Sean M. CarrollRezensionen

Good overview of some alternative interpretations of QM - at moments the book is hard to follow at others involves unnecessary metaphors, but in other places it is spot on.

Given how hard it is to understand QM foundations I think the effort is of great value.

This is a really fascinating look at lots of physics-related things, many of which I was at least partially familiar with before listening to the audiobook. There was still plenty to learn, though, and I appreciated the new perspective on some of the topics. I think in order to get the full most out of this book, though, I will need to read it again in print form so that I can revisit paragraphs and look things up as I go.

Carroll is a fluent lecturer, very personable, and very knowledgeable (and a snappy dresser for a Great Courses professor), but this course is badly organized. After 24 lessons, I feel like I heard the same things repeated a dozen times, and at the end, the main point of the videos, why is there an arrow of time, doesn't seem much better explained than it was several videos earlier. There are all sorts of interesting digressions along the way, into things like neuroscience, and as I said, Carroll is so likable and such a good presenter that I kept watching, but this material could have been easily presented in half the time, and it would have become more understandable in the process.

Although the science was fairly incomprehensible, especially in the last third of the book or so, I feel like I leave this book having learned two or three things, at least. Most of all the book confirmed that even the best scientists in the world pretty quickly run out of firm answers on what the universe is like or why it exists. Even the wild speculations and theories run out eventually, and all you can do is shrug your shoulders and tell yourself that you really didn't really need to know that much anyway.

Although the science was fairly incomprehensible, especially in the last third of the book or so, I feel like I leave this book having learned two or three things, at least. Most of all the book confirmed that even the best scientists in the world pretty quickly run out of firm answers on what the universe is like or why it exists. Even the wild speculations and theories run out eventually, and all you can do is shrug your shoulders and tell yourself that you really didn't really need to know that much anyway.

I'm gradually getting disillusioned by books with titles like this. They promise so much, yet, in the end, deliver some generally agreed facts and then you are swamped with far fetched speculation about "possible worlds" or "possible mathematics etc. And usually, the author comes down on the side of whatever field they have been active in. So it's hardly objective. This book by Sean Carroll,, more or less, fits into this genre. I'll give it to Carroll , that he actually spells out fairly clearly , that the concept of an atom being a miniature solar system is wrong and a particle is really some sort of arrangement or disturbance in a field (or fields).To me, this was quite enlightening but it's ready difficult for particle physicists to let go of the particle description and I find him reverting to that much of the time. I guess there is an underlying theme that the many worlds interpretation of our world is the simplest description that accepts the Schrödinger equation and that consistently gives the right results ....therefore we should believe it. He has an interesting dialogue with "Alice" who asks a lot of the right questions ....though I'm not sure that all are answered totally to my satisfaction.
But, on the other hand, I have to accept the fact that my "gut reaction" to the many world hypothesis is just that. It's not based on any rational basis just the feeling (that apparently Einstein and may others also shared) that this is just too complicated and unreal to be true and there must be a simpler explanation for our experiences. Carroll does a workman like job of defenc=ding many worlds but he also comes down in support of a ten dimensional string theory world which I understood had been largely abandoned by most theorists on the grounds that nothing was falsifiable with string theory and it hasn't led anywhere in about 30-40 years of investigative research and countless papers.
I admit that I had a hard time following Roger Penrose's Book "Fashion, Faith, and Fantasy in the New Physics of the Universe " but he seemed to put his finger one the fact that a lot of modern physics seems to be based on faith and fashion. And he seems to be able to come up with some devastating criticisms of the many worlds philosophy...though at the end I suspect he's just having his own "gut reaction". Sean Carrolls book is reasonably readable though I found myself reading some paragraphs many times and asking what does he really mean here and when he gets to the range of "alternative' hypotheses about reality, I found some of it really hard going and one just has to take at face value what Carroll is saying.
I admit that his enthusiastic support for the many worlds hypothesis and the Branching universe that this entails has made me a bit more cautious about my scepticism. Mainly his claim that if one applies Occam's razor principle to reality then the Many Worlds hypothesis is the simplest explanation. (Well I still have serious doubts...and maybe just accepting the truth of the Schrödinger equation (as a full explanation of reality) leads one astray here).
I guess, that I'm yet to be convinced. Still four stars from me.

I'd fallen out of the habit of reading physics books (kinda sorta), but then, and this is very random, someone I met on fandom twitter was geeking on various since topics, we got to chatting, and next thing I knew, I'd agreed to buddy read this book.

Mostly reading this book made me miss my grad school quantum mechanics rain. I wanted to get more out of this than I did But I had some good a-ha moments: the book has probably permanently changed the way I think about quantum effects AND I got my new favorite quote out of it -- "superfluous ideological superstructure." I would like that phrase tattooed on my body, please.

I suppose that is quite a lot to get out of a book I discovered so randomly!

I found this book interesting and compelling, even though I can't make myself agree with Many-Worlds. Sean Carroll doesn't explain to my liking why the epistemic approach (what I believe, apparently) is insufficient.

One thing that bugged me is that in [From Eternity to Here], he argues that in an infinite universe, anything (and therefore everything, including some local decreases in entropy) is possible, even after the heat-death of the universe. (I was particularly disturbed by the idea of Boltzmann Brains, which Sean Carroll presents in [From Eternity to Here].) However, in this book, he mentions that local decreases in entropy have a probability of zero, and will never happen. I'm wondering if the two approaches are incompatible.

Definitely an interesting read if you're into physics. It's been over 10 years since I've had to use Schrodinger's equation, and I found the book relatively approachable. I can't say I understood all of it, but that's fine with me.

Wonderful book, mostly pretty easy to read, tying together concepts about particle physics, cosmology, the origin of life, all sorts of stuff - along with a naturalistic philosophy to show how it all might relate to meaning in human life. I thought the science part was stronger than the philosophy part - I agreed with the philosophy stuff, it just didn't seem all that exciting. But I like the guy's attitude - sympathetic and respectful towards those he doesn't agree with.

This is the first volume of a planned modern-physics trilogy that makes use of college-level mathematics and yet seeks to be viewed as popular-level. The trilogy will thus be comparable to Leonard Susskind's _Theoretical Minimum_ series, but will evidently be gentler and more enjoyable. Carroll's strategy of conferring the ability just to understand equations and not to solve them works well as he takes us through such topics as the Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formulations of classical mechanics, the least-action principle, relativity, and black holes. (I doubt, however, that many uninitiated readers will be able to follow all his explanations of the tensor calculus needed to truly understand general relativity.) I liked the book a lot.

Probably my least favorite book he's written, although it did have some positive elements.

I did not think I was going to like this book at first. The author quotes overwhelmingly male authors, playwrights, scientists, scholars, etc., to the point where it seems like it would have been easier to find one or two women to quote. OK, you argue, that was just the blurb starting each chapter, get over it. Until the author literally quoted a sci-fi book where the male protagonist travels through stopped time and looks up women's skirts. WHY WOULD YOU INCLUDE THAT IN A POPULAR SCIENCE BOOK? I mean, come on, I can think of at least one (I'm sure there are more) Star Trek episodes that aren't horribly objectifying that he could have used instead. And to follow that up, within one or two chapters the author quotes from a Woody Allen movie. 🤦🏻‍♀️

Once I got past the sexist references, the book picked up some steam and it was really fascinating. The actual science was easy to follow, captivating, and I found myself just reading hundreds of pages at a time.

I guess it just goes to show how much things have changed (in a good way) since 2010.½

Carroll makes this difficult concept a bit more accessible. Glad to see more advocates of Many Worlds interpretation. :)

I enjoyed the book. Carroll gets a few things wrong, important things. Primarily he is a Bayesian which is inductivist by a different name. He makes mistakes because of this.

His scientific explanations are accessible and engaging.

I usually have a hard time reading books about particle physics. Even though I have a PhD in engineering, I still find myself struggling with the difference between bosons, leptons, and the other ones. Fortunately, this book is approachable enough that you don't really need to grasp the specific details to get an appreciation for what's happening. In addition, the author repeats the concepts enough times (not in an annoying way), that I found myself remembering what a boson was for more than three femtoseconds.

This book was the best explanation of what the Higgs boson is that I've read. It also gave me a better appreciation for what particle physicists do, how they can be confident about their results, and where the science goes from here (and why I should care).

Definitely recommended to those with an interest in physics. Keep in mind that this book is almost ten years old, however. The Nobel was awarded in 2013 to Higgs and Englert. Gravitational waves (but not the graviton) were detected in 2015. So things have progressed since the book was published.½

I agree with every point the author makes, except maybe I'm not comfortable with the term poetic naturalism because it sounds somewhat pretentious. Unfortunately most of the book deals with language and not the big picture or science. I think this book was written for spiritual people and is lost on me because I'm already on-board with the gut punching, purpose denying train to oblivion.

What is the meaning of life?



These are the Rules:



1) Survive in good health;

2) Reproduce; but not to the extent of overpopulation and the detrimental effects thereof;

3) Learn about this World / Universe in whichever field(s) of study best suits you;

4) Work smart and efficiently, but a little hard work now and again is probably a good thing too;

5) Be happy, keep a good sense of humour and enjoy the pursuits of life (recreation);

6) Try to get along with others. If you can't get along, graciously walk away or try to negotiate a mutually agreeable separation (friendship, family, love and property, etc.);

7) Be charitable, but not to the point of dependency (A hand up is better than a hand-out);

8) Do not impose your beliefs on others. Healthy discussion / debate is allowable;

9) Live within your means. Try to live a moderate life. Do not overindulge;

10) Be honest with yourself and others. Be polite and courteous with others;

11) Conserve energy and resources. Limit your use of plastics;

12) Be respectful of the natural environment. Do your part to prevent / control the spread of exotic and invasive flora and fauna. Encourage natural biodiversity;

13) Do not submit to corruption and criminal intent;

14) Use violence only in cases of self-defense, last resort or preemptive measures;

15) Make a plan. (For all applicable points above);

16) I freely admit that I have not fulfilled all of the above (to the letter), but that I try to do my best.



Any person is welcome to challenge the Rules.

Any person is also welcome to change, make additions to, make deletions from, or otherwise alter or modify the Rules (for improvement thereof), with the strict proviso that the Rules should be ideally universally acceptable to all persons, and that, this is done in accordance with a majority consensus in any administrative region. (This would then be acknowledged in that particular administrative region only).

Any person is also challenged to produce a better set of rules, with the proviso above, should they disagree with the Rules.

They will do this of their own accord and expense, then share this with the human inhabitants of this world.

Some questions Carroll forgot to ask (I’ll answer them myself):

17) Where do we go when we die?

You do not go anywhere when you die, unless someone or something physically moves your body. To 'go somewhere' requires 'relative direction'. Relative direction does not exist in this universe, or in any other universe.

18) If our consciousness is made up of electrical impulses, where do these impulses go?

Due to the law of conservation of energy, the electrons that constitute part of your nervous system and brain, simply become absorbed into the surrounding matter when you die.

However, please do not despair. Luckily we have friends. These friends are very highly technologically advanced relative to us.

What they do, is continually scan the universe, using quarkenergy, and they record this information in a ternary data form. They then use this information to re-create the universe when they have gathered enough quarkenergy to do so.

There are minute differences between universes, but typically they are very careful not to interfere in a physical way. They do however, sometimes communicate with sentient creatures (including humans). This effectively changes timelines between universes. It is likely that you are alive in one universe, dead in another, and non-existent in many others. This has been occurring throughout your life, very frequently. It takes them much time to gather enough quarkenergy to re-create the universe in null space (billions of years).

You are, however, limited by your natural lifespan, but you will live again billions of years from now. But to you it will seem instant and seamless, as it just happened again and again.

NB: Sean, as you can see, I can do this too, you know...

I've read a fair bit about quantum physics but really couldn't follow this very well. He seemed to over-explain some things, then assume the reader already knew about others. Then he went into a 25-page Socratic Dialogue in the middle which just irritated me. I much prefer John Gribben as an explainer of the quantum world. Maybe this book would better suit someone who actually has a physics degree rather than an enthusiastic amateur like me!

What a thought provoking book! Typically, I find “popular science” books very bland and shallow, but Carroll spared no detail from the reader, yet explains every concept extremely thoughtfully and likely easier for non-physicists to understand. I appreciate his wholehearted effort to write a book that tells the story of quantum mechanics, even though it is feared by many. Highly recommend this book to anyone interested in science, physics, the universe or human thought.

This is some very impressive stuff.

I've read a lot of nonfiction science books that sometimes had equations but mostly did not, but what I really wanted was a cohesive drive, an arrow to spear right through some of the biggest questions of our time... such as What Is Time.

Sean Carroll manages to keep things very sharp between what is perfectly understood and all of the theories that are somewhat understood, and the other Cosmology stuff that's mostly just baffling. :)

Any way you look at it, though, this is not a book that gets derailed or goes off into super strange directions. He lays out all the foundations, from the opening definitions of Time and what we think it means, from the average to the rather advanced notions of space-time and curvature, Einstein's energy equation, speed of light, diliation, moving all the way to Black Holes. This is very solid stuff.

Plus, we have a very coherent definition of Time as Entropy, showing us just how complicated it can get when time's arrow might just be the illusion that Hawking says it is. I really enjoyed that discussion.

Of course, we come up with lots of possibilities and digressions that are always explored in SF, too, but most of these are just bylines, moving quickly by the Grandfather paradox, etc, to get right back on the main track.

Yes. We have Equations. :) Fortunately, the author does a very good job about explaining them and even getting deeper into the extra areas that made this rather more interesting for me since I've read many science books and have heard most of this already.

I recommend this for anyone interested in Time. :) Not time management. Just Time. :) We do touch rather heavily upon Cosmology by the end, too, which was a blast and a half, getting into many-universes theory and string theory, to name a few. And he makes it clear! :)

Seriously. This was some sharp stuff. Very readable. It's not a general overview. You might say it's putting time's arrow right through the heart of a big question and staying on track all the way to the end.

Fascinating stuff! This is going to require a second listening to in order for more than the very basic information to stick, though. Dense subject material.

Sean Caroll tries to accomplish a herculean task in this one. Bridging the gap between quantum-physics scientists/philosophers and laymen, while at the same detailing how the many-worlds interpretation of the quantum world best fits the facts we know.

I must admit I could not follow most of the math and hard science in it, but I insisted on finishing it to at least know what fundamentals I need to brush up on or learn for future readings. It gave me a desire to know more about the fundamentals and I will re-read it after that to see if it clears up some of my current lapses in understanding.

It's a heavy book and I only recommend it to those that have at least college-level grasps of quantum physics and Bayesian mathematics.

A lucid, reasonably understandable look at relatively, quantum mechanics, and time. The author seeks to understand and explain time's arrow, and trace time back to the Big Bang...or before, if possible. There are some points where it appears the author does not understand biology (nothing unusual for a physicist; most don't), but otherwise the work is interesting, comprehensible, and thorough. His solution to the problems posed by the current state of physical knowledge is interesting, and he almost convinces me it could be possible. I am at least leaving an open mind. There are a couple of chapters in which the explanations get a bit tedious, but most of the book reads well, though for some inexplicable reason, it took me a longer time than usual. Perhaps some sort of cosmic irony, considering the topic.

This is one of those books that will not only teach you things about how the world works, but also sticks with you for days and weeks as you realize it has subtly shifted the way you think about everything. In short, a well written general survey of what we know about how the world works. Carroll does a very good job of describing in understandable terms areas of physics and biology and scientific thinking in general. One example is that he managed to get me to finally understand Bayesian reasoning even though I have read specific books on the topic.

But perhaps the most affecting part of this book is Carroll's description and thoughts on poetic naturalism and how it helps us to understand and describe the world around us appropriately. That's the part that has stuck with me as I looked back out on the world and saw how there were different and appropriate "levels" for different types of speech. And it's one of the reasons I have recommended this book to so many of my friends during and after reading it.

A travers ce livre, l'auteur montre en quoi les innombrables découvertes des siècles passés ont profondément changé notre compréhension du monde. Si notre existence semble plus dérisoire que jamais face à l'immensité du temps et de l'espace, notre capacité à la comprendre et à lui donner un sens la rend d'autant plus précieuse et exceptionnelle.