Seven Brief Lessons on Physics (Rovelli) - Book Reviews

Book Reviews
The writing is elegant and poetic, and Carlo's explanatory clarity is compelling. He organized this short book into seven lessons that introduce the non-specialized reader to the most fascinating questions about the universe, including how we learn about it.
NPR


Rovelli has a rare knack for conveying the top line of scientific theories in clear and compelling terms without succumbing to the lure of elaborate footnotes... a breath of fresh air.
Guardian (UK)


Brief but eloquent... The slim volume is stereotypically the province of poetry, but this beautifully designed little book shows that science, with its curiosity, its intense engagement with what there really is, its readiness to jettison received ways of seeing, is a kind of poetry too
Financial Times (UK)


A slim poetic meditation... Rovelli belongs to a great Italian tradition of one-culture science writing that encompasses the Roman poet Lucretius, Galileo, Primo Levi and Italo Calvino. The physics here is comprehensible and limpid, and Rovelli gives it an edge through his clear-eyed humanistic interpretations.
Independent (UK)


Bite-sized but big on ideas: Carlo Rovelli’s Seven Brief Lessons on Physics…makes the mysteries of the universe almost comprehensible.
Evening Standard (UK)


Carlo Rovelli's Seven Brief Lessons on Physics has turned relativity and quantum physics into best-selling material.
la Repubblica


If you want to understand what gets physicists out of bed in the morning, there is no better guide than Rovelli.... Seven Brief Lessons on Physics is an absorbing, lovely book.... This is physics as romantic poetry and, by God, it’s beguiling
New Statesman


[Carlo Rovelli’s] concise and comprehensible writing makes sense of intricate notions such as general relativity, quantum mechanics, cosmology and thermodynamics. Rovelli's enthusiastic and poetic descriptions communicate the essence of these topics without getting bogged down in details.
Scientific American


Physics has always been popularized, but professor Rovelli’s book is something else: his prose stands out as pristine and seductive at the same time, with all the substance that arouses a real interest in his readers.
Corriere della Sera


[E]nchanting.... [Rovelli] poses a Zen-like question…that leads to the book’s heart: he asserts that the study of infinitesimal particles and black holes is part of being human, and that the divide between science and the rest of learning is artificial.
Publishers Weekly


Italian theoretical physicist Rovelli, one of the founders of the loop quantum gravity theory…tells you everything you ever wanted to know about physics in under 100 pages. And it's fun, too.
Library Journal


(Starred review.) Italian theoretical physicist Rovelli shares his thoughts on the broader scientific and philosophical implications of the great revolution that has taken place over the past century…. An intriguing meditation on the nature of the universe and our attempts to understand it that should appeal to both scientists and general readers.
Kirkus Reviews