Book

Rovelli, Carlo, 1956- author.

Reality is not what it seems : the journey to quantum gravity / Carlo Rovelli ; translated by Simon Carnell and Erica Segre.

First American edition.

New York : Riverhead Books, 2017.

©2016

280 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm

"What are the elementary ingredients of the world? Do time and space exist? And what exactly is reality? Theoretical physicist Carlo Rovelli has spent his life exploring these questions. He tells us how our understanding of reality has changed over the centuries and how physicists think about the structure of the universe today"--Dust jacket flap.

Quantum gravity.

Carnell, Simon, 1962- translator.

Segre, Erica, translator.

Realtà non è come ci appare. English

Reality's not what it seems : the journey to quantum gravity

Translation of: La realtà non è come ci appare.

English translation first published in Great Britain by Allen Lane, an imprint of Penguin Random House UK, in 2016.

Subtitle in pre-publication: The elementary structure of things.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 270-272) and index.

Grains. Is there a limit to divisibility? ; The nature of things -- The classics. Isaac and the little moon ; Michael: fields and light -- Albert. The extended present ; The most beautiful of theories ; Mathematics or physics? ; The cosmos -- Quanta. Albert again ; Niels, Werner, and Paul ; Fields and particles are the same thing ; Quanta 1: information is finite ; Quanta 2: indeterminacy ; Quanta 3: reality is relation ; But do we really understand? -- Spacetime is quantum. Matvei ; John ; The loop's first steps -- Quanta of space. Spectra of volume and area ; Atoms of space ; Spin networks -- Time does not exist. Time is not what we think it is ; The candle chandelier and the pulse ; Spacetime sushi ; Spinfoams ; What is the world made of? -- Beyond the big bang. The master ; Quantum cosmology -- Empirical confirmations? Signals from nature ; A window onto quantum gravity -- Quantum black holes -- The end of infinity -- Information. Thermal time ; Reality and information -- Mystery.

Contributor biographical information

Publisher description

2016036293

9780735213920

0735213925

957696600

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634766

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