Too Big for a Single Mind

How the Greatest Generation of Physicists Uncovered the Quantum World

By: Tobias Hürter

Narrated by: Paul Bellantoni

Length: 12 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's summary

The epic gripping history of how a group of physicists toppled the Newtonian universe in the early decades of the twentieth century

The epic true story of how a global team of physics luminaries—Einstein, Curie, Schrödinger, and more—toppled the Newtonian universe amid the turmoil of two World Wars

There may never be another era of science like the first half of the twentieth century, when many of the most important physicists ever to live—Marie Curie, Max Planck, Wolfgang Pauli, Niels Bohr, Werner Heisenberg, Ernst Schrödinger, Albert Einstein, and others—came together to uncover the quantum world: a concept so outrageous and shocking, so contrary to traditional physics, that its own founders rebelled against it until the equations held up and fundamentally changed our understanding of reality.

In cinematic, gripping chapters, Tobias Hürter takes us back to this uniquely momentous and harrowing time, when war and revolution upended the lives of his renegade scientists. As they crisscross Europe, Hürter reveals these brilliant thinkers anew, as friends and enemies, lovers and loners, and indeed, men and women just like us. Hürter compellingly casts quantum mechanics as a concept Too Big for a Single Mind—and its birth as a testament to the boundless potential of genius in collaboration.

©2022 Tobias Hürter (P)2022 Spotify Audiobooks

Gripping

Interesting presentation and narration, great story. Worth every minute of it. Surely worth sharing the book.

Outstanding

Crisp, brisk, mind stretching and fun
The ensemble cast of characters woven brilliantly together over years, theories and countries.

A nice overview, well read

There's one odd moment. The text rhapsodizes about the Dirac equation for paragraphs -- one of the most beautiful equations in science, epoch making, and so on. It finally gets to the point of telling you what it actually is. It's as follows, the narrator says, and pauses before changing the subject.

Which is funny, but completely understandable. It probably happened because Paul Bellantoni, who is excellent here, had to stop to ask for advice on how to read the equation, and nobody in the audio production had any idea, so it ended up a a loose end. In any case, it would just have been window dressing in a book like this. Tobias Hürter is telling a story. He makes some rudimentary points about quantum mechanics as part of the narrative, just as he fills in some very basic historical context as needed, but this book isn't where you'd go to learn about either physics or history...

What the book is about is the "generation of physicists" who "uncovered the quantum world," as the title puts it, and as such it's quite informative. I'm reasonably well read about this period, but there was a lot I didn't know about, such as the fact that the EPR paper was written by Pololsky and Rosen and sent out without Einstein's participation or approval. Hürter presents a clear picture of Heisenberg's involvement in the German atomic bomb project and how it reflected his personality, and that in itself is worth the price of admission.

Hürter has a lot of balls to keep in the air here, and he makes it look easy.

If you're interested in this book, it might be worth looking at Grace in All Simplicity, by Chris Quigg and Robert Cahn.

Fascinating but occasionally tangential

Ultimately, this could have used another round of edits. The book purports to tell how modern physics (relativity and quantum mechanics) was developed in the early 20th century. This is done by focusing on the key players, cleverly crafting an interwoven biography of sorts. Unfortunately, the chronological story is riddled with numerous tangents that detract from the narrative. The extended biographical sketched of figures like Pauli, for instance, are interesting for what they are, but they deviate extensively from the story of modern physics and defy the chronological progression. The narrative is praiseworthy in its exploration of how physicists interacted with WWI, the rise of Nazism, and WWII; however, there is a similar tangent that seems far from more interested in Nazism than in physics. At these times, the book seems to forget about physics entirely. Overall, it is fascinating story, but it would have benefited from some additional editing.

Outstanding

I especially appreciated the chapters dedicated to the great Paul Ehrenfest and Wolfgang Pauli. If you liked Quantum by Manjit Kumar, you’d appreciate this book

What an amazing work about the most amazing time in physics!

It amazes me that such a thoughtful, thorough book on such an expansive subject that takes place during such a dramatic period in the history of humankind is even possible let alone so wonderful. All the key players, the events, all there in a fascinating fluid listening experience. The Narrator was perfectly chosen for the subject matter. The Author, a Master in the knowledge of the subject matter, and in weaving together a beautiful, fascinating journey of discovery and the perseverance of the human spirit.
Thank you,
JSelway

Play it again Sam

Really enjoyed revisiting the physicists who went from zero to boom in so little time. Interesting biographical details. Decent narrator.

Packed with Science History

I learned some new bits of history from this book even though I've read many works about the advancements of physics in the 20th century. I actually wish I had read this first before Rhodes's The Making of the Atomic Bomb. The narration for the audiobook was pretty good, no complaints.

Fascinating historical account of sub atomic world.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book. It flowed smoothly from page to page and through the main players involved in the beginnings of the physics in the atomic and sub atomic discoveries.

Student of History (and Physics)

Very well done. Information in a well performed and entertaining story. We need more “history of science” writings like this one.