A fictional examination of the lives of real-life scientists and thinkers whose discoveries resulted in moral consequences beyond their imagining.
When We Cease to Understand the World is a book about the complicated links between scientific and mathematical discovery, madness, and destruction.
Fritz Haber, Alexander Grothendieck, Werner Heisenberg, Erwin Schrodinger - these are some of luminaries into whose troubled lives Benjamin Labatut thrusts the reader, showing us how they grappled with the most profound questions of existence. They have strokes of unparalleled genius, alienate friends and lovers, descend into isolation and insanity. Some of their discoveries reshape human life for the better; others pave the way to chaos and unimaginable suffering. The lines are never clear.
At a breakneck pace and with a wealth of disturbing detail, Labatut uses the imaginative resources of fiction to tell the stories of the scientists and mathematicians who expanded our notions of the possible.
Staff Choice: Sywert
Part actual history, part fiction, this is an amazing look into the lives of the scientists who have shaped our world. Colleague Bob tried to get everybody to read this title and for a damn good reason. It’s amazing.
Staff Choice: Bob
A fictional examination of the lives of real-life scientists and thinkers whose discoveries resulted in moral consequences beyond their imagining.
Staff Choice: Martijn
Unlike anything I’ve ever read.
It follows a few protagonists that were involved in some of the 20th century’s biggest and most dangerous breakthroughs in physics. The tales told will leave you with a sense of wonder and pondering some heavy ethical issues about human nature and its beautiful and dangerous curiosity.
I’m not sure how to categorize this (different to traditional fiction) but it’s very, very fascinating, well-written and highly recommended.
Staff Choice: Maarten
One of my dear colleagues has been “pestering” me for months to really read some of his favorite books. In this case, he wasn’t wrong. This is very good! Being a sort of “novelization” of some episodes of the history of science—although it often reads as non-fiction, but then better written— this book is hard to categorize. Except as “very good!” that is.
