If you’re interested in science as a way of thinking—rather than a list of answers—this is one of the better entry points.

Rovelli traces the long, strange unravelling of reality—from Democritus’ atoms to Einstein’s spacetime to quantum gravity—without dressing up complexity.

At its core, this is a book about humility. About how every era’s “obvious” picture of the world turns out to be provisional, local, and a little bit wrong. Rovelli writes for readers who don’t need (or want) equations to feel intellectually stretched, and who are comfortable sitting with ideas that destabilise rather than resolve.