International award 2016

Carlo Rovelli

Seven Brief Lessons on Physics

Mr Rovelli’s excellent book ‘Seven Brief Lessons on Physics’ is a clear and compelling introduction to many key themes in physics, never bogged-down by jargon or tricky scientific terminology. It’s accessible enough to inspire those of us with a slim grasp of some enormous concepts to go further in our scientific reading.

Or to put it another way: it makes some scary ideas an enormous amount of fun.

As The Guardian puts it: “Rovelli has a rare knack for conveying the top line of scientific theories in clear and compelling terms without succumbing to the lure of elaborate footnotes.”

Far too few supposedly popular science books are actually readable, or useful to the layman. Carlo Rovelli has provided us with one of the rare examples of a science book that can be read and understood by almost anyone. And Seven Brief Lessons in Physics’ should also help us understand the world, and the universe, that little bit more clearly.