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Einstein's Unfinished Revolution: The Search for What Lies Beyond the Quantum Hardcover – 9 Apr 2019

by Lee Smolin (Author), Kaca Bradonjic (Illustrator)

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A daring new vision of quantum theory from one of the leading minds of contemporary physics

Quantum physics is the golden child of modern science. It is the basis of our understanding of atoms, radiation, and so much else, from elementary particles and basic forces to the behavior of materials. But for a century it has also been the problem child of science: it has been plagued by intense disagreements between its inventors, strange paradoxes, and implications that seem like the stuff of fantasy. Whether it's Schrödinger's cat--a creature that is simultaneously dead and alive--or a belief that the world does not exist independently of our observations of it, quantum theory challenges our fundamental assumptions about reality.

In Einstein's Unfinished Revolution, theoretical physicist Lee Smolin provocatively argues that the problems which have bedeviled quantum physics since its inception are unsolved and unsolvable, for the simple reason that the theory is incomplete. There is more to quantum physics, waiting to be discovered. Our task--if we are to have simple answers to our simple questions about the universe we live in--must be to go beyond quantum mechanics to a description of the world on an atomic scale that makes sense.

In this vibrant and accessible book, Smolin takes us on a journey through the basics of quantum physics, introducing the stories of the experiments and figures that have transformed our understanding of the universe, before wrestling with the puzzles and conundrums that the quantum world presents. Along the way, he illuminates the existing theories that might solve these problems, guiding us towards a vision of the quantum that embraces common sense realism.

If we are to have any hope of completing the revolution that Einstein began nearly a century ago, we must go beyond quantum mechanics to find a theory that will give us a complete description of nature. In Einstein's Unfinished Revolution, Lee Smolin brings us a step closer to resolving one of the greatest scientific controversies of our age.

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Product details

Hardcover: 322 pages
Publisher: Penguin Pr (9 April 2019)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1594206198
ISBN-13: 978-1594206191
Product Dimensions: 15.2 x 22.9 x 5.1 cm
Boxed-product Weight: 544 g
Average Customer Review: 1 customer review
Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 74,002 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #66 in Philosophy of Science
- #181 in Quantum Theory (Books)
- #87 in Relativity Physics (Books)

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Review

"[A] compelling narrative about the development of different strands of quantum physics." -- Financial Times

"Smolin is an extremely creative thinker who has been a leader in theoretical physics for many years. He is also a gifted writer who manages to translate his own insights about how science works into engaging language and compelling stories . . . Smolin's description of how quantum mechanics works is both elegant and accessible." --NPR

"[A]mbitious . . .upbeat and, finally, optimistic . . . Smolin is a lucid expositor."-- Nature

"As the latest entry into the conversation, Smolin's book feels the most immediate and personal. Here is no detached narrator, but an active participant in the fray who perceives the debate over the nature of reality in personal terms. . . While the way forward remains elusive, Smolin and others who seek to illuminate how physics got to where it is today are at least making the quest for answers a bit less costly." --The Globe and Mail (Toronto)

"Well-written and engaging." --Sabine Hossenfelder, Backreaction

"Smolin offers a masterful exposition on the state of quantum physics, smoothly blending a history of the field with clear explanations, philosophical context and an accessible introduction to fresh ideas. His narrative on how two competing perspectives on quantum behaviour hardened into Bohr's counter-intuitive orthodoxy, is spellbinding." --Financial Times (UK)

"Smolin is never less than an inventive and provocative thinker, as well as an engaging writer....his explanations are especially lucid." --Philip Ball, Physics World

"A tantalizing glimpse of the theoretical possibilities beyond Einstein's grasp." --Booklist, starred review

"The best explanation yet of what has yet to be explained." --George Dyson, author of Turing's Cathedral

"Lee Smolin has written a superb and sweeping book. He takes us to Bohr, Bohm, Everett and far beyond in a masterful assessment, then on to the struggle to go beyond quantum mechanics towards quantum gravity. Einstein's Unfinished Revolution is truly a fine work." --Stuart Kauffman, author of At Home in the Universe

"Smolin elucidates complex science without equations . . . [and] demonstrates there isn't a thing in nature whose 'contemplation cannot be a route to a wordless sense of wonder and gratitude just to be a part of it all.'" --Publishers Weekly

About the Author

Lee Smolin has made influential contributions to the search for a unification of physics. He is a founding faculty member of the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. His previous books include Time Reborn, The Trouble with Physics, and Three Roads to Quantum Gravity.

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Amazon.com: 39 reviews

m raymer

How to (try to) think beyond quantum physics

14 April 2019 - Published on Amazon.com

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Lee Smolin is one of the most fun quantum theorists to read. He is among a handful of popular writers who have done important research in quantum theory and quantum gravity (such as it is). He doesn't write books just to write a book, but aims to move the bleeding (and I mean bleeding) edge of physics theory forward in a way that brings the general reader along too. That is a true feat. From my point of view as a quantum physicist (and sometime popular book author) who doesn't work in quantum gravity, I always find his books educational and extremely thought provoking.

The new book is a surprisingly personal exposition of Smolin's lifelong attempts to find a key to unifying quantum theory and gravity (general relativity), a task Einstein famously failed at. Smolin concludes that both of these theories need to be thrown out (while keeping their main messages intact) and an entirely new theory found. He tells us his deepest ideas about how to do that. It borders on a natural philosophy of the world, but from a very abstract point of view.

Smolin explains clearly why he (and everyone else) has failed so far, and tries very hard and sincerely to point to a set of basic principles of nature (which may or may not be true), which may or may not provide a basis for a new theory.

A weakness is that he describes the choice of realist/anti-realist viewpoints too simply. He seems to say that anyone who doesn't accept that physics is nonlocal must be an anti-realist and must think the world doesn't exist until someone looks at it. But that is only one way to view the implications of experimental violations of Bell inequalities, which forces us to accept that the combination of locality, realism and 'free will' (ability to choose independently which quantities will be measured) can't exist. There are more than two ways to unpack that conclusion (all of them murky).

A brave, elegant, and thought-provoking book for the lay reader, and the 'lay scientist.'

75 people found this helpful

Paul J. Werbos

Great, Important call to action but not enough action yet

14 April 2019 - Published on Amazon.com

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This book begins by arguing clearly and passionately that science has lost touch with reality, in the most literal sense, and hat we need to do better. But it reminds me of debates going on in Silicon Valley, where people realize that their past way of doing business is becoming ever less viable (not to mention Terminator threats) but end up funding innumerate salesmen of "principles for a people-centered internet" and folks who would paint happy faces representing love on the hard metal hulls of killer drones. The problem part is real, but where is the solution? How could we mobilize a bit better to really address this issue of reality, in reality?
It may be that Smolin and 'tHooft are the best hope we now have for allowing that to be possible. The Financial Times review of the book was exciting to me. But could it be that physics has simply become too complex to allow real fundamental progress, given the growing issues in political environments and cultures all over the world at the same time? Smolin hints that his call to action is important to saving science itself in the face of those issues.
He tries VERY hard to explain the issues the issues without any equations. It was somewhat amusing to me where he tried to explain a kind of Bell state, two entangled photons, as a Lesbian couple which is committed to disagreeing about absolutely everything. He then weaves a great story about where the Einstein-Bohr debate comes from, but makes it a bit too interesting, in my view, when he attacks some people (Von Neumann and Wheeler especially) in a way which overstates the case. How can he call Wheeler anti-realist, when he is a kind of author of the Everett-Wheeler theory of physics? The book does discuss that theory later on, and gets into the nitty-gritty later on. In fact, the book does get around to mentioning a number of important issues which people need to know more about.
What should we actually DO to get back to viable realistic theories in physics? For awhile, he seems to say that the later ideas of Bohm already give a workable solution able to predict everything, but the words made me a bit skeptical. If the branching pilot waves are just a backdoor approach to reinventing Everett and Wheeler, what kind of magical particles could make Bohm 2 any better? It made me look to google scholar, where I found just one paper by Bohm that might make it clear: Bohm, D. J., & Hiley, B. J. (1982). The de Broglie pilot wave theory and the further development of new insights arising out of it. Foundations of Physics, 12(10), 1001-1016.. But it is behind a pay wall.
He also gives a list of five ideas that might be an alternative (a few pages each), but doesn't get into the kind of detail which TODAY is being tested in hard core quantum optics, in really physical measurements with implications for electronics and photonics. The real challenge here is how to bridge the gap between the important higher concerns expressed in this book and the nitty-gritty empirical reality, without getting squashed by a new aggravated form of the same forces which squashed deep learning in computer science from 1974 to 2009. He talks about the need for a confident and driven young graduate student to follow through; well, I was one of those once, but it seems to be a necessary yet insufficient condition.
That reminds me of how he also attacks Spengler at one point, accusing him of causing chaos. Has he ever read the Decline of the West? Spengler might discourage us from rediscovering reality, more by giving up on the present state of civilization than by giving up on the reality it is losing touch with.

35 people found this helpful

Brian

Not as compelling as some others

19 April 2019 - Published on Amazon.com

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I think I'm the target for this book: I enjoyed physics in college, and have read about 8 books on quantum gravity. I felt the author glossed over loop quantum gravity without really ever saying why he thought the bloom was off the rose. Also I was puzzled by the assertion that either time or space was fundamental, and the other emergent. Why couldn't they both emerge from some other undiscovered process? That's what I thought this book was going to be about. In the end I got the feeling we are much further away from quantum gravity than I thought. Maybe not in my lifetime.

35 people found this helpful

Christopher Marlowe

Caveat emptor

3 May 2019 - Published on Amazon.com

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Alas, regardless of all the glowing reviews, I suspect the average reader will probably, like me, find this book as obscure and arcane as the majority of other "pop" quantum physics books around. Try as he might to explain Bell's Theorem - and all the successive competing attempts to relate the worlds of Relativity and Quantum physics in plain English (substituting a possibly more politically correct "Anna" and Beth" for the time-worn "Alice" and "Bob") Smolin simply doesn't cut it. He tries hard, but one comes away with very little enlightenment. Reluctantly I come to the conclusion that quantum physics belongs entirely in the realm of advanced mathematics, and if you are math blind like me, you will never understand it.

32 people found this helpful

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Einstein's Unfinished Revolution: The Search for What Lies Beyond the Quantum Hardcover – 9 Apr 2019

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