When We Cease to Understand the World - Thought-Provoking Science Book | Explore Quantum Physics & Modern Science Mysteries | Perfect for Science Enthusiasts & Book Clubs

One of The New York Times Book Review’s 10 Best Books of 2021

Shortlisted for the 2021 International Booker Prize and the 2021 National Book Award for Translated Literature

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 Schrödinger—these are some of luminaries into whose troubled lives Benjamín Labatut 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 for 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, Labatut uses the imaginative resources of fiction to tell the stories of the scientists and mathematicians who expanded our notions of the possible.

On October 21, 2021, Benjamín Labatut discussed When We Cease to Understand the World with author Lawrence Weschler. This virtual event is part of New York Review Books’  with Brooklyn’s .