Seven Brief Lessons on Physics by Carlo Rovelli

I am, above all else, a social scientist. I am perfectly capable of taking a natural science class, memorizing what I'm told, and then parroting that information back, but that does not mean I understand it.  I took a few science class in high school and college, but I always sort of just rolled my eyes at it. There's some really interesting stuff (I'm oddly interested in geology and rocks and fossils and this guy who sat next to me in my college geology class used to make me origami animals during class, so I have fond memories of the topic), but in general it's just all so theoretical.

I mean, let's take gravity.  I am not anti-science and I understand that gravity exists, or that it's the best explanation we have for how come we don't fly off the planet into outer space.  But like what is it?  And I have asked my husband no fewer than five times how microwaves work and as soon as he starts talking about radio waves, I just tune out.  I mean, I get it. It's probably true. But I feel sort of like the guy who's all "if I can't see the table leg, it must not be there" when it comes to science. Again, I'm not anti-science and I'm not super dumb, I just don't get it.

So after I asked about how the microwave works the last time, Dr. BB handed me Seven Brief Lessons on Physics by Carlo Rovelli. I dutifully took it and flipped through it during breakfast for several weeks in a row. It is legitimately brief (81 pages!) and it's written at a level that even a social scientist can understand it. It's broken down into seven short essays, each essay with a different theme, from physics at an astronomical scale to physics at a tiny subatomic scale.  

And look, I sort of get it.  Everybody thinks their own discipline is the best and most important. But Rovelli didn't sell it. Why should I care about subatomic particles? Why should I care about how planets interact?  How does it impact my day to day life (outside of the microwave, I guess, which I still don't understand)?  If we lost most of the knowledge we've learned over the centuries, why should we save physics?  

Yes, it's understandable. I mean, I still don't understand how time isn't linear, but fortunately I live on Earth, so I'm going to go ahead and keep my Google calendar updated.  I liked some of the simple illustrations and metaphors. But in the end I'm going to go ahead and maintain that science doesn't seem too far removed from other belief systems. Yes, I believe it is the correct system, but right-wing white supremacists believe their system is the best, too. I think this may be controversial (and, if so, I'm really glad no one reads this blog), but I've chosen science as my cult.