Why Nobody Understands Quantum Physics: And Everyone Needs to Know Something about It

The International Bestseller
A Waterstones Best Popular Science Book 2025

’Ambitious . . . pleasingly full of cutting-edge topics’ - New Scientist

Quantum physics is the cornerstone of our world. Yet, at the same time, it’s one of the hardest subjects for ordinary mortals to grasp.

In Why Nobody Understands Quantum Physics, a husband-and-wife team - renowned physicist Frank Verstraete and writer Céline Broeckaert - demystifies this essential branch of science. Together, they unravel the reasons the universe behaves in its weird ways - and just why it’s so important to understand them.

In this book, you will discover:
How symmetry governs the universe.The untold stories of pioneering women in quantum science.How quantum principles power our gadgets and lives.The real essence behind quantum puzzles and discoveries.
Part-history and part-popular science, Why Nobody Understands Quantum Physics serves as a bridge between the complex world of quantum physics and the curious mind.

’A physics book unlike any other . . . breathtaking’ - John Preskill, theoretical physicist and Feynman Professor of Theoretical Physics at Caltech

’Quantum physics has long been mysterious, yet [the authors] succeed, often with brilliance, in making its history and mind-blowing ways accessible to lay readers’ - Nature

’Entertaining, unorthodox and highly readable’ - Professor Ian Stewart, bestselling co-author of The Science of Discworld

’A delightful book for all those who do not speak the language of mathematics but are curious about the most beautiful of theories and their impact on our lives’ - Barbara Terhal, theoretical physicist

Frank Verstraete is the Leigh Trapnell Professor of Quantum Physics at the University of Cambridge. He has received several prestigious prizes for his research, including the Lieben Prize (also known as the ’Nobel Prize of Austria’) and the Francqui Prize. He is among the leading researchers in the world on quantum physics.

Céline Broeckaert is a Romance languages scholar, playwright and author. She co-founded Filmpact, the first impact organization in Belgium, which uses documentary film as a tool for social change and ecological awareness.