Seven Brief Lessons on Physics

Love chapter six: ‘probability, time, and the heat of black holes,' especially in regards to what he pointed out about indexicality and “the present.”

The subject of Physics causes brain freeze in most people, including me. However, this book is accessible! (Though at times a bit deep) It will open you up to thoughts you normally wouldn't think about. It is an amazing world we live in and this book helps to understand it.

”There is so much space up there that it is childish to think that in a peripheral corner of an ordinary galaxy there should be something uniquely special. Life on Earth gives only a small taste of what can happen in the universe. Our very soul itself is one such small example.”

A pretty good short explanation of modern day physics. Unfortunately it can be quite dense and difficult to read at times; I had to go over most sentences once or twice to understand them. The translated nature of it probably doesn’t help.

I’d highly recommend it if you’re interested in learning about the great questions we’re facing today, but be prepared to put a lot of mental energy into comprehending everything.

There are many other talented and charming physicists whose version of this information I wish I had read instead.

Really fast-reading book about essential things to know in physics.

I don't think I learned anything new from this book except for loop quantum gravity. It was more philosophical than I expected. Some of the quotes that left an impression on me:

“We are perhaps the only species on Earth to be conscious of the inevitability of our individual mortality. I fear that soon we shall also have to become the only species that will knowingly watch the coming of its own collective demise, or at least the demise of its civilization.”

“We are made of the same stardust of which all things are made, and when we are immersed in suffering or when we are experiencing intense joy we are being nothing other than what we can't help but be: a part of our world.”

“Life on Earth gives only a small taste of what can happen in the universe.”

4.5
Brilliant and gorgeous.

Really liked the theory of “The Big Bounce” – will have to look more at that later as well as Rovelli's other works.

This book is good but too short. After The Order of Time, I was pumped for more detail and stories. Carlo opened the door, but I want more!

Sette brevi lezioni di fisica che lasciano un'unico e semplice insegnamento: Abbiamo così tanto da imparare ancora.

Ho letto per la prima volta questo saggio durante i miei anni delle superiori, e mi affacciai su questo mondo stupendo e affascinante, per vari motivi allo stesso tempo non ci capii tantissimo. Il libro, anche se spiegate in parole molto semplici, affronta argomenti complessi e astratti, i quali non vanno sottovalutati, soprattutto se non si ha scolastica conoscenza della fisica come base. L'autore cerca di spiegare con la massima semplicità i concetti senza approfondire troppo i dettagli, per questo probabilmente per i più esperti potrebbe risultare insufficiente. Io l'ho riletto proprio per rinfrescarmi per la mia prossima lettura dello stesso autore: La realtà non è come ci appare.

Secondo me l'autore ha reso affascinante e stimolante la conoscenza dell'universo, consigliato a tutti indipendentemente dall'età per scoprire perché la realtà non è come ci appare.

I kind of understand gravity now I think.

Plus, time is heat? That's the kind of phrase I live for.

Easy to read, great summary for clueless buffoons like myself, who rereads it to remind myself about quanta, quarks and that crazy gravity thing.

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.

I wouldn't have picked this up if I realized how short it was. These “lectures” barely cover anything. Even considering how short it is it's just bafflingly empty. I'm not even quite sure who this is aimed at. Everything inside this is common knowledge. Like, at one point the author explains who Stephen Hawkins is. Like, who exactly is picking up popular science books up and doesn't know who he is?

Il testo, molto breve, è in diviso in piccoli capitoli, che presentano ciascuno una diversa lezione di fisica, spaziando attraverso gli argomenti di maggiore interesse della materia, dalla meccanica quantistica alla teoria della relatività di Einstein.
Visto lo spazio ristretto è inevitabile che gli argomenti non possano essere presentati in modo esaustivo, tuttavia ho trovato il modo di raccontare dell'autore molto avvicente, tando da aver destato la mia curiosità, nonostante la fisica sia una materia su cui non ho mai capito granché...

I may need to read it again!

A small, dense, elegant book about physics. It was oddly moving in the end; Rovelli does a great job capturing the wonder and near-spiritual glory of reality, as understood by science. I listened to this in Italian, and I wonder how it translates: every time I read translated Italian, it sounds soooo purple - embarrassingly so.

So I worry about gushing too much, but, okay, I'll be honest, I had tiny nano sparkle-tears in my eyes by the end, when Rovelli reassures us, grandfatherly, that the capital weirdness of quantum mechanics and general relativity is as natural and normal as the rest of “our home” (this reality). He notes that we're just curious apes, from a large family of curious apes - but all our cousins are extinct (e.g. Neanderthals). I found that strangely touching as well, and a fresh way to think about things.

I also found Rovelli's quantum-sized packets of physics lessons refreshingly different. I've been a fan of quantum mechanics and general relativity and the whole Einstein/Bohr/Planck/early 20th century physics gang for a long time, so I felt like I may have heard these same lessons many times: from Michio Kaku, from Neil DeGrasse Tyson, from good science fiction. But Rovelli's description of the bending of space around large objects (space == gravitational force), of the curiosity that is the illusion of forward-moving time, of probabilistic thermodynamics (it's not deterministic!?!), and all that: I found my mind pleasantly bent. I also appreciated his ultimate (super Buddhist!) conclusion that reality isn't a bunch of stuff, it's a bunch of events - a bunch of interactions.

Oh YES, and I ALSO appreciated his low-key Italian pride: he specifically notes the contributions of many modern Italian scientists (and also specifically notes how none of them work at Italian universities; get it together, Italy, come on), especially in particle physics, and this, too, filled me with gentle Italian pride and Italian fondness. I've been generally despairing at the scarcity of Italian books, especially non-fiction, and how that keeps certain great Italian thought locked away from me (e.g. I just discovered Margherita Hack a couple years ago - I want to read her books!!! where are they!!?). So this was also a nice, in that regard. Yeah, I think I just said “Italian” 8 times in this paragraph. Ooooh, vaaaa pensieeerooooo sull'aaaaaaaliiiii doraaaaateeeeee... sparkly tears of national pride and cosmic wonder

Billed as being accessible physics concepts for the non-expert, the book breaks down some of the keystones of modern physics into neat little “lessons”, making it easy to pick up and put down after each one if you need a moment to mull each lesson over. Admittedly, it does seem to fall down a little in the aim of making complex theories available to ‘the masses', as some of the threads are hard to follow if you are a non-expert.

Despite that, I found it to be a brilliant book as a cursory peek behind the curtain and, for some, a glance may be enough. For others, I suspect, this will leave you yearning for more substantial works.

One of the most beautiful poetic books I've ever read. Even if I only understood about 5% of it.

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.

Unexpectedly moving.

Per recensire questo “saggio scientifico”, cito direttamente l'autore in un passaggio del libro:

“Chiaro?”

“No. Moltissimo rimane da capire.”

Queste due frasi dovrebbero essere la quarta di copertina, sintesi perfetta di queste “lezioni” di fisica.

Un minuto di silenzio per i poveri studenti che devono seguire lezioni simili, e per i lettori che attirati dal tamtam mediatico si ritrovano a spendere i loro soldini (ben 10 euro per le scarse 88 pagine) con entusiasmo per acquistare questo libretto.

Non capisco l'entusiasmo mostrato dalle classifiche italiane, da chi me lo ha consigliato, dal domenicale del Sole24Ore che ha pubblicato in parte queste lezioni. Il libro presenta alcuni argomenti fondamentali di fisica a livello divulgativo ma è poco chiaro e non si capisce effettivamente quale sia l'obiettivo che si voleva raggiungere. Oltretutto presenta varie inesattezze, e dove non ci sono quelle gli altri argomenti potevano essere descritti in modo più preciso e comprensibile, così come si poteva fare a meno di riportare l'equazioni, senza spiegazioni sui simboli usati; giusto così, perchè ci stava bene in un libro che parla di fisica.

In aggiunta, se questo voleva essere un esperimento volto ad incentivare la curiosità delle persone verso argomenti complessi come la fisica quantistica, si è sbagliato due volte perchè di accattivante non ha proprio niente, se non il personale amore dell'autore verso questa materia scientifica, che non si può negare traspare da tutto il testo.

Complessivamente, un testo divulgativo di cui si può fare a meno. Se volete leggere di fisica, anche in maniera divulgativa, ci sono testi molto ma molto più validi di questo.