A review by hazmatzo
Existential Physics: A Scientist's Guide to Life's Biggest Questions by Sabine Hossenfelder

challenging informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

5.0

This was one of the more fun physics books I’ve read!

The chapter on time blew my mind. All of the philosophical questions discussed with the backing of science! Solipsism, dualism, etc, etc. And I loved the little snippets of conversations with other scientists that the author weaves in to tackle the big topics. 

This was my favorite quote:

Entropy counts the different possible micro states. The state of the system is only in one micro state. The statement that it can be in any other state is counter factual. It refers to states that do not exist in reality. They exist only mathematically. We consider them just because we do not know what the true state of the system is. Entropy is thus a measure of our own ignorance, not a measure of the actual state of the system.

Just, wow! I know what entropy is, but I’ve never thought of it exactly that way before.

Is it this book, or the Ocean World by Jacques Cousteau, or Hyperspace by Michiu Kaku that’s my favorite science book of all time? I just don’t know. It’s a tossup! 

I may have to reread this book. There was so much there.