Einstein's Unfinished Revolution

The Search for What Lies Beyond the Quantum

By: Lee Smolin

Narrated by: Katharine Lee McEwan

Length: 10 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's summary

A daring new vision of quantum theory from one of the leading minds of contemporary physics.

Quantum physics is the golden child of modern science. It is the basis of our understanding of atoms, radiation, and so much else, from elementary particles and basic forces to the behavior of materials. But for a century, it has also been the problem child of science: It has been plagued by intense disagreements between its inventors, strange paradoxes, and implications that seem like the stuff of fantasy. Whether it's Schrödinger's cat - a creature that is simultaneously dead and alive - or a belief that the world does not exist independently of our observations of it, quantum theory challenges our fundamental assumptions about reality. 

In Einstein's Unfinished Revolution, theoretical physicist Lee Smolin provocatively argues that the problems that have bedeviled quantum physics since its inception are unsolved and unsolvable, for the simple reason that the theory is incomplete. There is more to quantum physics, waiting to be discovered. Our task - if we are to have simple answers to our simple questions about the universe we live in - must be to go beyond quantum mechanics to a description of the world on an atomic scale that makes sense. 

In this vibrant and accessible audiobook, Smolin takes us on a journey through the basics of quantum physics, introducing the stories of the experiments and figures that have transformed our understanding of the universe, before wrestling with the puzzles and conundrums that the quantum world presents. Along the way, he illuminates the existing theories that might solve these problems, guiding us toward a vision of the quantum that embraces common-sense realism. 

If we are to have any hope of completing the revolution that Einstein began nearly a century ago, we must go beyond quantum mechanics to find a theory that will give us a complete description of nature. In Einstein's Unfinished Revolution, Lee Smolin brings us a step closer to resolving one of the greatest scientific controversies of our age.

©2019 Lee Smolin (P)2019 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“Smolin is an extremely creative thinker who has been a leader in theoretical physics for many years. He is also a gifted writer who manages to translate his own insights about how science works into engaging language and compelling stories...Smolin's description of how quantum mechanics works is both elegant and accessible.” (NPR) 

"[A]mbitious...upbeat and, finally, optimistic...Smolin is a lucid expositor.” (Nature)

“Lee Smolin has written a superb and sweeping book. He takes us to Bohr, Bohm, Everett and far beyond in a masterful assessment, then on to the struggle to go beyond quantum mechanics towards quantum gravity. Einstein’s Unfinished Revolution is truly a fine work.” (Stuart Kauffman, author of At Home in the Universe) 

Awesome Smolin

This is my favorite Smolin book so far. Most of the book is yet another historical survey of modern physics. There is much more focus on Bell and Bohm than in most such physics books. The last two chapters are the most awesome and leaves Bell and Bohm behind proposing a compelling causal network theory. This is the most interesting theory I have read in a very long time. There is often quite a bit of hand-waving and spinning of tall tales in popular physics books. This book keeps it as down to earth as a QM book can be.

QM foundations has seemed stalled and/or flailing for decades, this seems to me to be the first rational and coherent theory I have seen that has real potential to actually complete Einstein's Unfinished Revolution.

This is a must read for anyone who believes there must be an underlying reality beyond QM and the world is not curiouser than we can imagine.

The difficult narration was excellent with clarity and great pacing.

A Brave Defense of Local Realism

Quantum Theory is the most comprehensive and accurate model of physics ever conceived, yet there are still no satisfying answers to: "Why is it so bizarre?" A modern-day physicist will likely respond "Don't ask", whereas we get a plethora of answers from the mystics like Deepak Chopra who profit off this misunderstanding of nature with fairy tales, satisfying as they are. Is there some satisfying middle ground that a scientifically-minded person can appreciate?

In this book, Lee Smolin promotes the more satisfying (albeit fringe) theory of local realism. Do particles really exist in multiple places at once? Do we really need a multi-verse (or other strange) models to interpret the consequences of Quantum Theory? No and no. Local realism says there is one objective universe "out there" that can be measured and that particles are "real" things with properties, not just ghostly consequences of an abstract mathematical model.

I respect Smolin's attempt to elucidate alternate theories that would be otherwise swept under the rug (as he does in his other books). Science would be less interesting without these alternate interpretations.

Here, it doesn't matter if the reader already has convictions about Quantum Theory that conflict with Smolin's - his attempt to square the circle of Quantum Physics with some more rational explanation still serves to inform the reader further about why this is so hard to do. The reader may come away a believer in local realism, or perhaps with an better appreciation for the still-yet-to-be explained inherent weirdness of Quantum Theory, but will be more informed either way.

Suffered through it

The book’s content is great and something that I’m really interested in. But the narration is horrible and I had to force myself not to just give up and quit listening. It’s hard to know if this book is read by an actual person that has a delivery of a robot, or by a text-to-speech computer program. It almost sounds like she is reading and saying each word one be one with no regard to the flow of the sentence, with awkward pauses between words. Just simply bad. Probably the worst narration I’ve ever listen to. It’s a shame, because this book is actually really good. I will probably buy the book read it again.

Good history, good explanations

Lee Smolin does a good job of presenting the less popular historical interpretations on quantum mechanics that fell by the wayside before coming to the current mainstream understanding. He shows their comparative strengths and weaknesses and uses them as a springboard for possible future realist theories. Chapters 14 and 15 are worth listening to at least twice because he covers a lot of ground and the details matter. I am very happy wit this book.

A welcome pushback to anti-realism

Smolin has been here before. I'm persuaded - I don't know anyone knows enough to be fully convinced. There's clearly a problem here that Bohr spent his life glossing over with hand-waving.

Sorry the narration's not very good - personal opinion. OK I'd claim objectively it wasn't very good. Emphasis is unnaturally misplaced - the pauses are just.....wrong - perhaps because the meaning is not fully understood by the speaker?

Political correctness is rife as ever. Everywhere gender is not specified, although historically likely to be male, "she" is used. Trendy yes but also ridiculous. It's just tedious. Why should Mr Smolin be read by Ms Narrator? The book is written in the first person so sounds false being read by a woman,

A worthy book but a bit turgid and slow to get to the point.

Lee Smolin's Best Book

Smolin has done an extraordinary job of challenging some physicists obsession in telling the public stories of "quantum weirdness " rather than doing the hard work of trying to move forward with our understanding of the universe.

Smolin' does a very nice job in explaining to the non-physicist the pilot wave theory as championed by David Bohm. This is one of the very few books written for non-physicists that has explained the pro and cons of the pilot wave theory.

While not for the neophyte to this type of science literature, you will find the book well written with good metaphors for understanding the foundations of physics.
Best wishes

Keepin Up with Quantum Physics

For those that like to follow current updates on quantum physics, this book is for you. Lee Smolin clarifies the issues that still remain in the weird quantum world, and suggests new areas of inquiry to get to the bottom of it all. This book is not too technical, and can easily be read by someone with basic familiarity of the landscape. Smolin asks tough questions, and challenges those currently in the field to go beyond our current understanding/lack of understanding.

Beyond (Relational) Quantum Mechanics

Smolin believes quantum mechanics is fundamentally incomplete. In particular, he says, our notion of space is wrong, such that space is emergent from what is missing. This is extremely profound because the originators of quantum mechanics - Einstein and Bohm in particular - wrestled with apparent non-localities in their models, i.e. instances where faster-than-light interaction was required. According to Smolin, these apparent violations of special relativity are resolved because what we consider "near" or "at a distance" at the quantum level is illusory, i.e. locality and thus non-locality are not fundamental. We merely need to figure out what *is* fundamental, and Smolin offers his intriguing hypothesis at the end of his book, what he calls the Causal Theory of Views.

Thus, all "interpretations" of quantum mechanics are doomed because quantum mechanics itself is not quite right. Smolin does go through a few of these interpretations, elucidating their strengths and weaknesses. Particularly good is his review of Rovelli's Relational Quantum Mechanics, and this is no surprise because Smolin himself contributed to this formulation and indeed remains a relationalist (meaning that observables must describe relationships, not absolutes, as he explains in Chapter 14). His review of hidden variables theories is also quite salient, and due to the timing of his book, his critique of the Many Worlds interpretation almost feels like a critique of Sean Carroll's book "Something Deeply Hidden", although as I said, Smolin's critique strikes much deeper to the heart of QM.

Overall, this is an amazing read, and has made me a huge fan of Smolin and his work. His assessment of "information" and "meaning" in Quantum Information Theory (Chapter 12), in particular, is the most lucid I've yet read. A must-read for anyone following Quantum Foundations.

Lee Smolin’s unique brand of deep musings

If you enjoy reading different approaches to trying to understand the “measurement problem” and other quantum weirdness, Lee Smolin is your iconoclastic “realist” guide. I hafta admit I didn’t quite follow all of this, particularly Lebniz’ “monads” but it’s well worth a listen because he is so open to various branches (e.g., Everett-ian many worlds) that he argues their case well enough to provide a primer, while also disagreeing with them. Then the last couple chapters summarize his view which seems more like a lighthouse than a road map. Fascinating read.

PS I am TOUGH on narrators and this one is very good.

Great content but narration was monotonic

A fantastic, thought provoking book but very monotonic narration that I found difficult to get through.