©Jamie Stoker
Carlo Rovelli
Carlo Rovelli is an Italian theoretical physicist. He is director of the quantum gravity research group of the Centre de Physique Théorique in Marseille, and his books Seven Brief Lessons on Physics and Reality is Not What It Seems were international bestsellers translated into forty-one languages. His most recent book published in English is Anaximander and the Nature of Science (2023). Like all of Rovelli’s popular physics books, it’s short (less than 200 pages).
Books by Carlo Rovelli
Anaximander and the Nature of Science
by Carlo Rovelli
Carlo Rovelli is a theoretical physicist who is brilliant at explaining his field in short books. Anaximander is about a philosopher who lived 26 centuries ago in Miletus, a Greek city on the coast of what is now Turkey. He was the first person to understand that the Earth is just floating in space, and doesn't need to be supported by anything. Anaximander also figured out where rain comes from. "I think it's my best book because it's about what I think science is," Rovelli said at an event at the annual Oxford Literary Festival on 20 January, 2023.
Seven Brief Lessons on Physics
by Carlo Rovelli
Written as a series of newspaper articles for an Italian newspaper, Italian physicist Carlo Rovelli's Seven Brief Lessons on Physics is a wonderfully clear and succinct account of where we're at with physics in the 21st century. Prepare to understand concepts like relativity for the first time, and get comfortable with how true it is that reality is not at all what it seems.
“Because they are translated from the original Italian, Rovelli’s books retain a beautiful poetry which, combined with his deep knowledge of fundamental physics, make for a wonderfully charming mix.” Read more...
The Best Science Books to Take on Holiday
Jim Al-Khalili, Physicist
“It goes right to the edge of his field—quantum loop gravity—but I found it a really enjoyable read for a number of reasons. For one thing he’s got a good, simple style, and he has a great capability to explain…He’s also informed by a strong literary and artistic imagination and appreciation of, for example, the mediaeval mind. There’s lovely stuff on Dante and one of the chapels in Florence, and how they inform our ways of perceiving the shape of the universe. He’s also great on Democritus…He had quite a success with a book called Seven Brief Lessons in Physics, and this is basically the longer version of the same book. I think it’s actually a better book in some ways.” Read more...
The best books on Science and Wonder
Caspar Henderson, Journalist
Interviews with Carlo Rovelli
The best books on Time, recommended by Carlo Rovelli
Our experience of time is only weakly related to the fundamental realities of physics, says the physicist and best-selling author Carlo Rovelli. Here he selects five works for understanding the nature of time in its truer sense.
Interviews where books by Carlo Rovelli were recommended
The best books on Science and Wonder, recommended by Caspar Henderson
When we see a rainbow or another beautiful spectacle in nature, what is that sense of wonder we are filled with? How can we nurture it? Caspar Henderson, author of A New Map of Wonders (and Five Books science and environment editor) recommends the best books to help us develop our sense of wonder.
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1
Beyond Weird: Why Everything You Thought You Knew about Quantum Physics Is Different
by Philip Ball -
2
Hello World: How to Be Human in the Age of the Machine
by Hannah Fry -
3
Inventing Ourselves: The Secret Life of the Teenage Brain
by Sarah-Jayne Blakemore -
4
The Order of Time
by Carlo Rovelli -
5
A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived: The Human Story Retold Through Our Genes
by Adam Rutherford
The Best Science Books to Take on Holiday, recommended by Jim Al-Khalili
The Best Science Books to Take on Holiday, recommended by Jim Al-Khalili
Aah, the holidays! Time to lie on the grass and read the latest novel. Or are you looking for something more demanding? Physicist and popular science author Jim Al-Khalili, who has just written his first sci-fi thriller, Sunfall, suggests some highly readable science books for those who prefer their holiday reads to be nonfiction.
