非虚构小说
When We Cease to Understand the World 豆瓣 Goodreads
6.7 (7 个评分) 作者: Benjamín Labatut 译者: Adrian Nathan West Pushkin Press 2020 - 9
Albert Einstein opens a letter sent to him from the Eastern Front of World War I. Inside, he finds the first exact solution to the equations of general relativity, unaware that it contains a monster that could destroy his life's work.
The great mathematician Alexander Grothendieck tunnels so deeply into abstraction that he tries to cut all ties with the world, terrified of the horror his discoveries might cause.
Erwin Schroedinger and Werner Heisenberg battle over the soul of physics after creating two equivalent yet opposed versions of quantum mechanics. Their fight will tear the very fabric of reality, revealing a world stranger than they could have ever imagined.
Using extraordinary, epoch-defining moments from the history of science, Benjamin Labatut plunges us into exhilarating territory between fact and fiction, progress and destruction, genius and madness.
2023年6月22日 已读
The book as a whole is a mesmerizing work; reading it resembles a great epiphany.
2023年6月22日 评论 Flash Review: When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamín Labatut - When We Cease to Understand the World . By Benjamín Labatut. Translated by Adrian Nathan West. Pushkin Press (2020) . Started reading on 20230615, finished on 20230622. Flash Review 20230615 Finished the first piece “Prussian Blue”. The story of Fritz Haber reminds me of a thought experiment I’ve read before in an essay by Wang Xiaobo: A bad guy intentionally tripped a blind man, and as a result, the blind man miraculously regained his sight. Should the blind man be grateful to the bad guy? 20230616 Finished the 2nd story “Schwarzschild’s Singularity”. It’s a story about a real genius ruined, or at least consumed, by his enthusiastic patriotism involuntarily. 20230617 Finished the 3rd piece "The Heart of the Heart". I feel that Grothendick is an enhanced Steve Jobs in light of their spiritual life. 20230622 Finished the eponymous story “When We Cease to Understand the World". Though the existed metaphors seem to not be enough for quantum physics, the explanation about Heisenberg's uncertainty principle in the fourth chapter of this story is the most lucid one I have ever seen. Finished the final story “the night gardener” and the acknowledgement. I thought the night gardener was the incarnation of the author's muse. The book as a whole is a mesmerizing work; reading it resembles a great epiphany.
非虚构小说