Seven Brief Lessons on Physics
Intelligent
Deep
Thought provoking

Seven Brief Lessons on Physics

Carlo Rovelli2016
Instant New York Times Bestseller "Short and resonant. . . . The essays in Seven Brief Lessons on Physics arrive like shots of espresso."--The New York Times "A startling and illustrative distillation of centuries of science."--The Economist "Lean, lucid and enchanting."--New Scientist The international bestseller that reveals all the beauty of modern physics in seven short and enlightening lessons Seven Brief Lessons on Physics is a book about the joy of discovery. Carlo Rovelli brings a playful, entertaining, and mind-bending introduction to modern physics, offering surprising--and surprisingly easy to grasp--explanations of Einstein's general relativity, quantum mechanics, elementary particles, gravity, black holes, the complex architecture of the universe, and the role humans play in this weird and wonderful world. He takes us to the frontiers of our knowledge: to the most minute reaches of the fabric of space, back to the origins of the cosmos, and into the workings of our minds. "Here, on the edge of what we know, in contact with the ocean of the unknown, shines the mystery and the beauty of the world," Rovelli writes. "And it's breathtaking."
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Reviews

Photo of Timeo Williams
Timeo Williams@timeowilliams
4 stars
Jun 5, 2024

Excellent intro and overview of the development of both quantum and relativity theory as of now. Interesting thoughts on loop quantum gravity and the idea of getting rid of time, and a new way of looking at heat/thermodynamics.

Photo of César Steven Toribio
César Steven Toribio@cesarsteven
5 stars
Dec 8, 2023

Eighty-one pages of distilled science and beauty.

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Hernando@heagma
4 stars
Mar 22, 2023

A while ago (circa 6 years) I read a book called something like "Linux for dumb, naive and extremely clumsy people". It got my attention as the tittle was really weird for a learning book, but I picked it up and read it. It was interesting to read all the things the author said about those people who are not actually stupids but when you try to explain them something as hard as you can they just don't get it , they just simply don't understand that easily and that can happen to any people with any other topic. This book reminds me that, in the way that many people don't really understand what's the deal with general relativity and then quantum mechanics and then with thermodynamics and then again with a world full of probabilities. But still, there are people out there with a profound gift to teach (like in this case ) who want to explain all those topics in simple words; The author here make things very simple, kind of like ELA5. He gets quite emotional towards the end but I can understand why. He seems to be loving what he is doing as a theoretical physicist. All the best for him and his team with that weird theory of loop quantum gravity.

Photo of Jasmine Stanway
Jasmine Stanway@jestanwaywrites
3 stars
Jan 5, 2023

I enjoyed this book. I read a little bit every few days when I had the time, and it was lovely to increase my knowledge of physics. I wasn’t terribly keen on the final chapter, I didn’t really see what it had to do with the subject of physics and it stated certain theories as facts that I personally don’t believe in. But overall I found it very interesting. Carlo Rovelli has a compelling writing style in addition to his vast knowledge of physics, and this was a great choice to pull me out of my reading slump!

Photo of Eva Decker
Eva Decker@evadecker
2 stars
Jan 4, 2023

Seven Brief Lessons is neither here nor there. It's not poetic enough to inspire, yet not detailed enough to be instructional. It's marketed as a beginner's guide to physics, yet leaves major concepts unexplained (despite finding it appropriate to include certain complex mathematical formulas), grasping at once in every direction, and thus in no direction at all. Includes a long, winding tangent at the end about how the world is doomed. Flashy book cover, though.

Photo of Stef
Stef@faninos
4 stars
Jan 2, 2023

"Our universe may have been born from a bounce in a prior phase, passing through an intermediate phase in which there was neither space nor time." Six basic lessons of physic which not simple but really making me to learn physic even more.

Photo of Mudita
Mudita@muditasis
3 stars
Dec 28, 2022

This book is something that might get you inspired or interested in physics, but you’re not going to learn much from just it. The lessons are at a very high/abstracted level. Quite nicely written though.

Photo of Daniel Lauzon
Daniel Lauzon@daneroo
5 stars
Sep 5, 2022

A whirlwind overview of 7 fundamental aspects of physical reality. The author is a great storyteller, weaving through this very human endeavor. Oh, .. and it's a lot of fun!

Photo of Dana Kraft
Dana Kraft@dkatx
3 stars
Aug 15, 2022

This book is appropriately titled except for the last chapter about "ourselves." Definitely didnt care for the last chapter. I didn't find myself swept up in the author's passion for the beauty of physics, nor did this make me interested in reading more about these subjects or physics in general. Normally, I'm a sucker for this kind of stuff and i'm not sure why i found this kind of flat. I think i would have liked more about practical applications of these issues.

Photo of Irene Alegre
Irene Alegre@irenealegre
5 stars
Aug 15, 2022

I will probably need to re-read this a couple of times so that it makes some sense to me, but God isn't it beautiful. And fascinating.

Photo of brendan sudol
brendan sudol@bren
4 stars
Aug 12, 2022

lovely prose, content a bit skimpy

Photo of Rebeca Keren Nuñez
Rebeca Keren Nuñez@rebecanunez
4 stars
Jun 17, 2022

Muy interesante. Utiliza un lenguaje que se puede comprender. Me recuerda un poco a un libro de Stephen Hawking que leí hace poco, sobre todo en la forma, los contenidos si bien tienen puntos comunes, son diferentes.

Photo of Cindy Lieberman
Cindy Lieberman@chicindy
3 stars
Mar 26, 2022

The author read the audiobook, so I was challenged to understand the physics while trying to understand what he was saying. The author has an excellent command of English but speaks with a heavy accent that made it more difficult. I recommend reading the print version to get the most out of it.

Photo of Meriem💫
Meriem💫@mer_iem
5 stars
Mar 10, 2022

I am positively starstruck. That last chapter just completely bewildered me. Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. A little booklet to zoom oneself out in perspective and think, for once, about how completely, infinitely massive and incomprehensible the universe it.

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ana@judewillem
3 stars
Mar 3, 2022

2.5*

Photo of Pranav Mutatkar
Pranav Mutatkar@pranavmutatkar
5 stars
Dec 30, 2021

An elegant introduction to physics and why its neccesary for anybody regardless of your background to see the beauty and poetry in it. Rovelli does a good job of taking the layperson and thrusting him in. Creating a gateway drug hopefully so that the "non math people" and the "not a science person" will realize that math and science are just as important and just as beautiful and creative as everything else.

Photo of Tanja Hoffmann
Tanja Hoffmann@sabsile
4 stars
Dec 13, 2021

Would have liked a longer section on the theory of relativity, but otherwise great! Phenomenal writing.

Photo of Kerry Gibbons
Kerry Gibbons@kerryiscool
4 stars
Dec 6, 2021

I weirdly feel like I now understand a bit better what quanta are... And I had a revelation during the last chapter about fractals and humans and neurons. It was kind of a big deal for me, even though it wasn't really what he was talking about. He explains everything simply but not very dumbed down. Highly recommend it as an audiobook. Very quick listen (approx 1 hour on 1.5x speed). It will also make you feel very smart. Do not highly recommend listening to this on the way to a dinner party unless you want to bore people. Because you'll want to talk about it.

Photo of Nikolay Bachiyski
Nikolay Bachiyski@nb
3 stars
Nov 19, 2021

Tiny book, approachable explanations of the big ideas in physics. Far from practical, but the simplicity of some of those theories can count as beautiful.

Photo of Jeni Enjaian
Jeni Enjaian@jenienjaian
4 stars
Oct 30, 2021

I enjoyed this book. Rovelli writes with confident knowledge that flows beautifully together. He truly brings physics to an understandable level without "dumbing it down" for the "regular" reader like myself without any physics training. The reason I give the book four stars instead of five is because the conclusion appears to veer away from physics and felt more difficult to understand. (Granted, that might have been because I was falling asleep when I read the first few pages of the conclusion and finished the book when I picked it up in the morning.)

Photo of Rebeca Keren Nuñez
Rebeca Keren Nuñez@rebecanunez
4 stars
Oct 25, 2021

Muy interesante. Utiliza un lenguaje que se puede comprender. Me recuerda un poco a un libro de Stephen Hawking que leí hace poco, sobre todo en la forma, los contenidos si bien tienen puntos comunes, son diferentes.

Photo of Hugo Ahlberg
Hugo Ahlberg@hugo
5 stars
Aug 17, 2021

Physics as poetry This book was a joy to read. It deals with super complex topics, but in a very approachable and humble way. It’s beautiful as well, sometimes like poetry which perhaps is not what you expect from a book on physics.. There are definitely parts which I still don’t grasp despite re-reading them. Like the chapter on thermodynamics—the relationship between heat, probability and time. However, I would be the first to admit that is probably more due to my limited capabilities than anything else.

Photo of Jeremy Cote
Jeremy Cote@cote
4 stars
Aug 7, 2021

I really loved this book, since it was short and very informative. I always like to read a high-level overview of physics, since wading through the mathematics all the time can take long (though it is enjoyable). I recommend this to anyone interested in our universe.

Photo of Les Reynolds
Les Reynolds@lreynolds
5 stars
Jul 29, 2021

Elegantly and beautifully explores complex realities. Sometimes breathtaking in the way that he writes about science, but also the deeper truths of reality. A short book that is best read slowly.

Highlights

Photo of Amelia Hruby
Amelia Hruby@ameliajo

Here, on the edge of what we know, in contact with the ocean of the unknown, shines the mystery and the beauty of the world. And it's breathtaking.

Page 81
Photo of Amelia Hruby
Amelia Hruby@ameliajo

Our intense sensation of interior liberty, as Spinoza acutely saw, comes from the fact that the ideas and images that we have of ourselves are much cruder and sketchier than the detailed complexity of what is happening within us. We are the source of amazement in our own eyes.

We have a hundred billion neurons in our brains, as many as there are stars in a galaxy, with an even more astronomical number of links and potential combinations through which they can interact. We are not conscious of all of this. "We are the process formed by this entire intricacy, not just by the little of it of which we are conscious. The "I" who decides is that same "T" that is formed (in a way that is still certainly not completely clear, but that we have begun to glimpse) from reflections upon itself, through self-representations in the world, from understanding itself as a variable point of view placed in the context of the world, from that impressive structure that processes information and constructs repre sentations that is our brain. When we have the feeling that "it is I" who decides, we couldn't be more correct. Who else?

Page 74
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Amelia Hruby@ameliajo

The heat of black holes is a quantum effect upon an object, the black hole, which is gravitational in nature. It is the individual quanta of space, the elementary grains of space, the vibrating "molecules," that heat the surface of black holes and generate black hole heat. This phenomenon involves all three sides of the problem: quantum mechanics, general relativity, and thermal science. The heat of black holes is like the Rosetta stone of physics, written in a combination of three languages quantum, gravitational, and thermodynamicstill awaiting decipherment in order to reveal the true nature of time.

Page 64
Photo of Amelia Hruby
Amelia Hruby@ameliajo

Another way of posing the problem is to ask oneself: what is the "present"? We say that only the things of the present exist: the past no longer exists and the future doesn't exist yet. But in physics there is nothing that corresponds to the notion of the "now." Compare "now" with "here." "Here" designates the place where a speaker is: for two different people "here" points to two different places. Consequently "here" is a word the meaning of which depends on where it is spoken. The technical term for this kind of utterance is "indexical." "Now" also points to the instant in which the word is uttered and l5 also classed as indexical." But no one would dream Of saying that things "here" exist, whereas things that are not "here" do nọt exİSt. So then why do we say that things that are now exist and that everything else đoesn’t?

Page 59
Photo of Amelia Hruby
Amelia Hruby@ameliajo

The difference between past and future exists only when there is heat. The fundamental phenomenon that distinguishes the future from the past is the fact that heat passes from things that are hotter to things that are colder.

Page 53
Photo of Amelia Hruby
Amelia Hruby@ameliajo

Our world may have actually been born from a preceding universe that contracted under its own weight until it was squeezed into a tiny space before "bouncing" out and beginning to re-expand, thus becoming the expanding universe that we observe around us. The moment of this bounce, when the universe was contracted into a nutshell, is the true realm of quantum gravity: time and space have disappeared altogether, and the world has dissolved into a swarming cloud of probability that the equations can, however, still describe.

Page 48
Photo of Amelia Hruby
Amelia Hruby@ameliajo

Even if we observe a small, empty region of space in which there are no atoms, we still detect a minute Swarming of these particles. There is no such thing as a real void, one that is completely empty. Just as the calmest sea looked at closely sways and trembles, however slightly, so the fields that form the world are subject to minute fluctuations, and it is possible to imagine its basic particles having brief and ephemeral existences, continually created and destroyed by these movements.

Page 33
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Amelia Hruby@ameliajo

Before experiments, measurements, mathematics, and rigorous deductions, science is above all about visions. Science begins with a vision. Scientific thought is fed by the capacity to "see" things differently than they have previously been seen.

Page 24
Photo of Amelia Hruby
Amelia Hruby@ameliajo

In both cases the reward is sheer beauty and new eyes with which to see the world.

Page 12