DO SPACE AND TIME REALLY EXIST? WHAT IS REALITY MADE OF? CAN WE UNDERSTAND ITS DEEP STRUCTURE? The theoretical physicist Carlo Rovelli has spent his entire life exploring such questions.

In this captivating book, he shows us how our knowledge and perceptions of reality have changed through the centuries, from the time of Democritus to the modern era of loop quantum gravity. Leading us on a wonderful journey, he invites us to imagine a completely new world where black holes are poised to explode, spacetime consists of infinitesimal grains, and infinity does not exist – to envision a vast universe unknown and still unexplored.

"One night in 2012, during a long solitary drive from Italy to France, I realized that in order to explain the constant modifications of the concepts of space and time in an understandable way, you must start everything from the beginning: starting from Democritus and reaching all the way to the quanta of space. After all, that’s how I understand history. So, I began to design the whole book in my mind as I drove, and as time passed, I became more and more excited until at some point, I heard the siren of a patrol car and saw the officers gesturing for me to pull over – I had greatly exceeded the speed limit. The Italian police officers rather politely asked me if I had lost my mind driving at such speed. I explained to them that I had just found the idea I had been searching for a long time. They let me go without issuing a ticket and wished me good luck with the book. This is what you are holding in your hands."

"A precious guide in humanity's journey to mastering physics." The Telegraph

"Rovelli challenges us to dive deep with a passion that is infectious. The experience is ultimately delightful." Publishers Weekly