Seven Brief Lessons on Physics by Carlo Rovelli.
First, let’s talk about the size of this book…
In less than 100 pages, Rovelli distills the essential outlines of the biggest theories in physics’ past and present. This was both a strength of the book, and a weakness.
Page one opens with: “These lessons were written for those who know little to nothing about modern science.” I think this book was meant as a physics teaser. The idea might have been to tell readers all the juicy secrets about physics, but not nearly enough so that they feel satisfied. And it worked! At least on me.
I was frustrated at first because Rovelli was skimming the surface of some of the most beautiful and elegant theories in physics (check out The Elegant Universe by Richard Greene). But that was the point. It was an appetizer.
I realized this when Rovelli introduced theories such as quantum loop gravity, a topic on which I’ve never read. He piqued my curiosity without going into the science as much as its implications. That’s how he hooks you.
The tease is frustrating, but it all pays off in the last chapter. Rovelli redirects the attention from the cosmos to ourselves (something everyone likes, admit it).
Like his description in the sixth lesson of stars collapsing into black holes then rebounding to reemerge into the universe, our thoughts are turned in towards ourselves, then back out so we can reflect on how we are actually the universe, not just a part of it. Humans are not special. A healthy reminder.
We, as in our feelings of “I,” emerge out of the laws of nature, and that doesn’t degrade us in anyway. As he puts it, it makes us and our experiences and our feelings more real.
I really appreciate it when science writers go out of their way to emphasize that science and feelings, and also science and art or culture, are not at odds. Understanding your feelings and the culture or art that comes out of them doesn’t make them any less real.
Then he ends by putting our curiosity, existence, and trajectory into perspective:
“One hundred thousand years ago, our species left Africa, compelled perhaps by precisely this curiosity, learning to look ever farther afield. Flying over Africa by night, I wondered if one of these distant ancestors setting out toward the wide-open spaces of the North could have looked up into the sky and imagined a distant descendant flying up there, pondering on the nature of things and still driven by his very same curiosity.“
Seven Brief Lessons on Physics by Carlo Rovelli.
Sonoran Stargazer 