Helgoland

Making Sense of the Quantum Revolution

By: Carlo Rovelli, Erica Segre - translator, Simon Carnell - translator

Narrated by: David Rintoul

Length: 4 hrs and 31 mins

Publisher's summary

Named a Best Book of 2021 by the Financial Times and a Best Science Book of 2021 by The Guardian

“Rovelli is a genius and an amazing communicator.... This is the place where science comes to life.” (Neil Gaiman)

“One of the warmest, most elegant and most lucid interpreters to the laity of the dazzling enigmas of his discipline...[a] momentous book.” (John Banville, The Wall Street Journal)

A startling new look at quantum theory, from the New York Times best-selling author of Seven Brief Lessons on Physics and The Order of Time.

One of the world's most renowned theoretical physicists, Carlo Rovelli has entranced millions of readers with his singular perspective on the cosmos. In Helgoland, he examines the enduring enigma of quantum theory. The quantum world Rovelli describes is as beautiful as it is unnerving.

Helgoland is a treeless island in the North Sea where the 23-year-old Werner Heisenberg made the crucial breakthrough for the creation of quantum mechanics, setting off a century of scientific revolution. Full of alarming ideas (ghost waves, distant objects that seem to be magically connected, cats that appear both dead and alive), quantum physics has led to countless discoveries and technological advancements. Today our understanding of the world is based on this theory, yet it is still profoundly mysterious.

As scientists and philosophers continue to fiercely debate the meaning of the theory, Rovelli argues that its most unsettling contradictions can be explained by seeing the world as fundamentally made of relationships rather than substances. We and everything around us exist only in our interactions with one another. This bold idea suggests new directions for thinking about the structure of reality and even the nature of consciousness.

Rovelli makes learning about quantum mechanics an almost psychedelic experience. Shifting our perspective once again, he takes us on a riveting journey through the universe so we can better comprehend our place in it.

©2020 Carlo Rovelli; translation 2021 Erica Segre and Simon Carnell (P)2021 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“This entertaining and legible guide paints the history of quantum theory and lays out its possible meanings.” (Scientific American)

“Physicist Rovelli (The Order of Time) dazzles with this look at the 'almost psychedelic experience’ of understanding quantum theory.... These are big ideas, but Rovelli easily leads readers through the knotty logic, often with lyricism.... Readers who follow along will be left in awe.” (Publishers Weekly, starred review)

“Bracing and refreshing…Rovelli is offering a new way to understand not just the world but our place in it, too.” (NPR)

“Rovelli tackles both the quantum realm and the ways it helps us make sense of the mind with refreshing clarity.” (Anil Ananthaswamy, The New York Times Book Review)

a wonderful fresh view on the quantum

Rovelli has taken me on a journey from the conception of quantum mechanics to one of the most interesting interpretations I have encountered and finally has sparked some thought about the relation on the mind/body issues giving also a bright and fresh new perspective! great great great

The stuff dreams are made on

Each book by Carlo continues to be more beautiful and captivating than the last. His writing consistently is able to reach inside my brain and scratch every itching question (pleasant imagery, I know). He combines my curiosity of physics with a deep poetic sense of what it is to be human/an observer. Onward I go to the next Carlo Rovelli book.

Short Listen, Non-Technical

But quite worthwhile. Gives interesting background on some of the greatest scientists of the 20th century

very interesting

I knew next to nothing about quantum physics before listening to this book, and now I know something about it. There's a lot of philosophy weaved in this book about science, and that is new to me too. I will probably listen to this again sometime in the hopes of more fully understanding what the author is saying.

Exploring the wondrous world of quantum

Loved the journey. The author takes the listener on a thoughtful quest into quantum physics. It’s impossible to only listen to it once!

The Quantum Revolution "for poets"

Remember those college courses in math and science for non-majors (“poets”)? Helgoland: Making Sense of the Quantum Revolution is an exposition of the quantum revolution for someone more grounded in humanities than in the sciences or mathematics (the only way in which I qualify as a “poet”). I found Helgoland both challenging and entrancing.

While Rovelli gestures toward quantum theory’s significance outside the world of theoretical physics, he acknowledges and, in this layperson’s opinion, seems to take pains to avoid what has been called ‘Quantum BS”. He explains quantum theory as a mind-bendingly intriguing alternative view of reality to that provided by classic physics and several thousand years of cultural tradition. Nothing more, nothing less. Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle had always seemed to me profound but basic. Now I begin to understand its radical consequences in terms of science and knowledge in general. And I finally understand the fuss about Schrödinger’s cat! The narrator is also superb.

Fabulous!

As a retired engineer, I found this most insightful. I am rethinking my understanding of physics (quantum) as it was taught to me at university. Bravo!!!

Rovelli's Relational QM is Decisive

Finally, Carlo Rovelli has produced a popular version of material that has been available in more academic form for quite some time (as an entry in the online Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Rovelli's seminal 1996 paper on arxiv.org, etc). This book is the coming out party of Relational Quantum Mechanics - the correct and definitive interpretation of QM.

One sentence summarizes the entire idea: "The joint properties of two objects exist only in relation to a third." When reading anything about QM, keeping this one mantra in mind clarifies the entire project.

For example, this clarifies entanglement. Specifically, the Schrodinger's Cat thought experiment plays out in a very lucid way under Relational QM. In a system consisting of a quantum trigger and a cat, said system really is in a quantum superposition WITH RESPECT TO, say, me, an external observer. This is the joint properties (state) of this system in relation to me. But said joint properties can be different in relation to another entity, namely, the cat, which is indeed not in a superposition. In other words, the superposition really is ontic, but not from every perspective. This is as opposed to such things being epistemic - merely related to our knowledge of things. Quantum interference, Shor's Algorithm leveraging superposed True-False states in quantum computing... these are all very real things, but they do not exist absolutely, only from specific vantage points - their existence is relational. This is profound and truly is the best interpretation of QM.

I also appreciate Rovelli tackling the concept of "meaning" from an informational perspective, later in the book. This is a hot topic in information theoretic circles, e.g. recent papers by Artemy Kolchinsky and David Wolpert, etc., and even popular material c.f. Donald Hoffman. Clearly, Carlo Rovelli is the vanguard of humanity's best thinking here in the 21st century, and therefore will not be fully appreciated for decades yet to come.

A final note on the audio vs physical book. The physical book includes notes which are not reproduced here, and are important in that they often give the proper name to concepts discussed in otherwise romantic language, e.g. quantum decoherence. So do read the physical book and all its notes. But, this book is so short and the ideas so efficient and profound that it deserves additional readings, and these are quite nicely served by the audio book.

The World is Stranger the We Know

Loved it! Entertaining and profound. It will be listened to again. It is a book that gives and gives.

Brief, dense and riveting

I think Carlo Rovelli writes absolutely lyrical books about very technical topics in physics. To me, this book makes the most sense of what quantum physics may be “telling us” about the nature of the universe and consciousness. And he does so in a friendly, happy and accessible way. Just great.