Overview

This is a landmark in science writing that resurrects from the vaults of neglect the polymath Jerome Cardano, a Milanese of the sixteenth century. Who is Jerome Cardano? A gambler and blasphemer, inventor and schemer, plagued by demons and anxieties, astrologer to kings, emperors, and popes. This stubborn and unworldly man was the son of a lawyer and a brothel keeper, but also a gifted physician and the unacknowledged discoverer of the mathematical foundations of quantum physics. The Quantum Astrologer's Handbook, like Jerome, has multiple occupations: it is at once a biography, a history of science, an explanation of quantum theory, and an engrossing story which is truly original in its style and, in the manner of the modernists, embodies in its very form its theories about the world. The Quantum Astrologer's Handbook is a science book with the panache of a novel, a work of and about genius.

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9781947534810

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Reviews

The most original non-fiction book I've read in years. --Andrea Wulf, author of The Invention of Nature and Founding Gardeners A near-novelistic account that's part quantum science, part biography, and part history, this story of 16th-century polymath Jerome Cardano delivers enjoyment on every level...The author breathes life into the intrigues of the 16th century, from a political crisis point which turns on a king receiving a favorable horoscope, to public math battles in the town square between bitter rivals. Brooks's work offers a bewitching and intimate mix of biography and science. STARRED REVIEW --Publishers Weekly An enthralling biography of the polymath Jerome Cardano, which doubles as a primer on the strangeness of quantum physics...This vivid book offers belated recompense to a gambler who lost more than he won in an eventful and turbulent life. --The Sunday Times This beautifully written book is a kind of experimental scientific biography that mashes up science with what seems to be non-science, the better to explore the boundaries of what we still don't know...a quite superb book. --The Guardian A beautifully novelistic fusion of physics and biography. --The Daily Telegraph This unconventional biography reads like a playful, postmodern novel full of ambition, intrigue, tragedy and an amazing array of scientific discoveries...a risky conceit but Brooks pulls it off magnificently. --The Sydney Morning Herald Jerome Cardano is my all-time favourite mathematical rogue. Michael Brooks has brought him vividly to life in entertaining, informative, and highly original conversations about frontier physics, held across a gulf of centuries. A daring and successful experiment and a new kind of popular science writing. --Ian Stewart What a smart and entertaining guide to a subject so few understand: quantum physics...Delightful and intriguing, highly readable, and, apart from a couple of daunting formulas, as inviting as Rovelli with a fictional twist. --Todd Miller, Arcadia Books Praise for At the Edge of Uncertainty Brooks highlights numerous areas of research that give pause to many scientists and throw lay readers into confusion in this challenging and mind-bending work. This confusion follows in no part from Brooks's skills as a writer and explicator of science, but from topics that are difficult to face, whether it be the philosophical morass of human/animal tissue combinations called chimera or the startling finding that time as we experience it may well be an illusion. Brooks handily works his way through these thorny problems, highlighting current research and researchers along the way. STARRED REVIEW --Publishers Weekly The book can leave your brain feeling battered and bruised, Brooks writes. But he hopes that you, like the ever-questing scientists he applauds, will want to know more. --Washington Post Brooks details research being conducted on the extreme frontiers of science...in this absorbing piece of reportage...scintillating...the edgy edge of scientific investigation presented with verve. --Kirkus Praise for 13 Things That Don't Make Sense: This elegantly written, meticulously researched and thought-provoking book provides a window into how science actually works, and is sure to spur intense debate. --New Scientist You will be amazed and astonished you when you learn that science has been unable to come up with a working definition of life, why death should happen at all, why sex is necessary, or whether cold fusion is a hoax or one of the greatest breakthroughs of all time. --Richard Ellis, author of The Empty Ocean and Tuna: A Love Story A boundless enthusiasm resounds through this homage to the outstanding problems of science. --Seed Magazine Fascinating...Brooks expertly works his way through...hotly debated quandaries in a smooth, engaging writing style reminiscent of Carl Sagan or Stephen Jay Gould. --Anahad O'Connor, author of Never Shower in a Thunderstorm Praise for Free Radicals: An exuberant tour through the world of scientists behaving badly. --The New York Times Fascinating...Free Radicals reminds readers that scientific advances sometimes require creativity and vision. --The Philadelphia Inquirer Free Radicals illuminates the role of the irrational in science, the mistakes that make scientists human, and reveals that breakthroughs that change our lives in the most fundamental ways may have the most serendipitous origins. --Brain Pickings

Praise for At the Edge of Uncertainty Brooks highlights numerous areas of research that give pause to many scientists and throw lay readers into confusion in this challenging and mind-bending work. This confusion follows in no part from Brooks's skills as a writer and explicator of science, but from topics that are difficult to face, whether it be the philosophical morass of human/animal tissue combinations called chimera or the startling finding that time as we experience it may well be an illusion. Brooks handily works his way through these thorny problems, highlighting current research and researchers along the way. STARRED REVIEW --Publishers Weekly The premise of Michael Brooks's book linking Cardano and quantum physics is bonkers but curiously effective. --New Statesman Brooks is an exemplary science writer. His explanations have the sort of clarity you often yearn for when you read about science, but rarely find. --The Daily Telegraph Praise for Free Radicals: Fascinating...Free Radicals reminds readers that scientific advances sometimes require creativity and vision. --The Philadelphia Inquirer An enthralling biography of the polymath Jerome Cardano, which doubles as a primer on the strangeness of quantum physics...This vivid book offers belated recompense to a gambler who lost more than he won in an eventful and turbulent life. --The Sunday Times Michael Brooks is a magician in the old sense--both scientist and artist. He uses both disciplines to create a compelling, fresh look at the quantum world. A fantastic read for students of reality. --Gwyneth Lewis, author of Sunbathing in the Rain Praise for 13 Things That Don't Make Sense: A boundless enthusiasm resounds through this homage to the outstanding problems of science. --Seed Magazine Brooks communicates difficult stuff in an amiable and lucid manner. --New Statesman [Brooks's] history of [quantum theory] and his sketches of its principals--Einstein, Schro dinger, Bohr--are swift and precise, but he really shines in his lucid discussions of theory and experiment. --Financial Times This beautifully written book is a kind of experimental scientific biography that mashes up science with what seems to be non-science, the better to explore the boundaries of what we still don't know...a quite superb book. --The Guardian [A] fascinating and accessible primer on some of the meatiest and most controversial ideas in modern science...Brooks is known for his ability to explain difficult science to non-specialist audiences, and his passionate interest in quantum physics and history animates every page of this engrossing book. --The Saturday Paper Michael Brooks is the canniest science writer around. He writes, above all, with attitude. --The Independent A beautifully novelistic fusion of physics and biography. --The Daily Telegraph 4 stars...Cardano turns out to be an intriguing figure, deserving of Brooks' obsession...[they] make for very entertaining and illuminating companions. --The Mail on Sunday This unconventional biography reads like a playful, postmodern novel full of ambition, intrigue, tragedy and an amazing array of scientific discoveries...a risky conceit but Brooks pulls it off magnificently. --The Sydney Morning Herald Jerome Cardano is my all-time favourite mathematical rogue. Michael Brooks has brought him vividly to life in entertaining, informative, and highly original conversations about frontier physics, held across a gulf of centuries. A daring and successful experiment and a new kind of popular science writing. --Ian Stewart

Praise for At the Edge of Uncertainty The book can leave your brain feeling battered and bruised, Brooks writes. But he hopes that you, like the ever-questing scientists he applauds, will want to know more. --Washington Post Praise for Free Radicals: Free Radicals illuminates the role of the irrational in science, the mistakes that make scientists human, and reveals that breakthroughs that change our lives in the most fundamental ways may have the most serendipitous origins. --Brain Pickings Praise for 13 Things That Don't Make Sense: This elegantly written, meticulously researched and thought-provoking book provides a window into how science actually works, and is sure to spur intense debate. --New Scientist The most original non-fiction book I've read in years. --Andrea Wulf, author of The Invention of Nature and Founding Gardeners The premise of Michael Brooks's book linking Cardano and quantum physics is bonkers but curiously effective. --New Statesman Brooks is an exemplary science writer. His explanations have the sort of clarity you often yearn for when you read about science, but rarely find. --The Daily Telegraph An enthralling biography of the polymath Jerome Cardano, which doubles as a primer on the strangeness of quantum physics...This vivid book offers belated recompense to a gambler who lost more than he won in an eventful and turbulent life. --The Sunday Times Michael Brooks is a magician in the old sense--both scientist and artist. He uses both disciplines to create a compelling, fresh look at the quantum world. A fantastic read for students of reality. --Gwyneth Lewis, author of Sunbathing in the Rain Brooks communicates difficult stuff in an amiable and lucid manner. --New Statesman [Brooks's] history of [quantum theory] and his sketches of its principals--Einstein, Schro dinger, Bohr--are swift and precise, but he really shines in his lucid discussions of theory and experiment. --Financial Times This beautifully written book is a kind of experimental scientific biography that mashes up science with what seems to be non-science, the better to explore the boundaries of what we still don't know...a quite superb book. --The Guardian [A] fascinating and accessible primer on some of the meatiest and most controversial ideas in modern science...Brooks is known for his ability to explain difficult science to non-specialist audiences, and his passionate interest in quantum physics and history animates every page of this engrossing book. --The Saturday Paper Michael Brooks is the canniest science writer around. He writes, above all, with attitude. --The Independent A beautifully novelistic fusion of physics and biography. --The Daily Telegraph 4 stars...Cardano turns out to be an intriguing figure, deserving of Brooks' obsession...[they] make for very entertaining and illuminating companions. --The Mail on Sunday This unconventional biography reads like a playful, postmodern novel full of ambition, intrigue, tragedy and an amazing array of scientific discoveries...a risky conceit but Brooks pulls it off magnificently. --The Sydney Morning Herald Jerome Cardano is my all-time favourite mathematical rogue. Michael Brooks has brought him vividly to life in entertaining, informative, and highly original conversations about frontier physics, held across a gulf of centuries. A daring and successful experiment and a new kind of popular science writing. --Ian Stewart

Praise for At the Edge of Uncertainty Brooks highlights numerous areas of research that give pause to many scientists and throw lay readers into confusion in this challenging and mind-bending work. This confusion follows in no part from Brooks's skills as a writer and explicator of science, but from topics that are difficult to face, whether it be the philosophical morass of human/animal tissue combinations called chimera or the startling finding that time as we experience it may well be an illusion. Brooks handily works his way through these thorny problems, highlighting current research and researchers along the way. STARRED REVIEW --Publishers Weekly Praise for Free Radicals: Fascinating...Free Radicals reminds readers that scientific advances sometimes require creativity and vision. --The Philadelphia Inquirer Praise for 13 Things That Don't Make Sense: A boundless enthusiasm resounds through this homage to the outstanding problems of science. --Seed Magazine The premise of Michael Brooks's book linking Cardano and quantum physics is bonkers but curiously effective. --New Statesman Brooks is an exemplary science writer. His explanations have the sort of clarity you often yearn for when you read about science, but rarely find. --The Daily Telegraph An enthralling biography of the polymath Jerome Cardano, which doubles as a primer on the strangeness of quantum physics...This vivid book offers belated recompense to a gambler who lost more than he won in an eventful and turbulent life. --The Sunday Times Michael Brooks is a magician in the old sense--both scientist and artist. He uses both disciplines to create a compelling, fresh look at the quantum world. A fantastic read for students of reality. --Gwyneth Lewis, author of Sunbathing in the Rain Brooks communicates difficult stuff in an amiable and lucid manner. --New Statesman [Brooks's] history of [quantum theory] and his sketches of its principals--Einstein, Schro dinger, Bohr--are swift and precise, but he really shines in his lucid discussions of theory and experiment. --Financial Times This beautifully written book is a kind of experimental scientific biography that mashes up science with what seems to be non-science, the better to explore the boundaries of what we still don't know...a quite superb book. --The Guardian [A] fascinating and accessible primer on some of the meatiest and most controversial ideas in modern science...Brooks is known for his ability to explain difficult science to non-specialist audiences, and his passionate interest in quantum physics and history animates every page of this engrossing book. --The Saturday Paper Michael Brooks is the canniest science writer around. He writes, above all, with attitude. --The Independent A beautifully novelistic fusion of physics and biography. --The Daily Telegraph 4 stars...Cardano turns out to be an intriguing figure, deserving of Brooks' obsession...[they] make for very entertaining and illuminating companions. --The Mail on Sunday This unconventional biography reads like a playful, postmodern novel full of ambition, intrigue, tragedy and an amazing array of scientific discoveries...a risky conceit but Brooks pulls it off magnificently. --The Sydney Morning Herald Jerome Cardano is my all-time favourite mathematical rogue. Michael Brooks has brought him vividly to life in entertaining, informative, and highly original conversations about frontier physics, held across a gulf of centuries. A daring and successful experiment and a new kind of popular science writing. --Ian Stewart

Author Information

Michael Brooks is a science writer with a PhD in quantum physics, and the author of several books, including the bestselling 13 Things That Don't Make Sense and The Quantum Astrologer's Handbook, a Daily Telegraph Book of the Year.

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