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When we cease to understand the world
"A fictional examination of the lives of real-life scientists and thinkers whose discoveries resulted in moral consequences beyond their imagining. When We Cease to Understand the World is a book about the complicated links between scientific and mathematical discovery, madness, and destruction...
| Main Author: | Labatut, Benjamín, 1980- |
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| Other Authors: | West, Adrian Nathan (Translator) |
| Format: | Books Print Book |
| Language: | English Spanish |
| Published: |
New York :
New York Review of Books,
2021.
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| Subjects: |
| Summary: |
"A fictional examination of the lives of real-life scientists and thinkers whose discoveries resulted in moral consequences beyond their imagining. 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 Schrodinger: these are some of luminaries into whose troubled lives Labatut's book thrusts the reader, 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 to 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, Benjamin Labatut uses the imaginative resources of fiction to tell the stories of scientists and mathematicians who expanded our notions of the possible"-- |
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| Physical Description: |
189 pages |
| ISBN: |
9781681375663 1681375664 |
| Author Notes: |
Adrian Nathan West is a writer and literary translator living in Spain. His criticism has appeared in the London Review of Books , the Times Literary Supplement , and many other publications. He has translated books from German, Catalan, and Spanish, including Jean Améry's Charles Bovary, Country Doctor , which is published by NYRB Classics, and Pere Gimferrer for NYRB Poets. His debut novel, My Father's Diet , was published in early 2022. |