title: Uncertainty: Einstein, Heisenberg, Bohr, and the Struggle for the Soul of Science
author:  David Lindley 
description: The uncertainty in this delightful book refers to Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle, an idea first postulated in 1927 by physicist Werner Heisenberg in his attempt to make sense out of the developing field of quantum mechanics. As Lindley so well explains it, the concept of uncertainty shook the philosophical underpinnings of science. It was Heisenberg's work that, to a great extent, kept Einstein from accepting quantum mechanics as a full explanation for physical reality. Similarly, it was the Uncertainty Principle that demonstrated the limits of scientific investigation: if Heisenberg is correct there are some aspects of the physical universe that are to remain beyond the reach of scientists. As he has done expertly in books like <i>Boltzmann's Atom</i>, Lindley brings to life a critical period in the history of science, explaining complex issues to the general reader, presenting the major players in an engaging fashion, delving into the process of scientific discovery and discussing the interaction between science and society. Thus, Lindley presents a very good chapter dissecting historian of science Paul Forman's iconic, if terribly flawed, analysis of the same time period.<i> (Feb. 20)</i> <br />Copyright  Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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  # ALSO BY DAVID LINDLEY
  
  
  _Uncertainty: Einstein, Heisenberg, Bohr, and the Struggle for the Soul of
  Science_
  
  
  _Degrees Kelvin: A Tale of Genius, Invention, and Tragedy_
  
  
  _Boltzmann’s Atom: The Great Debate That Launched a Revolution in Physics_
  
  
  _The Science of “Jurassic Park” and “The Lost World”_ (with Rob DeSalle)
  
  
  _Where Does the Weirdness Go?: Why Quantum Mechanics Is Strange, but Not as
  Strange as You Think_
  
  
  _The End of Physics: The Myth of a Unified Theory_
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ![Book Title, The Dream Universe, Subtitle, How Fundamental Physics Lost Its
  Way, Author, David Lindley, Imprint,
  Doubleday](../images/9780385543866_title_page.jpg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Copyright © 2020 by David Lindley
  
  
  All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Doubleday, a division
  of Penguin Random House LLC, New York, and in Canada by Random House of Canada
  Limited, Toronto.
  
  
  [www.doubleday.com](http://www.doubleday.com)
  
  
  DOUBLEDAY and the portraya