Science book review: Seven Brief Lessons on Physics by Carlo Rovelli

Seven Brief Lessons on Physics by Carlo Rovelli

Carlo Rovelli is an Italian theoretical physicist who offers this slim volume for the average, ordinary person who is generally uninformed about the physical sciences. It is, in essence, an effort to explain our basic understanding of the universe, as well a celebration of the scientists who have dedicated their lives to broadening that understanding. 

As the title suggests, Rovelli breaks the explanation into seven brief essays that help explain the basics of the science of the universe as we know it. These seven essays span just 81 pages, which, given the topic of physics and the universe, is only slightly longer than this review.

The essays begin with Einstein's Theory of Relativity and its immediate and wide-ranging impact on scientific research. While now known as one of the greatest minds in history, at the start of the twentieth century, Einstein was essentially an unknown slacker. Then he published three essays in 1905, the third of which Rovelli calls a perfect masterpiece that is on par with Mozart's Requiem, the Sistine Chapel, or Shakespeare's King Lear.  Rovelli explains both the theory's simplicity (this is the famous e=mc2) and its vast application. Even Einstein didn't realize how far the theory would reach.

The second essay relates to another of those three Einstein papers. It involves quantum mechanics, which brings famous scientists Max Planck and Niels Bohr into the discussion.  Rovelli also effectively shows how even the brightest minds frequently disagreed about their research. Einstein and Bohr had a long-ranging but friendly disagreement over the concept of Einstein's mental exercise the 'light filled box' over which both men held differing views to their deaths.

A third essay describes how our understanding of the universe has changed as we made more scientific discoveries.  More recent discoveries are briefly discussed, such as how space is not flat, but curved, and is a bit like the surface of the ocean, with waves rippling and impacting all of it.  Rovelli mentions in the fifth essay one theory of time before the Big Bang, when all matter might have contracted down to a tiny speck, only to bounce back moments later in what we now call the Big Bang.  Other essays discuss time, black holes, particles, and grains of space.

Roveli is mostly successful in tackling very complex subject matter and presenting it in a very simplified, conversational manner. Occasionally this comes off as patronizing. Roveli's tone can be demeaning to the 'commoner' who doesn't, or couldn't possibly, understand even the basics of our universe.  Rovelli is clearly an accomplished scientist, but his ego slips into the cracks of explanations periodically, making the reader feel like an idiotic school child being dressed down by the arrogant professor.

Another work that covers similar ground in a similar, but in a far more approachable and friendly way, is Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil DeGrasse Tyson (reviewed tomorrow). If you're buying just one title on the topic, or choosing between the two at a library, pick Tyson's.  Seven Brief Lessons on Physics is a good introduction if the other isn't available, or if you've got the time, read both.