The Shortest History of Reality

An award-winning astrophysicist leads a brisk, lucid tour of the human quest to uncover reality’s fundamentals, from myth-making to mathematical precision

Since the dawn of consciousness, humans have sought to make sense of this world into which we’re each born. The Shortest History of Reality explores the shifting boundary between what we perceive and what truly exists—tracing the idea of “what’s real” from its everyday, commonsense beginnings to the mind-bending discoveries of modern physics. Along the way, we encounter the profound shifts in thought that have reshaped our view of existence—from ancient philosophy to the rise of science, Newton’s universe to the staggering complexities of the quantum realm and beyond.

Drawing from the sciences, history, and philosophy, Geraint F. Lewis tells the compelling story of how we have tried to make sense of it all. An accessible, witty romp through space, time, and life’s most complex questions, The Shortest History of Reality invites us to grapple with a cosmos far stranger than our senses suggest.

The Shortest History books deliver thousands of years of history in one riveting, fast-paced read.