Audiobooks by Carlo Rovelli

On the Equality of All Things: Physics and Philosophy

"Brought to you by Penguin. What can we really know about the world around us? With clarity and lightness, acclaimed physicist Carlo Rovelli guides us through the speculative depths of modern physics, unafraid to test their limits, not least because, as he suggests, there may be no final ground to reach. Electrons and minds, stones and laws, judgements and galaxies are not essentially different in nature from one another. They are ideas that illuminate each other. Reality, he shows, is shaped by this continuous play of reflections. From this emerges Rovelli’s central insight: the equality of all things. Like the ancient Chinese philosopher Zhuangzi, who dreams he is a butterfly and wakes unsure whether he is Zhuangzi dreaming to be a butterfly or a butterfly dreaming to be Zhuangzi, Rovelli invites us to see reality anew, recognizing our knowledge is coherent but also uncertain and circular. We are made of the same stuff as the rest of reality – and so we are, in a deep sense, home in the world. © Carlo Rovelli 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026"

Carlo Rovelli (Author), TBD (Narrator)

Audiobook

85 Seconds to Midnight: A Physicist's Argument Against Rearmament

"A warning to humankind from one of the world’s greatest physicists 'What drives these pages is the guilty conscience of my profession, theoretical physics. My sole aim is to help avert what seems to me to be the unintended, yet scarcely avoidable, end point of the current politics of the governments we have elected: nuclear war.' The world is rearming and embroiled in endless conflict. The Doomsday Clock has now been set to 85 seconds to midnight, with the risk of nuclear war the highest it has ever been. Why do we always fail to learn from the past? In this urgent book, acclaimed physicist Carlo Rovelli reframes the history of nuclear weapons: from how the atomic bomb was born to why Germany didn't build it and why the US used it, to the narrowly averted disasters of the Cold War and the political brinkmanship careering out of control today. As he grapples with the legacy of his scientific forebears, Rovelli spotlights the true nature of the decisions being made by leaders around the world today. A timely and ardent warning, this searing reckoning with short-sighted politics is essential reading for anyone seeking sanity at our moment of greatest peril. © Carlo Rovelli 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026"

Carlo Rovelli (Author), Roy McMillan (Narrator)

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White Holes

"Brought to you by Penguin. From Carlo Rovelli, the bestselling author of Seven Brief Lessons on Physics, this is a story of wonder, new worlds and why the end is just the beginning Let us journey into the heart of a black hole. Let us slip beyond its boundary, the horizon, and tumble - on and on - down this crack in the universe. As we plunge, we'll see geometry fold, we'll feel the equations draw tight around us. Eventually, we'll pass it: the remains of a star, deep and dense and falling further far. And then - the bottom. Where time and space end, and the white hole is born . . . With lightness and magic, here Carlo Rovelli traces the ongoing adventure of his own cutting-edge research, of the uncertainty and joy of going where we've not yet been. Guiding us to the edge of theory and experiment, he invites us to go beyond, to experience the fever and the disquiet of science. Here is the extraordinary life of a white hole. ‘If you want to remember why you once fell in love with the idea of the cosmos, or want to fall in love with it for the first time, then this book is for you’ Observer ©2023 Carlo Rovelli (P)2023 Penguin Audio"

Carlo Rovelli (Author), Harry Lloyd (Narrator)

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Anaximander: And the Nature of Science

"Brought to you by Penguin. The bestselling author of Seven Brief Lessons on Physics illuminates the nature of science by exploring the revolutionary ideas of one of its great forefathers: the Greek philosopher Anaximander Over two millennia ago, a Greek philosopher had a number of wondrous insights that paved the way to cosmology, physics, geography, meteorology, and biology, setting in motion a new way of seeing the world. Anaximander's legacy includes the revolutionary idea that the earth floats in a void, that the world can be understood in natural rather than supernatural terms, that animals evolved, and that universal laws govern all phenomena. He introduced a new mode of rational thinking with an openness to uncertainty and to the progress of knowledge. In this elegant work, acclaimed physicist Carlo Rovelli brings to light the importance of Anaximander's overlooked legacy to modern science. He examines Anaximander as a scientist interested in shedding light on the deep nature of scientific thinking, which Rovelli locates in his rebellious ability to reimagine the world again and again. Anaximander celebrates the radical lack of certainty that defines the scientific quest for knowledge. © 2023 Carlo Rovelli (P)2023 Penguin Audio"

Carlo Rovelli (Author), Roy Mcmillan (Narrator)

Audiobook

[Spanish] - Siete breves lecciones de física

"Inesperado best seller en Italia, con traducciones a más de veinte idiomas, Siete breves lecciones de física se ha convertido en un éxito bien sencillo de explicar por algo muy difícil de conseguir: con pasión, fluidez y una encomiable voluntad de presentar de un modo diáfano temas complejos, Carlo Rovelli, científico de estirpe humanista, nos propone un breve pero muy completo recorrido por los hitos de la física de los últimos cien años en siete lecciones magistrales. Y así repasa la teoría de la relatividad, la mecánica cuántica, la arquitectura del universo, las partículas elementales, la gravedad cuántica, los agujeros negros... Pero también la naturaleza del tiempo y nuestro lugar dentro de este entramado infinito. Combinando entusiasmo, claridad y rigor, Rovelli nos propone una estupenda (y bella) panorámica de los hallazgos de la física, a través de los cuales el ser humano ha ido desentrañando los misterios del universo."

Carlo Rovelli (Author), ángel Morón (Narrator)

Audiobook

[Italian] - La realtà non è come ci appare

"Tempo, spazio e materia appaiono generati da un pullulare di eventi quantistici elementari. Comprendere questa tessitura profonda della realtà è l’obiettivo della ricerca in gravità quantistica, la sfida della scienza contemporanea dove tutto il nostro sapere sulla natura viene rimesso in questione. Carlo Rovelli, uno dei principali protagonisti di questa avventura, conduce il lettore al cuore dell’indagine in modo semplice e avvincente. Racconta come sia cambiata la nostra immagine del mondo dall’Antichità alle scoperte più recenti: l’evaporazione dei buchi neri, l’Universo prima del big bang, la struttura granulare dello spazio, il ruolo dell’informazione e l’assenza del tempo in fisica fondamentale. L’autore disegna un vasto affresco della visione fisica del mondo, chiarisce il contenuto di teorie come la relatività generale e la meccanica quantistica, ci porta al bordo del sapere attuale e offre una versione originale e articolata delle principali questioni oggi aperte. Soprattutto, comunica il fascino di questa ricerca, la passione che la anima e la bellezza della nuova prospettiva sul mondo che la scienza svela ai nostri occhi."

Carlo Rovelli (Author), Riccardo Mei (Narrator)

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Helgoland: The Sunday Times bestseller

"Brought to you by Penguin. The Number One bestselling author of The Order of Time is back with a stunning book about the enigma of quantum physics In June 1925, twenty-three-year-old Werner Heisenberg, suffering from hay fever, retreated to a small, treeless island in the North Sea called Helgoland. It was there that he came up with one of the most transformative scientific concepts: quantum theory. Almost a century later, quantum physics has given us many startling ideas: ghost waves, distant objects that seem magically connected to each other, cats that are both dead and alive. Countless experiments have led to practical applications that shape our daily lives. Today our understanding of the world around us is based on this theory. And yet it is still profoundly mysterious. In this enchanting book, Carlo Rovelli, one of our most celebrated scientists, tells the extraordinary story of quantum physics and reveals its deep meaning: a world made of substances is replaced by a world made of relations, each particle responding to another in a never ending game of mirrors. Shifting our perspective once again, Rovelli takes us on a riveting journey through the universe so we can better understand our place in it. © Carlo Rovelli 2021 (P) Penguin Audio 2021"

Carlo Rovelli (Author), David Rintoul (Narrator)

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There Are Places in the World Where Rules Are Less Important Than Kindness

"Brought to you by Penguin. One of our most beloved scientists, a fearless free spirit, Carlo Rovelli is also a masterful storyteller. In this collection of writings, the logbook of an intelligence always on the move, he follows his curiosity and invites us on a voyage through science, literature, philosophy and politics. Written with his usual clarity and wit, these pieces, most of which were first published in Italian newspapers, range widely across time and space: from Newton's alchemy to Einstein's mistakes, from Nabokov's lepidoptery to Dante's cosmology, from travels in Africa to the consciousness of an octopus, from mind-altering psychedelic substances to the meaning of atheism. Charming, pithy and elegant, this book is the perfect gateway to the universe of one of the most influential physicists of our age. © Carlo Rovelli 2020 (P) Penguin Audio 2020"

Carlo Rovelli (Author), Roy Mcmillan (Narrator)

Audiobook

[Italian] - Helgoland

"A Helgoland, spoglia isola nel Mare del Nord, luogo adatto alle idee estreme, nel giugno 1925 il ventitreenne Werner Heisenberg ha avviato quella che, secondo non pochi, è stata la più radicale rivoluzione scientifica di ogni tempo: la fisica quantistica. A distanza di quasi un secolo da quei giorni, la teoria dei quanti si è rivelata sempre più gremita di idee sconcertanti e inquietanti (fantasmatiche onde di probabilità, oggetti lontani che sembrano magicamente connessi fra loro, ecc.), ma al tempo stesso capace di innumerevoli conferme sperimentali, che hanno portato a ogni sorta di applicazioni tecnologiche. Si può dire che oggi la nostra comprensione del mondo si regga su tale teoria, tuttora profondamente misteriosa. In questo libro non solo si ricostruisce, con formidabile limpidezza, l’avventurosa e controversa crescita della teoria dei quanti, rendendo evidenti, anche per chi la ignora, i suoi passaggi cruciali, ma la si inserisce in una nuova visione, dove a un mondo fatto di sostanze si sostituisce un mondo fatto di relazioni, che si rispondono fra loro in un inesauribile gioco di specchi. Visione che induce a esplorare, in una prospettiva stupefacente, questioni fondamentali ancora irrisolte, dalla costituzione della natura a quella di noi stessi, che della natura siamo parte. Foto di Hermann Spurzem (1907-1965)"

Carlo Rovelli (Author), Carlo Rovelli (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Order of Time

"Winner of Audiobook of the Year at The Specsavers National Book Awards 2018 Penguin presents the audio edition of The Order of Time by Carlo Rovelli, read by Benedict Cumberbatch. The bestselling author of Seven Brief Lessons on Physics takes us on an enchanting journey to discover the meaning of time Time is a mystery that does not cease to puzzle us. Philosophers, artists and poets have long explored its meaning while scientists have found that its structure is different from the simple intuition we have of it. From Boltzmann to quantum theory, from Einstein to loop quantum gravity, our understanding of time has been undergoing radical transformations. Time flows at a different speed in different places, the past and the future differ far less than we might think, and the very notion of the present evaporates in the vast universe. With his extraordinary charm and sense of wonder, bringing together science, philosophy and art, Carlo Rovelli unravels this mystery, inviting us to imagine a world where time is in us and we are not in time. 'A global superstar. . . Rovelli is making the grammar of the universe accessible to a new generation' - Channel 4 News"

Carlo Rovelli (Author), Benedict Cumberbatch (Narrator)

Audiobook

Reality Is Not What It Seems: The Journey to Quantum Gravity

"Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable, audiobook edition of Reality is Not What it Seems by Carlo Rovelli, read by Roy McMillan. From the best-selling author of Seven Brief Lessons on Physics comes a new book about the mind-bending nature of the universe Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable, audiobook book edition of Reality is Not What it Seems by Carlo Rovelli, read by Roy McMillan. What are time and space made of? Where does matter come from? And what exactly is reality? Scientist Carlo Rovelli has spent his whole life exploring these questions and pushing the boundaries of what we know. Here he explains how our image of the world has changed throughout centuries. From Aristotle to Albert Einstein, Michael Faraday to the Higgs boson, he takes us on a wondrous journey to show us that beyond our ever-changing idea of reality is a whole new world that has yet to be discovered."

Carlo Rovelli (Author), Roy McMillan (Narrator)

Audiobook

Seven Brief Lessons on Physics

"Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable, audiobook edition of Seven Brief Lessons on Physics written and read by Carlo Rovelli. These seven 'short lessons' guide us, with admirable clarity, through the scientific revolution that shook physics in the twentieth century and still continues to shake us today. In this short, playful, entertaining and mind-bending introduction to modern physics, Rovelli explains Einstein's theory of general relativity, quantum mechanics, black holes, the complex architecture of the universe, elementary particles, gravity, and the nature of the mind. In under one hundred pages, readers will understand the most transformative scientific discoveries of the twentieth century. Not since Richard Feynman's celebrated best-seller Six Easy Pieces has physics been so vividly, intelligently and entertainingly revealed. Carlo Rovelli is an eminent physicist with an extraordinary ability to write about complex topics in a lucid, clear prose. His book was top of the bestseller charts in Italy for months and has sold over 200,000 copies since publication in November. He is the head of the Équipe de Gravité Quantique at the Theoretical Physics Department of Aix-Marseille University. It has sold in over a dozen languages."

Carlo Rovelli (Author), Carlo Rovelli (Narrator)

Audiobook

Audiobooks by Carlo Rovelli

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