Aperture Book of the Month - January 2025

The criteria we use to select our books of the month include their introduction of different and novel concepts and constructs, their ability to educate and illuminate, or simply to provoke thought. We don’t feel we have to agree with the authors views, but we recommend them based on their contribution to informing – and potentially challenging – perspectives.  

Our choice for January’s ‘Book of the Month’ – Carlo Rovelli’s ‘Helgoland’ – meets all those criteria and more. It’s a book about physics that is more about philosophy, and in parts it could even be described as elegiac in the way it tells the story of the origins and development of quantum theory.

Rovelli explores the fundamental nature of reality. He encourages the reader to think again about the certainties we generally believe to govern our world. Quantum theory offers a conceptual framework, not absolute laws. It is based on context, probability and observation rather than prediction, and the inter-connection rather than the isolation of entities.

Along the way Rovelli introduces the reader to a fascinating cast of characters: Werner Heisenberg, Max Planck, Erwin Shrodinger (and his cat), and Aleksandr Bogdanov to name just a few. But this is not a dry textbook about physicists; the cast offers philosophy aplenty. Rovelli’s synthesis is remarkable not least for the accessibility of its depth and breadth.

Almost every page offers something to reflect upon. As Rovelli says, “…one of the greatest mistakes made by human beings

is to want certainties when trying to understand something. The search for knowledge is not nourished by certainty: it is nourished by a radical absence of certainty”. Be prepared to put aside your certainties after reading this book.