When We Cease to Understand the World

De: Benjamin Labatut, Adrian West - translator

Narrado por: Adam Barr

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 Schrödinger - these are some of the luminaries into whose troubled lives Benjamín Labatut thrusts the listener, 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.

©2021 Benjamin Labatut and Adrian West (P)2021 Dreamscape Media, LLC

So Beauitiful

I haven't felt so moved by a book in a long time. This book does a better job of making quantum mechanics feel personal and understandable than any other book I've listened to on the subject, but it also does so in a way that is poignant and devastatingly beautiful. While the role of psychosis in the lives of the scientists depicted is certainly at the forefront, it is the also about creativity, intellect, and the tragically magical connection between them.

Every sentence is jaw-dropping.

There's a danger in this kind of writing... "biographical fiction"... now i have to go research which parts of this are real and which are not. But... damn. Even if only 1% of this is true, it's worthy of a listen/read & consideration. This is one of those books that readers will reflect on years later and say "my opinions of the world, reality, & genius really started evolving around then".

interesting and dark

there’s a pedophile story that goes on uncomfortably long, but maybe that’s the point. I really liked all the other stories in it though.

I mostly enjoyed it

Once I reached the Quantum Physics section begins the author goes into grandiose story telling mode. While I ultimately appreciated the point he was making, that wasn't what I was interested in when I picked this audiobook.

Not easy listening

It seems to me that this author has a penchant for crude descriptions and criticisms, which can be the focus in any account of history, but it goes on for so long it becomes gratuitous. There’s some good information in here, but it’s pretty negative on the whole. I haven’t listened to the whole thing and don’t think I will. Not great “brain food” IMO.