2022/145: When We Cease to Understand the World — Benjamín Labatut (translated by Adrian Nath

2022/145: When We Cease to Understand the World — Benjamín Labatut (translated by Adrian Nathan West)

He had replicated in the subatomic world what Newton had done for the solar system, using only pure mathematics, with no recourse to imagery. He had no idea how he had arrived at his results, but there they were, written in his own hand; if he was correct, science could not only understand reality but begin to manipulate it at its most basic level. Heisenberg thought of the consequences knowledge of this nature might have, and was struck with a feeling of vertigo so profound that he had to restrain the impulse to throw his notebook into the sea. [loc. 1199]

In this 'nonfiction novel', Chilean author Benjamín Labatut explores the darkness at the heart of science, and the tipping-point between genius and madness. What happens to the mind when scientific theories passes the limits of human understanding?

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