Portals to a New Reality: Five Pathways to the Future of Physics

by Vlatko Vedral

Why five revolutionary experiments in quantum physics promise to open the gates separating us from a true understanding of the universe 
 
For the last century, physics has been treading along the paths set by the same two theories—quantum theory and general relativity—and, let’s face it, it’s getting pretty boring. Most scientists are simply chasing decimal points in laboratories, unable to explore the theories at large scales, where serious discrepancies could emerge. 
 
The situation is a lot like the one physics was in in 1890, right before Planck, Einstein, and Bohr blew the roof off Newtonian physics. As Vlatko Vedral argues in Portals to a New Reality, that means we are on the brink of a revolution. Vedral shows how quantum information theory has opened radically new avenues for experiments that could upend physics. They can sound very strange—one essentially involves entangling a human with Schrödinger’s cat—but they lay bare elements of our theories that are particularly problematic, such as the widespread belief that nothing truly exists unless it is observed.  
 
At present these experiments are thought experiments, albeit fascinating ones. But nothing, save inertia and a lack of ambition, stands in our way. Now is the time to rewrite the understanding of the universe. 

Genres: Science, Physics, Nonfiction

304 pages, Hardcover

Published October 28, 2025

About the author

Vlatko Vedral is a Serbian born (and naturalised British Citizen) Physicist and Professor of Physics at the University of Oxford and CQT (Centre for Quantum Technologies) at the National University of Singapore and a Fellow of Wolfson College. He is known for his research on the theory of Entanglement and Quantum Information Theory. As of 2010 he has published over 150 research papers in quantum mechanics and quantum information and was awarded the Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award in 2007. He has held a Professorship at Leeds, visiting professorships in Vienna and Singapore (NUS) and at Perimeter Institute in Canada. As of 2010, there were over 7,500 citations to Vlatko Vedral's research papers. He is the author of several books, including Decoding Reality.

Reviews

[Diane Hernandez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Physics is at an impasse. Einstein’s theory of General Relativity works well to explain the world on a macro level. Quantum Mechanics works great at the subatomic level. But the two have never been reconciled into one giant universal law. Portals to a New Reality suggests five experiments that might help find that elusive law.

This book is written by a scientist to speak to a group of other scientists. As no scientist myself, I quickly was over my head. Even my Kindle was no help in defining the scientific jargon used throughout the book. However, Portals to a New Reality would be a gem in the right reader’s hands, I’m sure. Those hands just aren’t mine. 4 stars.

Thanks to NetGalley and Basic Books for providing me with an advanced review copy.

[Andrea Wenger · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book argues that physics is on the brink of a revolution, as quantum information theory opens radically new avenues for experiments that could upend long-held beliefs and rewrite our understanding of the universe.

I have to admit that I only understood this book at a macro level—at a micro level, it goes beyond my education. Even so, this is exciting stuff, offering new ways of looking at such quandaries as entanglement and the measurement problem. The book also argues that using classical language to describe quantum phenomena creates a barrier to understanding—something I’ve long believed.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

[Rama Rao · Rating 4 out of 5]

The quantum information is central to physical reality

This is a speculative manifesto that suggests a new theory shed light on the nature of physical reality with better understanding of spacetime and quantum gravity (bending spacetime at subatomic level). This book debate five “portals” (thought experiments) about his ideas of future theories. He proposes that quantum mechanics is universal, which applies to both microscopic and macroscopic systems. He explores experiments in quantum gravity, quantum effects in living organisms, the superpositions of macroscopic objects, and the quantum nature of time. Some of these are thought experiments but he believes that they are within experimental feasibility. He suggests that quantum information is key to the new physics theory in which consciousness plays a role in quantum physical processes, and the human perception could be altered to experience quantum reality directly in ways that were only imaginable. The theme is that reality is fundamentally informational, and unified with cosmic reality and life. The Vedantic concept of Māyā and perception of material world remains firmly within the scientific framework.

The author stretches his imagination a little too far hoping that this will lead to better life. Parts of the book are dense for an average reader interested in cosmic reality.

[Eric Farnsworth]

DNF pg. 130/271

(in the beginning) I really liked this book.
I like his sense of the Quantum world and his ideas about what it all means:
Spoiler alert: It's Q-waves all the way down.

But... I haven't read all the books on quantum mechanics & weirdness, or even most of them.
But... ALL of them (that I've read) Leave something really important (to me) out. ALL OF THEM!
It's so frustrating!

I don't know why. Maybe I'm just dense, but there is always some question I have that doesn't get answered, and without that answer, their argument doesn't make sense (to me).

Vlatko Vedral was doing really well until he got to the examples that would illustrate his ideas. They didn't. He left out obvious details. I won't go into it here and now, but if you really want to know, send me a message. Maybe you have the answer. I'm not saying Vlatko Vedral doesn't have the answer to my questions, but his book doesn't.

Maybe I just need to hire a physics grad student as a tutor?

[Ed Erwin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This author does not explain ideas in a way that I can easily understand. Even when he describes things that I already understand well, I find his explanations unclear. So, this book really doesn't work for me.

On the plus side, he proposes concrete, and maybe feasible, experiments. Many QM books do not.

One of his thoughts that I did mostly understand is that he does not believe in wave-function collapse (i.e. Copenhagen interpretation). Rather, he thinks that making a measurement of an entangled system simply means that you yourself become entangled with it as well. This is similar to what is called the 'many worlds' interpretation, but is presented in a way that is less problematic to me than the presentation where we say that the universe splits into two copies when entangled systems are measured.