Books: Helgoland - Making Sense Of The Quantum Revolution

 (Drivebycuriosity) - I like to read books & articles about Quantum physics. In don`t understand it, but I am fascinated by all the strange phenomena. I just finished "Helgoland: Making Sense of the Quantum Revolution" by Carlo Rovelli (amazon ). The Italian author belongs to the leading theoretical physicists.

The book is not an introduction. There are other books which describe the basic ideas and phenomenons for laymen, for instance "Quantum Theory - “A Very Short Introduction” by John Polkinghorne ( amazon.). Rovelli´s book is more a meditation than a description of quantum mechanics. 

The author defines Quantum Theory as "the theory of how things influence each other" and as "a theory that is at the center of the obscurity of science". Rovelli adds "taking Quantum seriously, reflecting on its implications, is an almost psychedelic experience".

The book´s title refers to an island north of the German coast, where Werner Heisenberg spend some time and developed his basic ideas which belong to the fundamentals of today´s physics.  Rovelli dives into the history of Quantum theory and sketches the contributions of Einstein, Mach, Heisenberg, Dirac, Schrödinger, Bohr and many more. He also mentions influences of the German novelist Robert Musil and even from Russian bolshevists like Lenin.

The text is mainly philosophical and strongly influenced by ancient texts written by the Buddhist philosopher Nāgārjuna (wikipedia ). According to Nāgārjuna (in the interpretation by Rovelli) "nothing exists in itself, everything exists only through dependence on something else, in relation to something else". In one word: "emptiness".

I did not understand much, but the book gives me a lot food for thought.