Editions

Reality Is Not What It Seems

  • Imprint: Penguin

  • ISBN: 9780141983219

  • Length: 272  Pages

  • Dimensions: 198mm x 16mm x 129mm

  • Weight: 202g

  • RRP: £9.99

Reality Is Not What It Seems

  • The Journey to Quantum Gravity

'The physicist transforming how we see the universe' (Financial Times)

'An utter joy' (Adam Rutherford)

'A hugely engaging book... Rovelli is a charming, thought-provoking tour guide' (Manjit Kumar Prospect)

Do space and time truly exist? What is reality made of? Can we understand its deep texture?
Scientist Carlo Rovelli has spent his whole life exploring these questions and pushing the boundaries of what we know. In this mind-expanding book, he shows how our understanding of reality has changed throughout centuries, from Democritus to loop quantum gravity. Taking us on a wondrous journey, he invites us to imagine a whole new world where black holes are waiting to explode, spacetime is made up of grains, and infinity does not exist -- a vast universe still largely undiscovered.

Translated by Simon Carnell and Erica Segre

  • Imprint: Penguin

  • ISBN: 9780141983219

  • Length: 272  Pages

  • Dimensions: 198mm x 16mm x 129mm

  • Weight: 202g

  • RRP: £9.99

Reviews

  • A global superstar... Professor Rovelli is making the grammar of the universe accessible to a new generation

    Channel 4 News

  • The most fun physicist to be with -- as well as the greatest explainer of physics

    Bryan Appleyard, Sunday Times

  • Surely Rovelli deserves the title 'world's most inspiring physics teacher'

    Daily Telegraph

  • The physicist transforming how we see the universe

    Financial Times

  • The new Hawking... His writing is luminous. By the time I had finished reading I was in serious awe of the author

    David Aaronovitch, The Times

  • This is a really, really good book about science. It's like a tonic for the mind. Carlo Rovelli is a physicist so of course this book is about physics. But it's much more than that. It's about thinking clearly... He gives beautifully clear explanations of the ideas of the cleverest people in history, from Democritus, via Newton, to Einstein and beyond.

    Evening Standard

  • Rather brilliant... for fans of cutting-edge physics made accessible

    Mark Haddon

  • The latest thinking in physics is distilled in this primer... Why do you need yet another popularisation of theoretical physics? Because Rovelli writes with crystalline simplicity. And because he turns quantum physics into a coherent story, shaping it as a quest for a single, underlying "substratum" of reality - from Democritus's finite, indivisible atoms to Einstein

    James McConnachie, Sunday Times

  • A comprehensive guide to the bewitching adventure of physics

    Daily Telegraph

  • Rovelli writes with elegance, clarity and charm... A joy to read, as well as being an intellectual feast

    Michael Brooks, New Statesman

More from this Author

About the Author

Carlo Rovelli

Carlo Rovelli is a theoretical physicist who has made significant contributions to the physics of space and time. He has worked in Italy and the US, and is currently directing the quantum gravity research group of the Centre de physique théorique in Marseille, France. His books Seven Brief Lessons on Physics, Reality Is Not What It Seems and The Order of Time are international bestsellers which have been translated into forty-one languages.

Carlo Rovelli

Read more

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Extracts

Vladimir Nabokov: novelist, poet… esteemed butterfly scientist?

In this essay from his forthcoming collection, There Are Places in the World Where Rules Are Less Important Than Kindness, titled ‘Lolita and the Blue Icarus’, Carlo Rovelli writes about Nabokov’s foray into lepidoptery – and his surprising recognition as “a scientist of real worth”.
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Features

Listen to audiobooks read by Oscar winners and nominees

Oscars season is upon us – did you know that some of the Best Actress and Best Actor nominees narrated Penguin audiobooks? Listen to some familiar faces read aloud from much-loved titles below.
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Features

6 things to know about The Order of Time

We're excited to announce that Benedict Cumberbatch will be reading the audiobook for Carlo Rovelli's new book, The Order of Time. Here we share with you six interesting facts about the collaboration.

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