Waves in an Impossible Sea: How Everyday Life Emerges from the Cosmic Ocean

4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars | 269 ratings

Price: 18.37

Last update: 01-14-2025


About this item

A theoretical physicist takes listeners on an awe-inspiring journey-found in "no other book" (Science)—to discover how the universe generates everything from nothing at all: "If you want to know what's really going on in the realms of relativity and particle physics, read this book" (Sean Carroll, author of The Biggest Ideas in the Universe).

In Waves in an Impossible Sea, physicist Matt Strassler tells a startling tale of elementary particles, human experience, and empty space. He begins with a simple mystery of motion. When we drive at highway speeds with the windows down, the wind beats against our faces. Yet our planet hurtles through the cosmos at 150 miles per second, and we feel nothing of it. How can our voyage be so tranquil when, as Einstein discovered, matter warps space, and space deflects matter?

The answer, Strassler reveals, is that empty space is a sea, albeit a paradoxically strange one. Much like water and air, it ripples in various ways, and we ourselves, made from its ripples, can move through space as effortlessly as waves crossing an ocean. Deftly weaving together daily experience and fundamental physics—the musical universe, the enigmatic quantum, cosmic fields, and the Higgs boson—Strassler shows us how all things, familiar and unfamiliar, emerge from what seems like nothing at all.


Top reviews from the United States

  • A. Hearn
    5.0 out of 5 stars Remarkable Book
    Reviewed in the United States on January 4, 2025
    I can say that I have never ENJOYED a book about quantum physics, but I ENJOYED this book by Matt Strassler from beginning to end. To be clear, this is not a book about the entirely of quantum physics, but focuses on a specific, very important point., of which I do not want to attempt to consolidate down to a sentence or two here. It wouldn't be fair.

    The book is much like reading a "who done it" murder mystery. You receive lots of clues as you read along as to what the end point might be, but you have to wait until the end to find out. In reading the first third of the book, I felt like I was reading a 7th grade science text book and was actually wondering if I had made a mistake in buying the book. However, in the second third, he begins to introduce important concepts (based on the first third) that will be necessary to understand the last third. Then in the last third, he reveals the subject of all the intrigue, and it's WOW.

    Matt writes this in a way that is completely understandable, using lots of analogies, and avoiding all but a little math. Now that I know "who done it", I'm going to read it again with a different level of understanding and a greater appreciation for the strategy Matt used in leading to his final objective.

    In summary, this is one of the best books on a scientific subject that I've ever read. I highly recommend it for anyone wanting to dip their feet into understanding a bit of quantum physics without feeling intimidated or overwhelmed.
  • The Experimentalist
    5.0 out of 5 stars One of a kind!
    Reviewed in the United States on October 1, 2024
    I'm a very old Ph.D. experimental physicist who missed out on quantum field theory. After 50 years in aerospace, I'm back studying physics. I bought this book because I was impressed by a Quanta article based on it. All I can say is, "Wow!" Would I like more math? Of course. But this is a very impressive effort to deliver a sense of what QFT is, and its implications, without math beyond the middle school level. It takes a lot of self confidence for an author to lay it all out there without a math smoke screen to hide behind. His descriptions are so straight-forward, direct, and clear that there's nowhere to hide. I particularly appreciated his description of the role of the Higgs field. For me, this kind of introduction is extremely helpful before taking on the math. I get a sense of the lay of the land and the shape of the forest before walking in among the trees and then diving into the weeds.

    The book is not just about QFT. There are all sorts of particle physics and cosmology insights in the offing too.

    I'll admit that I was more than halfway through the book before encountering much that I didn't already know. From that point on, though, there was one revelation after another. The first half of the book is there to get the less-technical reader oriented and prepared. As a result, the book can take a reader from nowhere to a new appreciation of the universe. That is a huge achievement by the author.

    If there's any bad news, it's that you have to almost finish the book to appreciate the title. I'm concerned that the title doesn't give much of an inkling of what the book covers. I hope the word gets out to the people that are interested.

    As an aside, I spend a little time each day answering questions on Quora. This book answers about two dozen of Quora's most common questions on physics. It really does cover a lot that people are curious about.

    I can't recommend this book enough. Congratulations to the author!
  • Tom Texas
    4.0 out of 5 stars Insightful but sometimes tedious
    Reviewed in the United States on March 7, 2024
    The author has a knack for explaining difficult concepts and eventually comes to quantum field theory. Definitely worth a read for fans of popular science books. For me, the book goes too far in trying to reach a reader with no understanding of physics. The long explanations trying to reach the reader who knows nothing about the topic are torturous for the many readers who have at least a basic understanding of physics. I doubt that those who don’t understand basic physics would even buy the book so the book is written for an audience that won’t even read the book. I continue to read for the nuggets that are new to me.
  • Pat
    5.0 out of 5 stars Informative and Interesting
    Reviewed in the United States on August 19, 2024
    This is the best book so far for someone seeking to understand Quantum Mechanics and Quantum Theory. I've read books over the years that try to explain using mathematics, or historical events, or by following individual researchers, or comics, or experimental outcomes. None have done a very good job for the uninitiated. Strassler uses examples of common experiences to lift the veil on quantum theory. Seriously, this is a milestone book in Physics education
  • coach
    5.0 out of 5 stars Elegant scientific writing great for teens through elders
    Reviewed in the United States on January 5, 2025
    Fascinated with astrophysics and science in general, I found this writer able to explain with grace and polish the most advanced ideas that we humans have about the universe. I liked the book so much that I gave a copy to my cousin, a retired physicist at NASA and to my grandsons, who are studying physics. All this wise material is delivered in plain English without formulas--a remarkable achievement in writing and teaching.
  • D. Blanding
    5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Read
    Reviewed in the United States on January 7, 2025
    Well written for the target audience of non-physicists who are curious to learn how quantum physics works.
  • Elisabeth Huhn
    5.0 out of 5 stars Amazingly clear science
    Reviewed in the United States on January 6, 2025
    I've always thought that I ultimately had to un the math to fully understand science. And up until now, that's been true. But this book is so clearly written, that exposes the phibs we've all been told that ultimately confuse rather than explain, that I get a true glimmer of what is going on. Without any math. Fantastic

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