Trespassing on Einstein's Lawn (64 page)

“If different observers give different accounts”
Carlo Rovelli, “Relational Quantum Mechanics,”
International Journal of Theoretical Physics
35 (1996): 1637; arXiv:9609002v2[quant-ph].

Physics World
ran an article headlined
Jon Cartwright, “Quantum Physics Says Goodbye to Reality,”
Physics World
, April 20, 2007.

“Einstein's reasoning requires the existence of”
Carlo Rovelli and Matteo Smerlak, “Relational EPR,” April 2006, arXiv:quant-ph/0604064.

“the more general problem that arises”
Raphael Bousso, “Cosmology and the S-Matrix,”
Physical Review D
71 (2005): 064024; arXiv:hep-th/0412197.

“no observer can obtain or store”
Thomas Breuer, “The Impossibility of Accurate State Self-Measurements,”
Philosophy of Science
62, 2 (June 1995): 197–214.

“Quantum gravity may not admit a”
Raphael Bousso, “Adventures in de Sitter Space” in
The Future of Theoretical Physics and Cosmology: Celebrating Stephen Hawking's 60th Birthday
, eds. G. W. Gibbons, E. P. S. Shellard, and S. J. Rankin (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2003), 545.

“The most symmetric phase of the”
Frank Wilczek and Betsy Devine,
Longing for the Harmonies
(New York: W. W. Norton, 1987), 275.

“Thanks to this”
Laurent Nottale, “The Principle of Relativity-Emptiness,” lecture given at Bodhicharya's Ringu Tulku Rinpoche Teachings at La Petite Pierre, France, 2009.

“Form is emptiness because”
Ibid.

1
Crashing the Ultimate Reality Party

Science and Ultimate Reality: Quantum Theory, Cosmology and Complexity
, edited by John Barrow, Paul Davies, and Charles Harper. Cambridge University Press, 2004.

2
The Perfect Alibi

Three Roads to Quantum Gravity
, by Lee Smolin. Basic Books, 2001.

Appearance and Reality: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Physics
, by Peter Kosso. Oxford University Press, 1998.

3
Smile!

Coming of Age in the Milky Way
, by Timothy Ferris. Perennial, 1988.

4
Delayed Choices

At Home in the Universe
, by John Archibald Wheeler. AIP Press, 1996.

5
Schrödinger's Rats

Understanding Philosophy of Science
, by James Ladyman. Routledge, 2002.

6
Fictitious Forces

The Force of Symmetry
, by Vincent Icke. Cambridge University Press, 1995.

The Comprehensible Cosmos
, by Victor Stenger. Prometheus Books, 2006.

Objectivity, Invariance, and Convention: Symmetry in Physical Science
, by Talal Debs and Michael Redhead. Harvard University Press, 2007.

The Scientist as Philosopher: Philosophical Consequences of Great Scientific Discoveries
, by Friedel Weinert. Springer, 2005.

Symmetries in Physics
, edited by Katherine Brading and Elena Castellani. Cambridge University Press, 2003.

Deep Down Things: The Breathtaking Beauty of Particle Physics
, by Bruce Schumm. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004.

7
Carving the World into Pieces

An Introduction to Black Holes, Information and the String Theory Revolution: The Holographic Universe
, by Leonard Susskind and James Lindesay. World Scientific, 2005.

The Future of Theoretical Physics and Cosmology
, edited by Gary Gibbons, Paul Shellard, and Stuart Rankin. Cambridge University Press, 2003.

A Brief History of Time
, by Stephen Hawking. Bantam Books, 1988.

8
Making History

The Elegant Universe
, by Brian Greene. Vintage Books, 1999.

The Cosmic Landscape: String Theory and the Illusion of Intelligent Design
, by Leonard Susskind. Little, Brown, 2005.

Cosmic Jackpot: Why Our Universe Is Just Right for Life
, by Paul Davies. Houghton Mifflin, 2007.

The Grand Design
, by Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow. Bantam Books, 2010.

9
A Hint of How the Universe Is Built

Decoherence and the Quantum-to-Classical Transition
, by Maximilian Schlosshauer. Springer, 2010.

10
That Alice-in-Wonderland Shit

The Black Hole War: My Battle with Stephen Hawking to Make the World Safe for Quantum Mechanics
, by Leonard Susskind. Back Bay Books, 2008.

11
Hope Produces Space and Time

Geons, Black Holes and Quantum Foam: A Life in Physics
, by John Archibald Wheeler with Kenneth Ford. W. W. Norton, 1998.

Gödel's Proof
, by Ernest Nagel and James R. Newman. New York University Press, 2001.

Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid
, by Douglas Hofstadter. Basic Books, 1979.

Symmetries and Reflections: Scientific Essays
, by Eugene Wigner. Ox Bow Press, 1967.

12
That Hypothetical, Secret Object

The Hidden Reality: Parallel Universes and the Deep Laws of the Cosmos
, by Brian Greene. Allen Lane, 2011.

Out of This World: Colliding Universes, Branes, Strings, and Other Wild Ideas of Modern Physics
, by Stephen Webb. Copernicus Books, 2004.

The Little Book of String Theory
, by Steven Gubser. Princeton University Press, 2010.

15
Into the Margin

Quo Vadis Quantum Mechanics?
edited by Nancy Kolenda, Avshalom Elitzur, and Shahar Dolev. Springer, 2005.

A
MANDA
G
EFTER
is a physics and cosmology writer and a consultant for
New Scientist
magazine, where she formerly served as books and arts editor and founded CultureLab. Her writing has been featured in
New Scientist
,
Scientific American
,
Sky and Telescope
,
Astronomy.com
, and
The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Gefter studied the history and philosophy of science at the London School of Economics and was a 2012–13 Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts. This is her first book.