When We Cease to Understand the World

When We Cease to Understand the World features an exploration of major scientific advances in the 20th century alongside the idea that genius is often beset by madness. It is important to note, however, that there are increasing fictionalised elements as the book goes on and it becomes hard to determine what is truth and what is fiction. I was unsure how to rate this book because of this. On the one hand, I enjoyed the scientific content whereas on the other hand I would've appreciated more a genuine account of genius vs madness, to see what the real correlation is (if, indeed, there is one).

In order to separate facts from fiction, the onus is placed on the reader to go and do further research to determine what is true and I have two issues with this:
1) I don't read a book in order to be left with the prospect of extensive research to unravel it, and;
2) There is a risk others will not read the Author's Note (noticeably at the end of the book) to see that parts have been fictionalised and continue believing everything within it's pages as truth and fact. In an age of ‘Post-Truth' this is a bit of a risk to take and I felt like the scientific discoveries detailed are diminished because of this.

Otherwise, the book is well written and interesting. It's not too heavy to read and seems to have been translated well.