Book by Olga Ravn

When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamin Labatut – Rant Review Alert!

In my previous post, I reviewed Olga Ravn’s The Employees, which was an amazing read. Today I continue with another review of a book from The International Booker Prize Longlist 2021.

When We Cease to Understand the World

When We Cease to Understand the World is a collection of short stories. The first story is nonfiction (besides from one paragraph) and the last is 100% fictional. The remaining stories are a mix of fiction and nonfiction. That didn’t work. Science is all about facts and objectivity. I found it fascinating to read about our great scientific minds and how big discoveries came about. But I couldn’t help wondering about everything I read: Is this fact or fiction? Like many other readers, I ended up googling a lot. I wanted to know the real story.

It seems Labatut stuck to facts, when it came to scientific discoveries and events. The fictional elements mostly related to the personal lives of the scientists, which were the bits I enjoyed the least. And you don’t even need to make up stuff to write a good story about science. Real life tends to exceed anything a good fiction writer can come up with. Furthermore, my cynical self could’t help wondering, if the fictional additions were tweaked to support Labatut’s own agenda, which I find questionable, since the stories were leaning so closely towards nonfiction.

I have nothing against non-scientists writing about science. But it did annoy me, when the author made it obvious, he had no clue what he was talking about. About Heisenberg’s matrices: rows and tables more befitting a lowly accountant than a proper physicist. Yeah, right. The accountants I know would run away screaming if presented with a Heisenberg matrix.

How do scientists come up with groundbreaking discoveries? I would love to know that. According to Labatut it’s often in a moment of delirium caused by fever or drugs. I would have thought it was in a moment of extreme clarity. But Labatut’s fictional account of this topic obviously didn’t clarify anything.

The worst part was the last chapter. Throughout the book, the author had abstained from throwing his agenda in the face of the reader. Each reader was allowed to draw his or her own conclusions. But in the final chapter we get a strong hint of the author’s agenda, which left me puzzled. No, it isn’t the fault of mathematics, that we throw atom bombs or poison each other (mathematics – seriously?!) It isn’t even the fault of science in itself. It is PEOPLE, most often POLITICIANS, who make these decisions and implement them. I am not saying, scientists don’t have a moral responsibility. They do and I find that a super important and relevant topic, not at least in relation to AI. Also, the author conveniently forgets to mention all the positive aspects about science. Remember, we used to live in caves, wearing animal skin… If we shouldn’t meddle with things we don’t fully understand, that’s where we would still be. Great science always challenges our grasp on reality. Once upon a time it was incomprehensible for most people that the world isn’t flat.

Phew. Rant over.

Most people seem to love this book, which may be due to the fact that both science and the genius mind are fascinating topics. If the author had stuck to nonfiction, I would probably have enjoyed it as well. Labatut did present scientists and their discoveries in a compelling way. Also, there were lots of food for thought about the role of science in war, the role of war in scientific development, conflicts between different ways of thinking, etc.

The ideal reader for When We Cease to Understand the World might be someone, who is interested in science, but hasn’t studied the subject thoroughly and doesn’t have a very scientific mind. For the right reader, this could be a good book.

Unfortunately, the negative elements outweighed the positive for me. And there are already brilliant nonfiction books out there, which communicate the wonders and pure craziness of science without all the fictional garble to distract.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Title: When We Cease to Understand the World
Author: Benjamin Labatut, translated by Adrian Nathan West 
Format: eBook
Genre: Who knows??

35 comments

  1. Blimey. Well, you did warn us it would be a rant! Ha ha! Always good, no matter, to have a strong response to what you read and I think that I may just come into the category of reader for whom the moderate dumbing down of scientific principles would provide more enjoyment than otherwise. I like my brain to be exercised but some difficult science stuff would over tax it or result in temporary shutdown, I think! Interesting premise for a book though. Was it a bit preachy at the end?

    • Sorry about the rant, but it did feel good! 😁You know what, that is exactly what I thought. Even if I did get annoyed, I would rather read a book which provokes a reaction instead of one, which is completely meh and forgettable.

      I think he was probably good at explaining certain aspects of science, so people without any science background could understand it. And if he manages to get more people interested in science with his book, that is of course positive.

      It wasn’t preachy in the way a nonfiction book might be. Obviously, this is meant to be “literary”, so the conclusion is written in the form of a series of short allegories about an old tree dying from the inside, a gardener who used to be a top mathematician, a poisoned dog, etc.

  2. Thanks for the review, stargazer. Rant away, I’m sure a rant is good for us now and then. I am constantly gobsmacked by scientists – I can’t imagine how it must feel inside their brains. I know nothing about the subject at all but anything to do with the universe, or this world, or new discoveries fascinates me. Too bad this book didn’t do the job.

    • Thanks so much! I did feel so much better after having written the review. πŸ˜† Yes, I agree about scientists. The most brilliant ones do have brains which are in the extreme ends of the normal distribution and – having a huge interest in neuroscience as well – it would be fascinating to know how their brains work and what makes them special. One of the things, the author discusses is: Is there a fine line between genius and madness? Don’t know if this is really correct, but it would be interesting to understand more.

  3. Not heard of this book – the mix of fiction and non fiction sounds too confusing for me. Thanks for the review, I don’t mind a rant πŸ™‚

    • It was confusing. It doesn’t seem to bother everyone. Perhaps, it’s because I am so interested in science and would have loved to know the true story. Haha, thanks, I am glad I didn’t scare you away with my rant! 😁

  4. Hahah, your passion for science definitely shows in this review πŸ˜€ but yeah, I get you, I may not know about science that much anymore, but I do dislike when writers try to push their own agenda too obviously in their work — it feels like preaching somehow

    I read your other positive review too, though, so I’m glad you liked at least one of the picks from the longlist!

    • I do have a passion for science, which is probably why I reacted so strongly to this book. It would have worked a lot better if he just stuck to nonfiction. Apparently, that was his original plan when starting out, but perhaps he didn’t find reality interesting enough?

      Yeah, the other one was much better!

  5. Meh, no, thank you πŸ˜‰ But if you want a really good book about science and some mathematical/physical/chemical discoveries/explorations, I can wholeheartedly recommend Marcus du Sautoy’s What We Cannot Know. It’s absolutely fantastic, though requires a lot of attention (and I mean a lot, at least for a humanities gal like me ;)) and a basic math knowledge – but it’s truly fascinating! πŸ˜€

    • Thanks so much for the recommendation, I will definitely look into that. Going forward, I will stick to nonfiction, when it comes to science!

      I do have another one waiting for me as well, which I am still warming up to: 600+ pages about black holes! Now, doesn’t that sound exciting? πŸ˜‰

  6. Really, reaaaaally odd to mix in fiction into non-fiction. What’s the point of confusing the reader when you can tell your story with a solid message without diluting it in random unnecessary stuff… Great honest review as always! πŸ˜€

    • Yeah it was odd. I think the author’s original idea was to write nonfiction, but perhaps he didn’t feel that was exciting enough? Or possibly, he wanted to put a specific spin on it, which is what I felt (and it did annoy me). Thanks Lashaan! 😁

    • Thanks Rose, I am glad you enjoyed the review and weren’t put off by my rant (I don’t normally rant, but it kinda felt appropriate on this occasion πŸ˜‰).

  7. A rant of the highest class, Stargazer, supported by sound arguments as well as personal passion! I doubt I would ever have considered this one but any lingering temptation has been quelled! πŸ˜ƒ

    • Haha, thanks so much Sandra! I am quite passionate about science, which is probably why I reacted so strongly. I haven’t read any other rant reviews. Actually, quite a few people seem to think, that this is the favourite to win the International Booker Prize. I shall try to remain calm if / when that happens. πŸ˜†

  8. Ha! I enjoyed your rant very much and happily feel no desire to add this one to my TBR! I’m never fond of the blurring of fiction and non-fiction since it can be too much like hard work to spend all that time googling to discover what’s true and what isn’t. And the idea that scientists make their discoveries when befuddled by drugs is astonishing. There was I, naively thinking they made their discoveries through a combination of inspired brilliance and careful experimentation – silly me! Ugh! Thanks for saving us from this one… πŸ˜€

    • Thanks FF, I am glad you enjoyed it (after all, you are the master of rant reviews πŸ˜‰). Yeah, I am not fond of mixing fiction and nonfiction either, but apparently I am much more tolerant, if it’s on a subject I care less about.

      If I try to be objective, I do see the book has certain literary qualities, but I find it difficult to evaluate as a novel, because it totally feels like nonfiction. Some people might not even realise that it is partly fictional.

      Always happy to help! πŸ˜€

  9. LOVE RANT REVIEWS!!!! WOOOOT! πŸ˜€ Anw…yup, whenever fiction is mixed with non-fiction, and when it isn’t done well, it screws up the entire novel! And in this case, when it’s supposed to be fiction, and was written like non-fiction, gosh…it’d have driven me up the wall! No thank you. And it’s longlisted?! Wowwww…Brilliant rant review, stargazer! I loved it!

    • Hahaha, yeah I quite like rant reviews as well, even if I don’t write them very often. This one just pushed all the wrong buttons for me. It also raises the question, whether it’s fair to fictionalise something like science? I guess we live in a free world, but I see all sorts of problems connected with it. Thanks for reading!

  10. Thank you for this post, I was so confused about loving the science but hating the “padding” around it, which also causes doubt in the science when it is embedded in so much fiction, madness and manic, and if the book itself causes the science it is written about it not only misses the point but shoots it dead.

    • You are welcome, I am glad it resonated with you. It seems that most people love this book, which puzzles me. The annoying thing is, the nonfictional parts could easily have stood alone and still make for a really interesting book. And yes, I agree it misses the point. The author may have some interesting musings about science, but it was difficult for me to take it seriously, when some of the material on which his arguments are based is purely fictional.

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