A fast read. The first chapter starts a bit slow but soon after it became nigh impossible to put down.
I was always fascinated by quantum theory but alas math is monolith I cannot fathom to overcome. But the fascination stays and goes strong still - and fortunately Labatut doesn’t concern itself with the technical aspects. Its the people and their stories that are presented in this small book; short biopics, fractions of lifetimes, written as if the actual persons were characters in a novel. Schroedinger, Heisenberg and some lesser known mathematicians are portraited here, their struggles against the world, against insanity and against the fabric of reality itself.
We may view math as dry, obscure; we may have despised the subject in school - but sometimes I’d be glad to have an understanding of it. But then again maybe it’s for the best that I don’t.
Sanity has been lost for lesser causes.
