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Frumusețea căderii: O viață în căutarea gravitației
O fiziciană de renume mondial cercetează adevărata natură a gravitației
Claudia de Rham s-a jucat cu gravitația întreaga sa viață. Ca scufundătoare, a experimentat flotabilitatea propriului corp în Oceanul Indian. Ca pilot, în timp ce survola cascadele Canadei în diminețile mohorâte, înainte de a-și începe activitatea zilnică. Ca astronaut aspirant, visând la aventura eliberării de atracția terestră. Și ca fiziciană, descoperind noi aspecte ale personalității irezistibile a gravitației, pe când explora limitele relativității generale formulate de Einstein.
Cei mai străluciți oameni de știință din istorie nu au reușit încă să răspundă deplin la întrebarea simplă: Ce este mai exact gravitația? Autoarea ne dezvăluie cum s-a lăsat călăuzită de ideile unor minți strălucite – de la Newton și Einstein la Stephen Hawking, Andrea Ghez și Roger Penrose – pentru a descoperi indicii ale unei laturi ascunse a gravitației la nivelul particulelor elementare, acolo unde teoria lui Einstein eșuează, ceea ce a determinat-o să dezvolte o nouă teorie a „gravitației masive”.
Claudia de Rham s-a jucat cu gravitația întreaga sa viață. Ca scufundătoare, a experimentat flotabilitatea propriului corp în Oceanul Indian. Ca pilot, în timp ce survola cascadele Canadei în diminețile mohorâte, înainte de a-și începe activitatea zilnică. Ca astronaut aspirant, visând la aventura eliberării de atracția terestră. Și ca fiziciană, descoperind noi aspecte ale personalității irezistibile a gravitației, pe când explora limitele relativității generale formulate de Einstein.
Cei mai străluciți oameni de știință din istorie nu au reușit încă să răspundă deplin la întrebarea simplă: Ce este mai exact gravitația? Autoarea ne dezvăluie cum s-a lăsat călăuzită de ideile unor minți strălucite – de la Newton și Einstein la Stephen Hawking, Andrea Ghez și Roger Penrose – pentru a descoperi indicii ale unei laturi ascunse a gravitației la nivelul particulelor elementare, acolo unde teoria lui Einstein eșuează, ceea ce a determinat-o să dezvolte o nouă teorie a „gravitației masive”.
264 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2024
55 people are currently reading
3484 people want to read
About the author
Claudia de Rham
5 books10 followersClaudia de Rham is a Swiss theoretical physicist working at the interface of gravity, cosmology and particle physics. She is based at Imperial College London.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
May 26, 2024
As someone who primarily reads non-fiction but then gets in moods where I'll read nothing but astrophysics, this was a fun and enlightening journey into science and personal experience.
The author was able to weave their own story with the tale and science of gravity in a unique, entertaining, and educational way.
It's also a great reminder that science is fact until those facts change. As we as a species continue to evolve, we will keep seeing our theories tested.
The author was able to weave their own story with the tale and science of gravity in a unique, entertaining, and educational way.
It's also a great reminder that science is fact until those facts change. As we as a species continue to evolve, we will keep seeing our theories tested.
June 27, 2024
A lot of this book covered a lot of what I already know, which isn’t a fault of it of course. There wasn’t anything that totally shattered my worldview like Rovelli’s “The Order of Time” or something.
However, I did love how this book posed how important of a crisis the cosmological constant problem is. I think we often hear about how General Relativity breaks down at very small scales. We think that GR handles the very big just fine, but in reality it isn’t really satisfactory.
This book talks about the author’s work in Massive Gravity, which can account for the difference in QFT vacuum energy calculations and the energy density associated with dark energy.
The extra polarizations of gravitational waves is an interesting problem. Also liked how she described the curvature and energy scales, and how our analyses depend on them.
The description of the work, at least, mostly deals with modifying Einstein’s theory from the classical end. I’ve gone through the last few years thinking the needed modifications were all on the quantum level. This tells me that working on the classical level, I can still interact and challenge my notions of space and time. I’ve been reading biographies of physicists, and other physics books to find my direction in my academic career. I think this book helps reaffirm my decision to pursue alternative gravity, even if not necessarily quantum gravity. Guess I’ll apply to Imperial College London to try to work on massive gravity, after I finish my MSc project on Conformal Gravity.
Also loved the description of the author’s life in the academe. The recounting of airports and being in transit all the time will probably serve to prepare me for the next few years.
Side note: I feel like there is an error in the description of the time dilation experienced by GPS satellites. We should expect time to run faster for them relative to the surface of the Earth. (You can calculate this from the metric, or check out the Pound-Rebka experiment.) However, unless I completely misunderstood the writing, the author seems to state that it’s the reverse. Might just be a sign error, or else I completely misunderstand everything.
However, I did love how this book posed how important of a crisis the cosmological constant problem is. I think we often hear about how General Relativity breaks down at very small scales. We think that GR handles the very big just fine, but in reality it isn’t really satisfactory.
This book talks about the author’s work in Massive Gravity, which can account for the difference in QFT vacuum energy calculations and the energy density associated with dark energy.
The extra polarizations of gravitational waves is an interesting problem. Also liked how she described the curvature and energy scales, and how our analyses depend on them.
The description of the work, at least, mostly deals with modifying Einstein’s theory from the classical end. I’ve gone through the last few years thinking the needed modifications were all on the quantum level. This tells me that working on the classical level, I can still interact and challenge my notions of space and time. I’ve been reading biographies of physicists, and other physics books to find my direction in my academic career. I think this book helps reaffirm my decision to pursue alternative gravity, even if not necessarily quantum gravity. Guess I’ll apply to Imperial College London to try to work on massive gravity, after I finish my MSc project on Conformal Gravity.
Also loved the description of the author’s life in the academe. The recounting of airports and being in transit all the time will probably serve to prepare me for the next few years.
Side note: I feel like there is an error in the description of the time dilation experienced by GPS satellites. We should expect time to run faster for them relative to the surface of the Earth. (You can calculate this from the metric, or check out the Pound-Rebka experiment.) However, unless I completely misunderstood the writing, the author seems to state that it’s the reverse. Might just be a sign error, or else I completely misunderstand everything.
July 8, 2024
Very biased review since its written by a professor of mine.
Half autobiography half physics novel - wonderful detailed story of her life and how gravity has played a part in it. Really enjoyed the part on her cutting edge research and how she's simplified it so well. Written well, funny jokes and interesting content it was a great read.
Definitely not for an average reader though - gets pretty technical on the physics and without having seen the concepts beforehand it might be hard to understand.
Amazing cover art as well!
Half autobiography half physics novel - wonderful detailed story of her life and how gravity has played a part in it. Really enjoyed the part on her cutting edge research and how she's simplified it so well. Written well, funny jokes and interesting content it was a great read.
Definitely not for an average reader though - gets pretty technical on the physics and without having seen the concepts beforehand it might be hard to understand.
Amazing cover art as well!
October 15, 2024
I think the title and the synopsis are misleading as to what this book is. It got lost within the mathematics and science of it—when it was sold as a more narrative-memoir style non fiction.
March 12, 2025
I picked up this popular science book at a popular astronomy convention in London recently, having been impressed by the presentation the author gave.
The author is a professor at a Science and Technology college with a global reputation. You don’t get there without having impressed a lot of important scientists, so it was good to see she can translate her lofty pondering and mathematics into something interesting for the layperson.
It concentrates on General Relativity, Gravity, and the recently discovered accelerating expansion of the universe apparently ascribed to mysterious Dark Energy (really just a placeholder name for something we don’t yet understand). There’s no way I can summarise her text succinctly, how she shows that her ideas offer a way forward in understanding Dark Energy - it’s built up brick by brick in her book from the ‘elementary relativity’ of Einstein, moving onto the latest ideas in theoretical physics (which may involve 10 or 11 spatial dimensions!). Sounds impossible to follow but she’s done a good job in outlining her approach.
As with many fancy theoretical efforts in physics of recent times it looks like it’ll prove difficult to verify her theory - physics is theory rich, experiment poor at its very leading edges currently. To her credit she describes possible experiments that’d prove her theory but admits to how difficult/impossible they are to perform. Maybe for many decades or longer. So another new theory, one of the more rounded, plausible ones I think, that we just can’t see a way to verify. Fascinating to see life at the ‘physics coalface’ nonetheless.
My only issue with the book is how it’s structured. The author includes quite a bit about her life, past experiences, other ambitions, squeezed in amongst the popular science explanations. She truly has had quite a life. Swiss born but taken all around the world to live by parents during her childhood; somehow still maintaining an education that turned her into a theoretical physicist, with posts around the world. Plus being a diver, small aircraft pilot and having reached advanced stages in astronaut selection trials! And now juggling a young family with world renowned research in a top college. I’m sure she’s an excellent role model, especially given the continuing low numbers of women in science and engineering careers, but I felt the book’s structure would have worked better if she’d discussed her life story (including, importantly, the obstacles she faced from a male dominated environment) in separate chapters. I rolled my eyes when her discussion of how difficult it is to solve Einstein’s general relativity equations for two interacting bodies was immediately followed by how hard it is for her and her husband to keep their relationship/interaction working given their careers and often widely differing work locations, as if it were an analogy.
But others may not mind the blending of dry science and personal life. This may be a cultural deficiency on my part. I recall working closely with engineers in France over many years and the regular chats over coffee about our personal lives, families, etc. “How can you work with someone closely if you don’t know about that person?” was their rationale for these daily chats. I assured them that British engineers could work alongside colleagues for years on end and barely know their first name! But I got their point…
4*, as I enjoyed the excellent presentation of difficult science concepts, but just had that little problem with the book’s structure.
The author is a professor at a Science and Technology college with a global reputation. You don’t get there without having impressed a lot of important scientists, so it was good to see she can translate her lofty pondering and mathematics into something interesting for the layperson.
It concentrates on General Relativity, Gravity, and the recently discovered accelerating expansion of the universe apparently ascribed to mysterious Dark Energy (really just a placeholder name for something we don’t yet understand). There’s no way I can summarise her text succinctly, how she shows that her ideas offer a way forward in understanding Dark Energy - it’s built up brick by brick in her book from the ‘elementary relativity’ of Einstein, moving onto the latest ideas in theoretical physics (which may involve 10 or 11 spatial dimensions!). Sounds impossible to follow but she’s done a good job in outlining her approach.
As with many fancy theoretical efforts in physics of recent times it looks like it’ll prove difficult to verify her theory - physics is theory rich, experiment poor at its very leading edges currently. To her credit she describes possible experiments that’d prove her theory but admits to how difficult/impossible they are to perform. Maybe for many decades or longer. So another new theory, one of the more rounded, plausible ones I think, that we just can’t see a way to verify. Fascinating to see life at the ‘physics coalface’ nonetheless.
My only issue with the book is how it’s structured. The author includes quite a bit about her life, past experiences, other ambitions, squeezed in amongst the popular science explanations. She truly has had quite a life. Swiss born but taken all around the world to live by parents during her childhood; somehow still maintaining an education that turned her into a theoretical physicist, with posts around the world. Plus being a diver, small aircraft pilot and having reached advanced stages in astronaut selection trials! And now juggling a young family with world renowned research in a top college. I’m sure she’s an excellent role model, especially given the continuing low numbers of women in science and engineering careers, but I felt the book’s structure would have worked better if she’d discussed her life story (including, importantly, the obstacles she faced from a male dominated environment) in separate chapters. I rolled my eyes when her discussion of how difficult it is to solve Einstein’s general relativity equations for two interacting bodies was immediately followed by how hard it is for her and her husband to keep their relationship/interaction working given their careers and often widely differing work locations, as if it were an analogy.
But others may not mind the blending of dry science and personal life. This may be a cultural deficiency on my part. I recall working closely with engineers in France over many years and the regular chats over coffee about our personal lives, families, etc. “How can you work with someone closely if you don’t know about that person?” was their rationale for these daily chats. I assured them that British engineers could work alongside colleagues for years on end and barely know their first name! But I got their point…
4*, as I enjoyed the excellent presentation of difficult science concepts, but just had that little problem with the book’s structure.
September 1, 2024
I enjoyed reading portions of this book, which engaged me more on aspects of gravity and physics that I'm trying to understand better. The parts where the author got deeper into the equations of things made me feel a bit lost and I had to bring myself back to listening to the story of it all. It was interesting to listen to the author's journey trying to become an astronaut and then falling back on to conducting research, instead.
I would not recommend this book because it gets into the weeds a bit more often than I appreciated, but I understand, maybe from the author's perspective, why she did.
I would not recommend this book because it gets into the weeds a bit more often than I appreciated, but I understand, maybe from the author's perspective, why she did.
March 16, 2024
A beautiful tour of the past century of research into gravity, and some truly psychedelic material about frontiers of this research today. A good reminder to those of us in middle age that the physics we were taught in high school and even college is already outdated!
February 20, 2024
*This was an ARC Goodreads Giveaway *
I love how de Rham intertwined stories of her life with explorations of gravitational theory. After teaching Waves and Astronomy to Middle Schoolers for 7 years, I'm glad I was able to comprehend at least SOME of it! But even if I didn't understand a chunk, my understanding of gravity has certainly deepened, and she did her best to explain the theories.
I love how de Rham intertwined stories of her life with explorations of gravitational theory. After teaching Waves and Astronomy to Middle Schoolers for 7 years, I'm glad I was able to comprehend at least SOME of it! But even if I didn't understand a chunk, my understanding of gravity has certainly deepened, and she did her best to explain the theories.
August 28, 2024
Wasn't quite what I was expecting. It was a bit too technical for my interests.
March 29, 2024
My review from http://www.mathemafrica.org/?p=17186
I’ve read many many books popularising aspects of theoretical physics. I’ve also read many autobiographies, talking about what it is like to be a theoretical physicist. However, this book combines the two more beautifully than I have read in any other. On the one hand, the book takes the reader on a journey through our understanding of gravity, from Newton to Einstein, to theories of cosmology, the cosmological constant problem and on to the gravitational wave experiments which have been revolutionising our view of the universe over the last few years, and finally to the theory that Claudia de Rham has helped to pioneer over the last two decades. The exploration of Massive Gravity is reserved for the final two chapters. Yet, this complex topic is presented in a remarkably clear manner, both showing the theoretical hurdles that had to be overcome, while also looking at a range of experiments which may shed light on its veracity. While the topic of Massive Gravity is not one which non-physicists are likely to be able to gain deep insight into in a popular book, I believe they’ll get the gist of the ideas. The other topics on gravity which are covered I think would be understandable to anyone who has a reasonable imagination. They are as well-explained as you will find in any other popular science book on the topic. Overall, the popular science aspects of the book give a concise, but wonderfully clear picture of our understanding of gravity, and what aspects remain mysterious.
The other stream of the book is itself a series of parallel tales: It is the tale of de Rham as someone desiring from an early age to become an astronaut and getting so painfully close to this dream. It is the tale of what it is like to be a working scientist, of the travel involved, both in good ways and bad, and of the problems of being in a couple as an academic, having to juggle the relationship, and the need to follow the job positions. And finally it is to some extent the story of what it is to be a female scientist in what has been a male-dominated field for so long, with many extremely successful women being pushed out actively. This latter aspect is not the focus, but it is almost impossible to ignore in the story of a female scientist in just about any field.
The story of her life is really beautifully told and there is a true magic to the path that she took, with twists and turns along the way, and the odd minor miracle, which are reflected in the journey of our understanding of spacetime. While at first it took me a while to get into it, thinking that this was going to be just another book explaining our understanding of GR, and possibly getting into string theory at the end, it turned out to be much more. And as someone who still has one toe dipped into the world of theoretical particle physics, it brought back the memories of how exciting, frustrating, depressing, and beautiful it can be, to be a part of it, often all within the same afternoon.
For anyone seeking insight into gravity, or what it means to be a theoretical physicist, this book offers a wonderful journey to get lost in for a few hours.
I’ve read many many books popularising aspects of theoretical physics. I’ve also read many autobiographies, talking about what it is like to be a theoretical physicist. However, this book combines the two more beautifully than I have read in any other. On the one hand, the book takes the reader on a journey through our understanding of gravity, from Newton to Einstein, to theories of cosmology, the cosmological constant problem and on to the gravitational wave experiments which have been revolutionising our view of the universe over the last few years, and finally to the theory that Claudia de Rham has helped to pioneer over the last two decades. The exploration of Massive Gravity is reserved for the final two chapters. Yet, this complex topic is presented in a remarkably clear manner, both showing the theoretical hurdles that had to be overcome, while also looking at a range of experiments which may shed light on its veracity. While the topic of Massive Gravity is not one which non-physicists are likely to be able to gain deep insight into in a popular book, I believe they’ll get the gist of the ideas. The other topics on gravity which are covered I think would be understandable to anyone who has a reasonable imagination. They are as well-explained as you will find in any other popular science book on the topic. Overall, the popular science aspects of the book give a concise, but wonderfully clear picture of our understanding of gravity, and what aspects remain mysterious.
The other stream of the book is itself a series of parallel tales: It is the tale of de Rham as someone desiring from an early age to become an astronaut and getting so painfully close to this dream. It is the tale of what it is like to be a working scientist, of the travel involved, both in good ways and bad, and of the problems of being in a couple as an academic, having to juggle the relationship, and the need to follow the job positions. And finally it is to some extent the story of what it is to be a female scientist in what has been a male-dominated field for so long, with many extremely successful women being pushed out actively. This latter aspect is not the focus, but it is almost impossible to ignore in the story of a female scientist in just about any field.
The story of her life is really beautifully told and there is a true magic to the path that she took, with twists and turns along the way, and the odd minor miracle, which are reflected in the journey of our understanding of spacetime. While at first it took me a while to get into it, thinking that this was going to be just another book explaining our understanding of GR, and possibly getting into string theory at the end, it turned out to be much more. And as someone who still has one toe dipped into the world of theoretical particle physics, it brought back the memories of how exciting, frustrating, depressing, and beautiful it can be, to be a part of it, often all within the same afternoon.
For anyone seeking insight into gravity, or what it means to be a theoretical physicist, this book offers a wonderful journey to get lost in for a few hours.
October 5, 2025
Atracție și fascinație „Frumusețea căderii- O viață în căutarea gravitației” Claudia De Rham, traducere Constantin Dumitru-Palcus, editura Trei 2025
„Din fericire, imaginația și creativitatea noastră, combinate cu puțină abilitate matematică, ne pot ajuta să vedem dincolo de simțurile noastre biologice” p. 57 Claudia De Rham, „Frumusețea căderii- O viață în căutarea gravitației”, traducere Constantin Dumitru-Palcus, editura Trei 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aw-lf...
Te-ai gândit vreodată că gravitația, forța invizibilă care te ține cu picioarele pe pământ, poate fi o sursă de inspirație, o poartă către înțelegerea universului? Claudia De Rhameste este fizician. Dar are și pregătire de pilot și a luat parte la selecțiile de astronauți de la Agenția Spațială Europeană. Ea îți arată în "Frumusețea căderii" că gravitația nu e doar o lege a naturii. Ci o poveste fascinantă, o invitație la explorare.
Nu e o carte despre formule complicate și ecuații abstracte, ci despre curiozitate și despre pasiunea pentru descoperire. Dar, mai ales, are de-a face cu modul în care mintea umană reușește să descifreze misterele cosmosului. De Rham parcurge un traseu pasionant. De la merele lui Newton la undele gravitaționale, de la teoriile lui Einstein la cele mai noi speculații despre materia întunecată.
Imaginează-ți că ești un astronaut care plutește în spațiu, dar cu o ancoră solidă în realitate. Gravitația îți influențează viața de zi cu zi, dar modelează și galaxiile. Mai mult, te conectează cu trecutul și viitorul universului. Dar punctul de pornire este când descoperi că știința poate fi o aventură captivantă, o sursă de frumusețe și uimire.
„Este aventura noastră comună, atât a voastră, cât și a marilor oameni de știință care au deschis calea.” p.20 Claudia De Rham, „Frumusețea căderii- O viață în căutarea gravitației”, traducere Constantin Dumitru-Palcus, editura Trei 2025
„Din fericire, imaginația și creativitatea noastră, combinate cu puțină abilitate matematică, ne pot ajuta să vedem dincolo de simțurile noastre biologice” p. 57 Claudia De Rham, „Frumusețea căderii- O viață în căutarea gravitației”, traducere Constantin Dumitru-Palcus, editura Trei 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aw-lf...
Te-ai gândit vreodată că gravitația, forța invizibilă care te ține cu picioarele pe pământ, poate fi o sursă de inspirație, o poartă către înțelegerea universului? Claudia De Rhameste este fizician. Dar are și pregătire de pilot și a luat parte la selecțiile de astronauți de la Agenția Spațială Europeană. Ea îți arată în "Frumusețea căderii" că gravitația nu e doar o lege a naturii. Ci o poveste fascinantă, o invitație la explorare.
Nu e o carte despre formule complicate și ecuații abstracte, ci despre curiozitate și despre pasiunea pentru descoperire. Dar, mai ales, are de-a face cu modul în care mintea umană reușește să descifreze misterele cosmosului. De Rham parcurge un traseu pasionant. De la merele lui Newton la undele gravitaționale, de la teoriile lui Einstein la cele mai noi speculații despre materia întunecată.
Imaginează-ți că ești un astronaut care plutește în spațiu, dar cu o ancoră solidă în realitate. Gravitația îți influențează viața de zi cu zi, dar modelează și galaxiile. Mai mult, te conectează cu trecutul și viitorul universului. Dar punctul de pornire este când descoperi că știința poate fi o aventură captivantă, o sursă de frumusețe și uimire.
„Este aventura noastră comună, atât a voastră, cât și a marilor oameni de știință care au deschis calea.” p.20 Claudia De Rham, „Frumusețea căderii- O viață în căutarea gravitației”, traducere Constantin Dumitru-Palcus, editura Trei 2025
December 10, 2024
A love of gravity
This is a semi-autobiographical account of de Rham's lifelong quest to understand, as well as experience, gravity. She has managed somehow to pack in a distinguished, and somewhat frenetic, career as a theoretical physicist along with raising a family, getting a pilot's license and all sorts of other stuff. Admirable and inspiring!
The first few chapters give a lucid account of general relativity that is at least as clear and accurate as John Wheeler's much longer, classic, 'popular' book about it. Then we're told about where the theory breaks down with a focus on its irreconcileability with quantum theoretical calculations of the vacuum energy.
To cut a long but fascinating story short, the allure of string theories and analogies between gravity and the e-m force led de Rham on theoretical journey which has shown that some of the problems of general relativity could disappear if a tiny rest mass (many orders of magnitude less than the 0.5 eV attributable to electron neutrinos) could be attributed to gravitons. She has also shown that this idea wouldn't conflict with any known observations. It is a mathematical tour de force that is elegantly described in non technical language. Everyone interested should read this account.
My own view is that it may be unnecessarily complicated since gravitons may best be regarded as quasi-particles, more like phonons than photons, while no extra dimensions may be needed if the quantum vacuum could be regarded as provider of a durational density as well as an energy density - but that raises difficult questions of its own of course!
This is a semi-autobiographical account of de Rham's lifelong quest to understand, as well as experience, gravity. She has managed somehow to pack in a distinguished, and somewhat frenetic, career as a theoretical physicist along with raising a family, getting a pilot's license and all sorts of other stuff. Admirable and inspiring!
The first few chapters give a lucid account of general relativity that is at least as clear and accurate as John Wheeler's much longer, classic, 'popular' book about it. Then we're told about where the theory breaks down with a focus on its irreconcileability with quantum theoretical calculations of the vacuum energy.
To cut a long but fascinating story short, the allure of string theories and analogies between gravity and the e-m force led de Rham on theoretical journey which has shown that some of the problems of general relativity could disappear if a tiny rest mass (many orders of magnitude less than the 0.5 eV attributable to electron neutrinos) could be attributed to gravitons. She has also shown that this idea wouldn't conflict with any known observations. It is a mathematical tour de force that is elegantly described in non technical language. Everyone interested should read this account.
My own view is that it may be unnecessarily complicated since gravitons may best be regarded as quasi-particles, more like phonons than photons, while no extra dimensions may be needed if the quantum vacuum could be regarded as provider of a durational density as well as an energy density - but that raises difficult questions of its own of course!
May 13, 2024
Thank you to Goodreads and PUP for the copy of the book. I would like to say a few words about it.
Science books written for a general audience are almost impossible to write. De Rham's The Beauty of Falling makes a valiant attempt to balance non-technical science writing with personal memoir in a manner that is rigorous yet engaging. Given its task, it is done very well. I found myself, an idiot, having to re-read several of the technical passages and still being lost.
The book, in the main, is a tour through the contemporary understanding of gravity and the live problems involved in its study. My ONE complaint is that it wasn't always clear why the book was ordered the way it was. There was certainly an order but the narrative arc was unclear to me. This caveat aside, if the book seems interesting to you, you should read it! If you aren't interested in issues of physics or gravity, read something else! I also think it's important that these books aren't always written by men.
Science books written for a general audience are almost impossible to write. De Rham's The Beauty of Falling makes a valiant attempt to balance non-technical science writing with personal memoir in a manner that is rigorous yet engaging. Given its task, it is done very well. I found myself, an idiot, having to re-read several of the technical passages and still being lost.
The book, in the main, is a tour through the contemporary understanding of gravity and the live problems involved in its study. My ONE complaint is that it wasn't always clear why the book was ordered the way it was. There was certainly an order but the narrative arc was unclear to me. This caveat aside, if the book seems interesting to you, you should read it! If you aren't interested in issues of physics or gravity, read something else! I also think it's important that these books aren't always written by men.
September 7, 2025
I saw de Rham speak at How The Light Gets In Festival and I thought she was fantastic and wanted to find out more about her and her work.
This book is quite beautiful. De Rham takes us on a wonderful journey, well-explained and full of imagery, building up to describe the theory of massive gravity. She include stories from her own life, which provide introductions to the chapters and give you an insight into her own journey, making it a very personal as well as scientifically on-point book. She repeats herself in the most useful ways, in the perfect places, so you never have to flip back through to remind yourself of anything. Her tone is one of wonder and excitement, always realistic and respectful, the kind of scientist we should aspire to be. The theory itself is fascinating and I am excited to see what comes next.
This book is quite beautiful. De Rham takes us on a wonderful journey, well-explained and full of imagery, building up to describe the theory of massive gravity. She include stories from her own life, which provide introductions to the chapters and give you an insight into her own journey, making it a very personal as well as scientifically on-point book. She repeats herself in the most useful ways, in the perfect places, so you never have to flip back through to remind yourself of anything. Her tone is one of wonder and excitement, always realistic and respectful, the kind of scientist we should aspire to be. The theory itself is fascinating and I am excited to see what comes next.
May 10, 2024
Well this author is just amazing, her ambition, intelligence, hard work, perseverance, and grit with her pursuit of science really shone through , which is something that sets this book apart than other books on physics i've read.
I will say the 2nd half of my book got WAY over my head although Ive read my fair share of books on physics I think her research was just too complex for me LOL, so I won't take off a star for that. Although in the beginning it seemed geared to more lay people, but I realized in the 2nd half it may be more geared to hardcore physicists. Nevertheless I enjoyed it so much!! Probably will re read it to understand some concepts better but it was delightful.
I will say the 2nd half of my book got WAY over my head although Ive read my fair share of books on physics I think her research was just too complex for me LOL, so I won't take off a star for that. Although in the beginning it seemed geared to more lay people, but I realized in the 2nd half it may be more geared to hardcore physicists. Nevertheless I enjoyed it so much!! Probably will re read it to understand some concepts better but it was delightful.
July 28, 2025
In this totally delightful little book, de Rham weaves together the engaging story of her own life with the history of gravitational theories, culminating with an exposition of the new "massive gravity" theory developed by herself and her colleagues. As always, reading a popular science account of an advanced topic does not lead to any profound understanding of the subject at hand, but I found the presentation very clear and enjoyable and I learned quite a few things. (And, of course, any text that could provide a deeper understanding would be far beyond my ability to grasp.) Recommended reading for any amateur with an interest in modern cosmology.
May 17, 2024
Een interessant boek. Het is een combinatie van twee onderwerpen: hoe is het leven van een theoretisch natuurkundige en hoe is de stand van zaken in het onderzoek naar de zwaartekracht.
Goed geschreven, de schrijfster heeft een interesssant leven, ze bracht het zelfs tot de eindselectie voor astronaut van de ESA. Daarnaast laat ze zien hoe het is om te werken als natuurkundige en dan vooral in zo'n moeilijk theoretisch deel van dat vak.
Ze weet de zaken goed uit teleggen, maar vraag me niet om het na te vertellen.
Goed geschreven, de schrijfster heeft een interesssant leven, ze bracht het zelfs tot de eindselectie voor astronaut van de ESA. Daarnaast laat ze zien hoe het is om te werken als natuurkundige en dan vooral in zo'n moeilijk theoretisch deel van dat vak.
Ze weet de zaken goed uit teleggen, maar vraag me niet om het na te vertellen.
November 13, 2024
I’m in awe of the author after reading this science book/biography. So many accomplishments!
Putting aside the biographical part, the science deals with the author’s theory (developed with other collaborators, one being her husband) concerning massive gravity.
Einstein’s GR, based on the equivalence principle, posits a massless graviton boson. With that come certain drawbacks, which can be dispelled by posing a graviton with a touch of mass. Experimental evidence does not yet exist. Thus, this is still in the theoretical realm.
Putting aside the biographical part, the science deals with the author’s theory (developed with other collaborators, one being her husband) concerning massive gravity.
Einstein’s GR, based on the equivalence principle, posits a massless graviton boson. With that come certain drawbacks, which can be dispelled by posing a graviton with a touch of mass. Experimental evidence does not yet exist. Thus, this is still in the theoretical realm.
March 28, 2025
I really enjoyed the first half of this book, which I purchased at an event featuring the author. The author has a very good writing style and weaves her personal story into the narrative quite well.
Starting somewhere near the middle of the book it seemed like there were quantum leaps in logic that weren’t explained as conclusions were made. I am no physicist so perhaps this is an unfair assessment. It could be I’m just not smart enough to get it.
In the end, I’m glad you have read this book because it opened my eyes and ignited interest in learning more.
Starting somewhere near the middle of the book it seemed like there were quantum leaps in logic that weren’t explained as conclusions were made. I am no physicist so perhaps this is an unfair assessment. It could be I’m just not smart enough to get it.
In the end, I’m glad you have read this book because it opened my eyes and ignited interest in learning more.
May 2, 2025
Future Nobel prize winner? Very possibly! Her life's story on her winding path to this new theory of massive gravity. I've seen her on a couple podcasts and talks, she's one of those that has the gift of breaking complex theories into digestible chunks that you can at least somewhat follow along for the ride and appreciate how well this theory fits what we know from quantum theory and and particle physics. I hope they are right!
January 15, 2025
This book gives nice explanations of physics concepts relating to gravity, along with the new concept of massive gravity. The author also includes her own stories of her life as a physicist which helps with explanations of the complex subject matter. This book is great if you want to learn more about quantum mechanics and similar subjects.
July 5, 2025
Edutainment value. I learned about efforts to consolidate quantum gravity into a cohesive theory. Some portions of this book did not flow smoothly and some reflections seemed excessively poetic, but that might just be me. Great life story and it came across even if further editing and rewrites might have improved the final product.
May 16, 2024
Not only is this a wonderful book about gravity, but it also has a lot of personal stories about the author’s perseverance through academia, traveling, love, and everything else. I even enjoyed the typographic note at the end of the book. 👌
January 7, 2025
A really fascinating read for those interested in physics (and gravity in particular). The beginning does a good job of explaining the basics without at layman level, although the end gets a bit abstract at times. Overall a very interesting and fascinating read.
September 29, 2024
Don't judge book by its title. I thought it was philosophically, it meant literally and physically 😄
Layman's summary: It is a book about one of universe four main forces that is gravity. The other three are electromagnetic, weak nuclear and strong nuclear forces. Gravity is like light has 2 properties, a wave (glight) and a particle (graviton). Unlike light that deemed weightless, graviton thought it must have some weight or our universe will accelerate to nothingness in no time. There must be something reins it in from accelerating too much. That's when gravity with some weight in it comes handy. Hence the massive gravity theory is born as the opposite of general relativity theory in it the gravity is weightless.
Layman's summary: It is a book about one of universe four main forces that is gravity. The other three are electromagnetic, weak nuclear and strong nuclear forces. Gravity is like light has 2 properties, a wave (glight) and a particle (graviton). Unlike light that deemed weightless, graviton thought it must have some weight or our universe will accelerate to nothingness in no time. There must be something reins it in from accelerating too much. That's when gravity with some weight in it comes handy. Hence the massive gravity theory is born as the opposite of general relativity theory in it the gravity is weightless.
September 30, 2024
This non-fiction explanation of aspects of gravity and the physicist author's study of it was well written, but not really my jam.
December 5, 2024
Interesting and educational, but overall not super memorable.
January 21, 2025
Today a good introductory book to help understand what is not known about gravity and current models of the universe
Want to read
March 8, 2025h/t Don Curran's What are you Reading thread on bluesky 3/8/25
https://bsky.app/profile/ron.pds.wall...
https://bsky.app/profile/ron.pds.wall...
March 15, 2025
It was awesome diving deeper into an alternative theory of gravity
Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews