What a brilliantly disturbing book, using science and fact, blending in some fiction. For a moment, I felt fooled, as if the fiction, which is unrecognizable from fact, degraded the whole book, and made even the facts seem false. At first it bothered me, but on another level it becomes dazzling. Like Schrodinger’s cat, we’ve no way of knowing the truth about the cat until we observe it. The reality of this book is that it’s all true, in the way fiction can help reveal the truth about reality.
This book captivated me from start to finish. However, the subject matter might have limited appeal. You may need at least a passing interest in quantum physics, mathematics, science, war, chemistry, poison, suicide. The style is like riding a wild amusement park ride through a Nazi concentration camp. Loosely connected layers linking great scientists, accidental discoveries, and the world altering effects, intended and unintended, on themselves, on all of us at a deeply personal level.
I read this fascinating and gripping book twice because the writing is so strong and the subject matter daring, the sort of mind-ripping ride I tend to enjoy.
