Reality is Not What it Seems by Carlo RovelliMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
There is no such thing as time, it is nothing but an illusion. Also space, that too does not really exist. WHAT?!
Do things that happen in nature require a cause in order to be properly explained? The answer to this was a resounding yes back in the days of Newton. This seems rather straightforward and our intuitions back it up. But what we are now finding out from quantum gravity is utterly shocking, and a blow to the cause-and-effect paradigm that helps us make sense of our world. This is a book about the fundamental nature of the universe: what is reality? What is reality made out of? How does it relate with what we know? What does reality mean for our own existence? Why did the universe bang into existence? Will the universe be there forever? What is forever anyway?
Once someone thinks things through, then it becomes easy to understand what they are saying because they'll be able to tell you something that is condensed. The author has properly thought through the concepts that explain reality and in this book he summarizes them very well. I had no trouble understanding what he was saying up until the last chapter on Information Theory, but that's okay because he said the theory is not yet solidified. Aside from simplicity, it was also beautiful.
It seems that the theories are pointing towards a non-dualistic structure of nature. I hope someday we'll have a grand theory that explains everything.
The truth is in the depths.
— Democritus
View all my reviews