination soar…An exciting description of the evolution of physics takes readers to the edge of human knowledge of the universe.”—Shelf Awareness

“Rovelli draws deep physics into the light with rather greater success... He wears a broad erudition lightly, casually and clearly explaining.”—Read It Forward

From the Publisher

11/14/2016
In his latest explanatory work, Rovelli (Seven Brief Lessons on Physics), a theoretical physicist and proponent of loop quantum gravity, sets himself the difficult task of attempting to clarify for laypeople the most recent scientific theories about the nature of the universe. He begins with historical lessons, going back to philosophical questions posed in Western antiquity. Rovelli races forward through the work of Newton, Faraday, and Maxwell to get to how Einstein refined and added to the field theories of electromagnetism. One of the book’s strengths is the picture Rovelli develops of how scientists build on the work of others. But the bulk of the book focuses on evaluating the perplexing nature of space and time, which, as they are commonly understood, appear to be little more than convenient constructs. “Space is created by the interaction of individual quanta of gravity,” Rovelli writes, while “the world is made entirely made from quantum fields.” The difficulty of understanding this aside, Rovelli smoothly conveys the differences between belief and proof, and concludes with a lovely chapter on being ignorant and eager for the next discovery. Rovelli’s work is challenging, but his excitement is contagious and he delights in the possibilities of human understanding. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

Here’s a flawless, up-to-date history of physics, from antiquity to yesterday (almost). One can’t tell that it’s translated from Italian, so smoothly does the narration flow. Narrator Roy McMillan’s voice gives the impression of a learned speaker embarking on a friendly explanation of abstruse concepts and discoveries. Having listened to many science audiobooks and other presentations, this reviewer says that this is one of the best. For example, quantum theory, well known to be opaque to even highly trained scientists, is described so lucidly that the listener almost understands it. That’s saying something. D.R.W. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine

FEBRUARY 2017 - AudioFile

2016-10-20
When theoretical physicist Rovelli's Seven Lessons in Physics became an international bestseller in 2015, his Italian publisher proceeded to translate this, his previous book, which turns out to be an admirable addition to a popular genre: explaining what scientists know about the universe and their struggles to learn more.Most authors in this subject begin with the Greeks and make their ways through Newton, Galileo, and Maxwell to the glories of Einstein's relativity and the founders of quantum mechanics. In good hands, this is a smooth ride, and Rovelli—the head of the Quantum Gravity group at Aix-Marseille University and one of the founders of the loop quantum gravity theory—is good. Then the story gets tougher. Relativity and quantum mechanics are incompatible, and physicists today are trying to combine them to produce a single, satisfying theory of everything. This requires complex ideas that dissect everything, space-time included, to a very, very tiny state where their quintessence emerges. Rovelli delivers a respectful nod to string theory, but he belongs to the rival school of quantum loop gravity, the central feature of which is that space itself is quantized. "The central prediction of loop theory is…that space is not a continuum," writes the author, "it is not divisible ad infinitum, it is formed of ‘atoms of space,' a billion billion times smaller than the smallest of atomic nuclei." Got it? For some readers, the narrative will be a slog. Science buffs will admire Rovelli's lucid writing, but at some point, many will realize that they no longer understand. Cutting-edge theoretical physics for a popular audience that obeys the rules (little math, plenty of drawings), but it's not for the faint of heart.

Kirkus Reviews