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Customer Review
Reviewed in the United States on May 24, 2016
Every chapter in this thought-provoking book had me interrupt my reading to ponder some tight it provoked. Some of the previousreviews criticize aspects of simplification done to achieve simplicity. Fair enough, but for readers who want to get some feel of the subject areas without investing the (considerable) effort needed to follow the underlying math, it is well worth the time.
An example: I got further into thermodynamics than I really wanted to in college, and felt a bit cheated at spending so much time on the underlying principles of obselecent nineteenth-century steam technology. Rovelli's statement that "The difference between past and future exists only when there is heat." blew me out of the water. Real for for thought, without even involving the concept of entropy.
I would say to is six lessons on physics and one on a specific philosophical position. When he involves Spinoza to rebuke Kant that is a very different intellectual activity than describing the weirdness of quantum mechanics. So reading lesson seven is best done with a different mind set, But even doing that is fascinating (except for those who are allergic to the ramifications of philosophers).
A fast read, but far from shallow.
An example: I got further into thermodynamics than I really wanted to in college, and felt a bit cheated at spending so much time on the underlying principles of obselecent nineteenth-century steam technology. Rovelli's statement that "The difference between past and future exists only when there is heat." blew me out of the water. Real for for thought, without even involving the concept of entropy.
I would say to is six lessons on physics and one on a specific philosophical position. When he involves Spinoza to rebuke Kant that is a very different intellectual activity than describing the weirdness of quantum mechanics. So reading lesson seven is best done with a different mind set, But even doing that is fascinating (except for those who are allergic to the ramifications of philosophers).
A fast read, but far from shallow.
