Helgoland - tildebooks

208 pages

English language

Published Nov. 13, 2021 by Penguin Books.

ISBN:: 978-0-241-45469-5

(1 review)

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 …

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.

6 editions

dozens reviewed Helgoland by Carlo Rovelli

Review of 'Helgoland' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Author: "I'm a physicist, not a philosopher."

Also author: proceeds to spend half the book pondering the nature of meaning, knowledge, experience, and existence

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The first half of the book is an interesting history of quantum physics.

The second half of the book is a treatise on "quantum physics and the meaning of life" that remains beyond my ability to understand after a casual reading.

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Short, interesting, thought provoking. No reason not to read it if you have a free afternoon.