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Reality is not what it seems : the journey to quantum gravity / Carlo Rovelli ; translated by Simon Carnell and Erica Segre.

by Rovelli, Carlo, 1956-

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Riverhead Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House, 2017, c2016.

Quantum gravity.

Quantum theory.

9780735213920 (hc.)

Realtà non è come ci appare. English

First American edition

280 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm

Originally published in 2014 in Italian under the title: La Realtà non è come ci appare.

English translation published in Great Britain by Allen Lane, an imprint of Penguin Random House UK

Includes bibliographical references and index

Grains ; Is there a limit to divisibility? ; The nature of things -- The classics ; Isaac and the little moon ; Michael: fields and light -- Albert ; The extended present ; The most beautiful of theories ; Mathematics or physics? ; The cosmos -- Quanta ; Albert again ; Niels, Werner, and Paul ; Fields and particles are the same thing ; Quanta 1: Information is finite ; Quanta 2: Indeterminacy ; Quanta 3: Reality is relation ; But do we really understand? -- Spacetime is quantum ; Matvei ; John ; The loop's first steps -- Quanta of space ; Spectra of volume and area ; Atoms of space ; Spin networks -- Time does not exist ; Time is not what we think it is ; The candle chandelier and the pulse ; Spacetime sushi spinfoam ; What is the world made of? -- Beyond the big bang ; The master ; Quantum cosmology -- Empirical confirmations? ; Signals from nature ; A window onto quantum gravity -- Quantum black holes -- The end of infinity -- Information ; Thermal time ; Reality and information -- Mystery

"A close look at the mind-bending nature of the universe. What are the elementary ingredients of the world? What exactly is reality? Theoretical physicist Carlo Rovelli has spent his life exploring these questions. Our understanding of reality and the structure of the universe has changed over the centuries. Rovelli takes us on a wondrous journey from Democritus to Albert Einstein, from Michael Faraday to gravitational waves, and from classical physics to his own work in quantum gravity. As he shows us how the idea of reality has evolved over time, Rovelli offers deeper explanations of the theories he introduced so concisely in Seven Brief Lessons on Physics. This book culminates in a lucid overview of quantum gravity, the field of research that explores the quantum nature of space and time, seeking to unify quantum mechanics and general relativity. Rovelli invites us to imagine a marvelous world where space breaks up into tiny grains, time disappears at the smallest scales, and black holes are waiting to explode. Carlo Rovelli is an Italian theoretical physicist"--Provided by publisher.

Carnell, Simon, 1962-

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