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A review by rafasaur
Reality Is Not What It Seems: The Journey to Quantum Gravity by Carlo Rovelli
5.0
despite leaning heavily on talking about dead greek philosophers and italian poets, this book had some huge ideas and different ways of thinking about the way the universe works. being a physicist, i'm not sure if i can truly say if this is accessible to someone outside the profession, but it seems like it could be, if you're willing to give it the attention it'd require.
some takeaways for me:
- general relativity implies that spacetime is the gravitational field itself, not a medium through which gravity acts. whoa.
- relational quantum mechanics. this is the first time i'd heard or read qm described in this way, and it's seriously cool.
- time is an illusion (literally), and understanding the nature of entropy more could/will provide clues to what it actually is. something i had heard before, but the way rovelli put it made it more meaningful and connect on a deeper level. but it raises the question, how can it also be a dimension? more reading is required (rovelli himself says he does not understand it)
recommended to both those naive in physics and those versed in its ways. i'll definitely be rereading this in a few months.
some takeaways for me:
- general relativity implies that spacetime is the gravitational field itself, not a medium through which gravity acts. whoa.
- relational quantum mechanics. this is the first time i'd heard or read qm described in this way, and it's seriously cool.
- time is an illusion (literally), and understanding the nature of entropy more could/will provide clues to what it actually is. something i had heard before, but the way rovelli put it made it more meaningful and connect on a deeper level. but it raises the question, how can it also be a dimension? more reading is required (rovelli himself says he does not understand it)
recommended to both those naive in physics and those versed in its ways. i'll definitely be rereading this in a few months.