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The Magick of Physics: Uncovering the Fantastical Phenomena in Everyday Life
An award-winning Oxford physicist draws on classic sci-fi, fantasy fiction, and everyday phenomena to explain and celebrate the magical properties of the world around us.
If you were to present the feats of modern science to someone from the past, those feats would surely be considered magic. Theoretical physicist Felix Flicker proves that they are indeed magic—just familiar magic. The name for this magic is “condensed matter physics.” Most people haven’t heard of the field, yet more than a third of physicists identify as condensed matter researchers, making it the most active area in the subject—with good reason. Condensed matter is the solids, liquids, and gasses that surround us—and the more exotic matters—which dictate every aspect of our present existence and hold the keys to a brighter future, from quantum computing to real-life invisibility cloaks.
Flicker teases out the magical threads that run through our daily lives. Condensed matter physics allows you to create anything abiding by the laws of reality—and often, we find that those laws can be bent. Flicker explains how to create new particles that never existed before, how to make crystals shoot out of such intense light they can cut through metal, how to separate the poles of a magnet, and more.
The book’s endearing conceit is that you are an aspiring wizard whose ability to cast spells (i.e. to do science) is dependent on your grasp of the fundamentals of our universe. This book contains no equations or charts—instead, it’s full of owls and mountains and infinite libraries, and staffs and wands, and martial arts and mythical islands ruled by sage knot-makers. Part of the book’s magic is that, for all these fanciful trappings, it still feels practical and applicable. The Magick of Physics will open your eyes to magic that surround us everyday.
If you were to present the feats of modern science to someone from the past, those feats would surely be considered magic. Theoretical physicist Felix Flicker proves that they are indeed magic—just familiar magic. The name for this magic is “condensed matter physics.” Most people haven’t heard of the field, yet more than a third of physicists identify as condensed matter researchers, making it the most active area in the subject—with good reason. Condensed matter is the solids, liquids, and gasses that surround us—and the more exotic matters—which dictate every aspect of our present existence and hold the keys to a brighter future, from quantum computing to real-life invisibility cloaks.
Flicker teases out the magical threads that run through our daily lives. Condensed matter physics allows you to create anything abiding by the laws of reality—and often, we find that those laws can be bent. Flicker explains how to create new particles that never existed before, how to make crystals shoot out of such intense light they can cut through metal, how to separate the poles of a magnet, and more.
The book’s endearing conceit is that you are an aspiring wizard whose ability to cast spells (i.e. to do science) is dependent on your grasp of the fundamentals of our universe. This book contains no equations or charts—instead, it’s full of owls and mountains and infinite libraries, and staffs and wands, and martial arts and mythical islands ruled by sage knot-makers. Part of the book’s magic is that, for all these fanciful trappings, it still feels practical and applicable. The Magick of Physics will open your eyes to magic that surround us everyday.
336 pages, Paperback
Published March 26, 2024
68 people are currently reading
872 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
March 17, 2023
Who is Felix Flicker?
Nope, not a comic book villain: Felix Flicker is the actual name of a brilliant theoretical physicist in Oxford. His first book earned high praise, and so will his latest, "The Magick of Physics: Uncovering the Fantastical Phenomena in Everyday Life," Pub Date 21 Mar 2023 | Simon & Schuster.
He's a teacher, and he's good at presenting incredibly complex science in layman's terms. Still, I found myself floundering in chapter one, so I hurried over to his online videos.
Oops, that kinda backfired.
"Physicists are not supposed to look like handsome Victorian vampires,” novelist Diane Ryan messaged me after I sent her a link to Flicker’s videos.
Even though quantum entanglement is far beyond my intellectual capacity, and even though I’m a grandma, I caught myself fangirling with hashtags as I shared links on social media:
#GottaLove #felixflicker :) I keep listening to Flicker's Februrary 2020 lecture on magnetic monopoles. Why? Honest, it isn't just to hear Flicker's awesome accent. I think some of it is starting to sink in. His enthusiasm is contagious.
Flicker is a professor at Cardiff University. He also teaches kung fu and was a champion of shuai jiao (Chinese wrestling) and praying mantis kung fu.
At 35, he published The Magick of Matter: Crystals, Chaos and the Wizardry of Physics, exploring the elusive and mystifying world of condensed matter physics.
(Yes, magick with a K, two books in a row, but in the text, it’s magic. Good call. A better call might have been no K at all.)
OK, is it "K" or no "K"?
Famed occultist Aleister Crowley put the "k" in magick in the 20th century. to distinguish it from stage magic, which involves sleight of hand and audience misdirection. Magick is the science and art of causing change to occur in conformity with will.". (See: 10 Reasons Some Wiccans Don’t Use a "K" in Magic).
For two months, I've tried to get through every chapter in the book. My Kindle is filled with highlights.
It comes down to this:
Why should we care about condensed matter physics?
A: Without it, we wouldn’t have phones, computers, the internet, and the world as we know it. But those are just little perks. The big stuff is in the book.
Does it matter if I'll never understand it? No more than it matters that most of us do not understand the working of the internal combustion engine, but we drive cars and rely on the skills and tools of others to keep them road-worthy.
So what makes physics any more magical than driving a car?
It's a bit of semantic trickery. The magic I had hoped for is mostly human innovation and modern tech. If a medieval peasant could time travel to our world, everything would look like sorcery or magic. Laser beams, remote controls, electronics, radios, TVs, you know the litany of wonders.
Flicker employs an exalted vocabulary with elusive terms, such as “quantum entanglement” and “special relativity.” A small number of brilliant people know what this stuff means. They are part of a high priesthood of science, as mystifying as the Bible; we just have to trust them.
How easy is it to believe scientists who speak of Black Holes and invisible electrons? It reminds me of the Bible I was indoctrinated with from infancy.
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.
“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways.” --Isaiah 55:8-9
Why would our Creator endow some of us with math brains, leaving people like me blinking in confusion? I object! I want to read Felix Flicker and nod and comprehend and remember all the information he shares. Instead, I've accepted my inability to read "The Magick of Physics" and come away enlightened.
Robert Lanza and Deepak Chopra employ "New Age Physics" to convince us of such a thing as life after death. If we die and all our neurons stop firing and all our spinning electrons reconfigure into something else, how do we cope with the loss of our loved ones?
Nick Cave deal lost his son, Arthur, and wrote:
…. There is a vastness to grief that overwhelms our minuscule selves. We are tiny, trembling clusters of atoms subsumed within grief’s awesome presence. It occupies the core of our being and extends through our fingers to the limits of the universe. Within that whirling gyre all manner of madnesses exist… I feel the presence of my son, all around, but he may not be there…
Create your spirits.
Call to them.
Will them alive.
Speak to them.
It is their impossible and ghostly hands that draw us back to the world from which we were jettisoned;
better now and unimaginably changed.
Source: spin.com
This sort of thing is not addressed in The Magick of Physics.
Annie Dillard wrote in For the Time Being, "you can live as a particle crashing about and colliding in a welter of material with God, or you can live as a particle crashing about and colliding in a welter of material without God. But you cannot live outside the welter of colliding materials."
Felix Flicker may not delve into the physics of humans having an immortal soul, but he does hint at a kind of clairvoyance with the chapter on probability. The ancient game of guessing if a marble is in one's right hand, or left, is far more complicated and fraught with statistics than I ever would have dreamed.
In this space, I have failed to copy/paste excerpts from the book, or summaries that would give you any idea I have actually read any of Felix Flicker. When I finally do, I will post the review at Newsblaze.com.
Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for an ARC of this book.
Nope, not a comic book villain: Felix Flicker is the actual name of a brilliant theoretical physicist in Oxford. His first book earned high praise, and so will his latest, "The Magick of Physics: Uncovering the Fantastical Phenomena in Everyday Life," Pub Date 21 Mar 2023 | Simon & Schuster.
He's a teacher, and he's good at presenting incredibly complex science in layman's terms. Still, I found myself floundering in chapter one, so I hurried over to his online videos.
Oops, that kinda backfired.
"Physicists are not supposed to look like handsome Victorian vampires,” novelist Diane Ryan messaged me after I sent her a link to Flicker’s videos.
Even though quantum entanglement is far beyond my intellectual capacity, and even though I’m a grandma, I caught myself fangirling with hashtags as I shared links on social media:
#GottaLove #felixflicker :) I keep listening to Flicker's Februrary 2020 lecture on magnetic monopoles. Why? Honest, it isn't just to hear Flicker's awesome accent. I think some of it is starting to sink in. His enthusiasm is contagious.
Flicker is a professor at Cardiff University. He also teaches kung fu and was a champion of shuai jiao (Chinese wrestling) and praying mantis kung fu.
At 35, he published The Magick of Matter: Crystals, Chaos and the Wizardry of Physics, exploring the elusive and mystifying world of condensed matter physics.
(Yes, magick with a K, two books in a row, but in the text, it’s magic. Good call. A better call might have been no K at all.)
OK, is it "K" or no "K"?
Famed occultist Aleister Crowley put the "k" in magick in the 20th century. to distinguish it from stage magic, which involves sleight of hand and audience misdirection. Magick is the science and art of causing change to occur in conformity with will.". (See: 10 Reasons Some Wiccans Don’t Use a "K" in Magic).
For two months, I've tried to get through every chapter in the book. My Kindle is filled with highlights.
It comes down to this:
Why should we care about condensed matter physics?
A: Without it, we wouldn’t have phones, computers, the internet, and the world as we know it. But those are just little perks. The big stuff is in the book.
Does it matter if I'll never understand it? No more than it matters that most of us do not understand the working of the internal combustion engine, but we drive cars and rely on the skills and tools of others to keep them road-worthy.
So what makes physics any more magical than driving a car?
It's a bit of semantic trickery. The magic I had hoped for is mostly human innovation and modern tech. If a medieval peasant could time travel to our world, everything would look like sorcery or magic. Laser beams, remote controls, electronics, radios, TVs, you know the litany of wonders.
Flicker employs an exalted vocabulary with elusive terms, such as “quantum entanglement” and “special relativity.” A small number of brilliant people know what this stuff means. They are part of a high priesthood of science, as mystifying as the Bible; we just have to trust them.
How easy is it to believe scientists who speak of Black Holes and invisible electrons? It reminds me of the Bible I was indoctrinated with from infancy.
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.
“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways.” --Isaiah 55:8-9
Why would our Creator endow some of us with math brains, leaving people like me blinking in confusion? I object! I want to read Felix Flicker and nod and comprehend and remember all the information he shares. Instead, I've accepted my inability to read "The Magick of Physics" and come away enlightened.
Robert Lanza and Deepak Chopra employ "New Age Physics" to convince us of such a thing as life after death. If we die and all our neurons stop firing and all our spinning electrons reconfigure into something else, how do we cope with the loss of our loved ones?
Nick Cave deal lost his son, Arthur, and wrote:
…. There is a vastness to grief that overwhelms our minuscule selves. We are tiny, trembling clusters of atoms subsumed within grief’s awesome presence. It occupies the core of our being and extends through our fingers to the limits of the universe. Within that whirling gyre all manner of madnesses exist… I feel the presence of my son, all around, but he may not be there…
Create your spirits.
Call to them.
Will them alive.
Speak to them.
It is their impossible and ghostly hands that draw us back to the world from which we were jettisoned;
better now and unimaginably changed.
Source: spin.com
This sort of thing is not addressed in The Magick of Physics.
Annie Dillard wrote in For the Time Being, "you can live as a particle crashing about and colliding in a welter of material with God, or you can live as a particle crashing about and colliding in a welter of material without God. But you cannot live outside the welter of colliding materials."
Felix Flicker may not delve into the physics of humans having an immortal soul, but he does hint at a kind of clairvoyance with the chapter on probability. The ancient game of guessing if a marble is in one's right hand, or left, is far more complicated and fraught with statistics than I ever would have dreamed.
In this space, I have failed to copy/paste excerpts from the book, or summaries that would give you any idea I have actually read any of Felix Flicker. When I finally do, I will post the review at Newsblaze.com.
Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for an ARC of this book.
September 30, 2024
All the occasions I have sat in front of campfires, enjoyed my fireplace, or lit birthday candles, I have marveled at the mystery of fire. In the first grade, I recall sitting by the classroom window on a rainy day, wondering why raindrops were always so round, how they stuck to the window. Water, fire, rocks and minerals, magnets. They all seem magical. Yet they make up our world, the world of the physical. Most books treat explanation about them in very dry, hard to understand ways. Some books are better than others. But this book. This book is downright fabulous!
Physics not understood does seem like magic, but this author takes a new approach to dry explanation. He uses magic, references from wizards we are familiar with like Harry Potter, the wizards in Lord of the Rings, and many more references from literature, and turns them into analogies and metaphors that bring clarity to complex topics and explanations.
His writing style is an absolute delight. My understanding of these topics is deeply enhanced, but this is not a textbook in spite of it covering the topic of condensed materials. It’s entertainment as well. If you are curious about the world around you and want a deeper understanding of the world you interact with, air, fire, water, rock, as well as a deep dive into those worlds, this is the book for you.
I do have to admit though, the last quarter of the book is at times a head scratcher because the world of the quantum is not a deeply understood, still coexisting the magic. In time, we’ll understand the spells and magical mischief of the quantum.
I really appreciate that this physicist has a deep appreciation for literature, fantasy movies and tales, and turns them into analogies for understanding the actual explanations of these phenomena and how those transfer to the amazing world of material chemistry and the like.
This is a book I’m keeping and will reference and reread.
Physics not understood does seem like magic, but this author takes a new approach to dry explanation. He uses magic, references from wizards we are familiar with like Harry Potter, the wizards in Lord of the Rings, and many more references from literature, and turns them into analogies and metaphors that bring clarity to complex topics and explanations.
His writing style is an absolute delight. My understanding of these topics is deeply enhanced, but this is not a textbook in spite of it covering the topic of condensed materials. It’s entertainment as well. If you are curious about the world around you and want a deeper understanding of the world you interact with, air, fire, water, rock, as well as a deep dive into those worlds, this is the book for you.
I do have to admit though, the last quarter of the book is at times a head scratcher because the world of the quantum is not a deeply understood, still coexisting the magic. In time, we’ll understand the spells and magical mischief of the quantum.
I really appreciate that this physicist has a deep appreciation for literature, fantasy movies and tales, and turns them into analogies for understanding the actual explanations of these phenomena and how those transfer to the amazing world of material chemistry and the like.
This is a book I’m keeping and will reference and reread.
August 8, 2025
The Magick of Physics by Dr. Felix Flicker is an amusing romp through the physical laws we take for granted. When we take something for granted, it cheapens that phenomenon or idea. Flicker argues that the world is filled with whimsy and wonder. All we have to do is look a little deeper.
I enjoyed the book. Thanks for reading my review, and see you next time.
I enjoyed the book. Thanks for reading my review, and see you next time.
June 25, 2023
I am very sympathetic to the framing of physics as "magic by another name", since it definitely increasingly seems like the capabilities we have with our modern technological world are shockingly analogous to wizardry from high fantasy novels. We can communicate silently at great distances (texting), identify our exact locations, create moving interactive images, summon soulless creatures to do our bidding (LLMs, pretty much any server), divine the weather, and many, many other things.
That said, Flicker doesn't really lean too heavily into the analogies. It's usually just a short framing device for the various chapters about some physical phenomenon.
Unfortunately there's been a long delay between reading the book and writing the review, so I don't have specific examples to hand, but I don't remember hearing anything that I thought was actively wrong, and I seem to remember learning at least one new thing (which is nice, considering all the reading and advanced coursework I've done on physics), so overall I'm a fan.
That said, Flicker doesn't really lean too heavily into the analogies. It's usually just a short framing device for the various chapters about some physical phenomenon.
Unfortunately there's been a long delay between reading the book and writing the review, so I don't have specific examples to hand, but I don't remember hearing anything that I thought was actively wrong, and I seem to remember learning at least one new thing (which is nice, considering all the reading and advanced coursework I've done on physics), so overall I'm a fan.
July 1, 2024
my favorite quote from this book is the last line: “we are not separate from our environment, but apart of it…the whole being more than the sum of the parts”. This book was dense at some points, but i always have a love of physics and science and this book is amazing because it just reopens your eyes to the small things that make life and make them seem so magical again. This was a fun read and the author did an amazing job putting things in laymen’s terms and making comparisons so anyone can understand the concepts. It was a super fun read, I would recommend to anyone who loves science or physics and just wants to fall in love with the magic of matter and condensed matter physics! Sounds daunting but i promise it isnt
January 14, 2025
I loved how well the author explained the most difficult topics! I’d highly recommend it to all who want to be a bit more magical ;)
March 25, 2023
I’m not gonna lie- Physics is usually not on my short list of subjects to read about. The description of this book seemed so unique, it peaked my interest. I’ve gotta say, Dr. Flicker’s “The Magic Of Physics gave me a new found understanding and appreciation for this subject. This book emphasizes the “magic” in the mundane world around us, through emergence and condensed matter physics. Even if you think physics isn’t your thing, but you’re a curious person like me, give this a try! I Also think that if you’re into epic fantasy like Lord of the rings or Avatar, you will probably like this even more than I do!.
May 12, 2023
At the beginning I really had high hopes. The author's style is engaging and his incorporation of comparisons between the world of physics and that of fantasy were entertaining. The book is also spritzed with interesting anecdotes from the history of science and also from the author's own personal history. The reason why this book finally proved disappointing was that the explanations fail to adequately explain and leave the reader feeling like they need to get on Google and do some searching to find a real explanation of what one has just read. For example, there is a cool picture that looks like Marylin Monroe at a distance and Albert Einstein up close, sort of. But then the explanation of how this all relates to reciprocal space left me scratching my head. Something about closer and farther but closer and farther from what? Similarly when he goes to explain Maxwell's Demon and how this almost describes a violation of the laws of thermodynamics, he never quite explains how this process of sorting of particles into white and black groupings amounted to a violation of the second law. OK, after going on Google and searching some more, I sort of get it that this seems to represent a decrease in entropy in violation of the law, but it could all have been presented much more clearly. Again and again he left me hanging and looking elsewhere for help. Having piqued your interest and taken you half of the way there, he moves on and leaves you grasping after the point of what you have just read and how the example supports the conclusion. What he really needed was some layperson readers to let him know when he lost them along the way. I have the feeling that this book is covering really important topics about condensed matter physics, but it was a frustrating read. I debated between 2 stars and 3. Because it was really interesting at times and very frustrating at others.
July 12, 2023
If I had to thin the herd of science books on my shelves and was stuck with only one book, it would be this one.
I love how the author incorporated the language of fantasy into the discussion of accepted, new, and ongoing research into physics topics. It really made the subject come alive in a new way; even topics I had already touched on, like thermal physics, suddenly made more sense to me. Ideas clicked in a way I could reflect on later and still recall the concept; for example, comparing electron pairs in a superfluid to dancers in a fairy ring.
At the same time, there were so many things I hadn’t heard of that I wanted to research after reading this book. Diamagnetism and whether it could bring us true hoverboards. What the cause of sonoluminescence is. Topology equations. Why concentrating too much information in one location can form a black hole. What the current research is on room temperature superconductors (I suddenly understand the xkcd comic about room temperature semiconductors). All of these questions led to great conversations with the people in my life, and led to new understandings and further questions, as any good conversation should.
Flicker does so well at taking difficult subjects and bringing them down to a layman’s level, before elevating them in the skies again and taking us with him. As someone who’s taken her fair share of physics classes, it was also a great reminder and overview of a lot of subjects from the thousand foot level. I think I’m mixing metaphors with those two sentences but you get what I’m saying :)
I’m planning on buying myself a copy and rereading this a few times, filling it with post-it notes and marking up the pages. It’s a book to really take your time with and enjoy. If you are science minded and/or want to refresh your wonder with the world, I would highly recommend this book to you!
I love how the author incorporated the language of fantasy into the discussion of accepted, new, and ongoing research into physics topics. It really made the subject come alive in a new way; even topics I had already touched on, like thermal physics, suddenly made more sense to me. Ideas clicked in a way I could reflect on later and still recall the concept; for example, comparing electron pairs in a superfluid to dancers in a fairy ring.
At the same time, there were so many things I hadn’t heard of that I wanted to research after reading this book. Diamagnetism and whether it could bring us true hoverboards. What the cause of sonoluminescence is. Topology equations. Why concentrating too much information in one location can form a black hole. What the current research is on room temperature superconductors (I suddenly understand the xkcd comic about room temperature semiconductors). All of these questions led to great conversations with the people in my life, and led to new understandings and further questions, as any good conversation should.
Flicker does so well at taking difficult subjects and bringing them down to a layman’s level, before elevating them in the skies again and taking us with him. As someone who’s taken her fair share of physics classes, it was also a great reminder and overview of a lot of subjects from the thousand foot level. I think I’m mixing metaphors with those two sentences but you get what I’m saying :)
I’m planning on buying myself a copy and rereading this a few times, filling it with post-it notes and marking up the pages. It’s a book to really take your time with and enjoy. If you are science minded and/or want to refresh your wonder with the world, I would highly recommend this book to you!
July 24, 2025
I'm really torn on my review for this one - I wish I could rate it 4.5 stars.
(+) I think that this book is spectacular as someone who studied physics specifically throughout college, as I had a lot of background knowledge already to appreciate what the author was saying in the numerous analogies used to explain phenomena in fantastical terms.
I do not think that this book would be as enjoyable to someone who is wanting to delve into many of these topics for the first time, if learning is the expectation. The book is rife with analogies that oftentimes you'll find physics purists scoffing at, because of "false equivalencies." I don't mind them as much; I think they're fun.
(-)There are SO many analogies in this book, however, that oftentimes a chapter can drag on and leave the reader wondering what happened to the line of thought they were just reading before it springs back onto them 5 pages later. And while I do think some things dragged on a little too long, I overall still did enjoy many of the analogies that add a little bit more whimsy to my arsenal of physics analogies.
(++)Overall, the good far outweighs the bad and I found myself actively scouring external resources to learn more about many of the phenomena that I was unaware of that bring "magic" into our world. And that is the whole point of the book - to bring magic to the mundane things you have in front of you on a daily basis. I'm here for it - everybody needs a little whimsy in their life!
(+) I think that this book is spectacular as someone who studied physics specifically throughout college, as I had a lot of background knowledge already to appreciate what the author was saying in the numerous analogies used to explain phenomena in fantastical terms.
I do not think that this book would be as enjoyable to someone who is wanting to delve into many of these topics for the first time, if learning is the expectation. The book is rife with analogies that oftentimes you'll find physics purists scoffing at, because of "false equivalencies." I don't mind them as much; I think they're fun.
(-)There are SO many analogies in this book, however, that oftentimes a chapter can drag on and leave the reader wondering what happened to the line of thought they were just reading before it springs back onto them 5 pages later. And while I do think some things dragged on a little too long, I overall still did enjoy many of the analogies that add a little bit more whimsy to my arsenal of physics analogies.
(++)Overall, the good far outweighs the bad and I found myself actively scouring external resources to learn more about many of the phenomena that I was unaware of that bring "magic" into our world. And that is the whole point of the book - to bring magic to the mundane things you have in front of you on a daily basis. I'm here for it - everybody needs a little whimsy in their life!
May 25, 2023
I love that finally someone wrote a book about condensed matter physics for the public. The book is very well written. I learn so many things about the current state of the subject. Tough, what I didn't like was that some of the explanations with analogies weren't proper or were more complicated than the subject itself, and some interesting subjects were not very well developed. Also, I know that the author being British is dazzled by Harry Potter's success but using magic to explain physics wasn't a good idea since the famous phaser from Arthur Clark that "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." makes people think that physics/math is magic only accessible to "some wizards" beyond common people when that is NOT TRUE. Anyone with time and patience can learn physics/math and science in general. Science shouldn't be confused with religion where "secrets" and "revelations to prophets or enlightened people" are the basis to cheat people and milk-out money from them. Science can be learned. I love popular science books, that show that science can be accessible to anyone. I love that condensed matter physics got a book, but I rated 4 stars for the magic part. Though I recommend people to jump on the book and learn !!!!
Read
June 25, 2023I saw this book in my library's new books section and a combination of the title (how often do you find a scientific book with the words "magick" and "physics" in the title?) and the beautiful embossed hardcover design (it just looks like an important book) made me notice it and pick it up.
I think I'm fairly intelligent and pick up things quickly, but I admit that I had to read this in small doses because some of the quantum physics concepts are very abstract and counterintuitive. That said, the author does a phenomenal job of trying to explain it in terms that even I (who took exactly one college-level physics course about 25 years ago) can understand. I can plow through a 300 page novel in a day or two, but this one is currently overdue at my library (ooops). I finally finished it though!
That said, even though I would say I only understood most of the book at a very surface level, it is fascinating and - yes - magical. I appreciated the storytelling and drawing from science fiction and fantasy to explain everything from states of matter to superconductors and quantum computers. I look forward to more from this author. Maybe if I'd read something like this as an undergrad I might have taken a second or third physics course.
I think I'm fairly intelligent and pick up things quickly, but I admit that I had to read this in small doses because some of the quantum physics concepts are very abstract and counterintuitive. That said, the author does a phenomenal job of trying to explain it in terms that even I (who took exactly one college-level physics course about 25 years ago) can understand. I can plow through a 300 page novel in a day or two, but this one is currently overdue at my library (ooops). I finally finished it though!
That said, even though I would say I only understood most of the book at a very surface level, it is fascinating and - yes - magical. I appreciated the storytelling and drawing from science fiction and fantasy to explain everything from states of matter to superconductors and quantum computers. I look forward to more from this author. Maybe if I'd read something like this as an undergrad I might have taken a second or third physics course.
March 26, 2023
I must admit, I'm not a huge fan of fantasy, but I was curious to see how someone might take something as... let's face it, staid as physics is wont to be sometimes and recast it in a more exciting light. I must also admit that the attempt is mostly successful, even for someone as fantastically disinclined as me. The author's unabashed love for their subjects is infectious. Moreover, the science is made accessible in a way that physicists rarely take the trouble to be. While I don't think I'll be rushing out to immerse myself in a literary world of witches and wizards anytime soon, I can definitely see the parallels the author is trying to draw, that in many ways, science can seem a lot like magic. It is amazing that the universe even exists, not to mention that we are able to prise apart its operational properties. While my personal scientific pursuits may not be part of this particular discipline, the idea that science can enchant and mystify is not foreign to me. It's a wonder-filled world out there, and it's great to see someone as avid a proponent of the sciences spreading that message.
December 31, 2023
I’m under the responsible assumption that if I started a conversation with a physicist they would soon turn their back on me once my profound ignorance was exposed. Dr Felix Flicker might be an exception, as long as I made a good joke regarding physics, “Do you think that maybe a radioactive cat would have 18 half-lives?” Or, in that case, a really bad joke.
This is a fascinating book that caused my brain to overheat, but was well lumped with cooling periods of humor and delightful analogies. I’m still unsure where the moon goes when no one is looking, but I’m thinking that it may go to a parallel universe where I and others are looking up at it.
This is a fascinating book that caused my brain to overheat, but was well lumped with cooling periods of humor and delightful analogies. I’m still unsure where the moon goes when no one is looking, but I’m thinking that it may go to a parallel universe where I and others are looking up at it.
February 10, 2023
On the positive side, the approach taken by the book was innovative (magick) and some of the writing was cute. But at around two-thirds of the way through, I completely lost sight of what the book was about. There was nothing about the real world and many of the explanations were too complex. I would take a break from the book, go back to it, take a break, etc. After the third time I needed a break, I stopped reading the book. Thank you to Edelweiss and Simon & Schuster for the digital review copy.
July 27, 2024
As an engineer, I thought I was going to love this book.
I truly love the idea behind it: Illuminate people about incredible phenomena an explain how is it that they happen, using science.
Some chapters are fascinating and easy to read but the majority of the book is hard to read. It jumps between high level explanations to very detailed scientific jargon that it is very hard to follow.
For some topics, I already knew what they were since I studied them myself but I honestly got confused with the explanations in this book instead of making the topic clearer.
I truly love the idea behind it: Illuminate people about incredible phenomena an explain how is it that they happen, using science.
Some chapters are fascinating and easy to read but the majority of the book is hard to read. It jumps between high level explanations to very detailed scientific jargon that it is very hard to follow.
For some topics, I already knew what they were since I studied them myself but I honestly got confused with the explanations in this book instead of making the topic clearer.
August 11, 2024
I liked the premise of this book and it starts very strong. It’s fun when the author compares magic based on knowing something’s true name and the theoretical physics model for that thing.
However, the connection between magical fantasy and physics is much less strong in subsequent chapters. Magical ideas inform the chapter contents but the chapters themselves are mostly just physics concepts. That’s fine but the concepts don’t always feel like they fit together. It’s also a challenge to hit the right level of detail to explain an idea to a lay person. The author errs on the side of less detail which makes the explanations unsatisfying. I could follow the concepts I already understood but felt lost during the ones I didn’t.
However, the connection between magical fantasy and physics is much less strong in subsequent chapters. Magical ideas inform the chapter contents but the chapters themselves are mostly just physics concepts. That’s fine but the concepts don’t always feel like they fit together. It’s also a challenge to hit the right level of detail to explain an idea to a lay person. The author errs on the side of less detail which makes the explanations unsatisfying. I could follow the concepts I already understood but felt lost during the ones I didn’t.
July 2, 2024
This is a superb book which achieves what the author intends - to show there is a whole universe of interesting physics in between the quantum and cosmological length scales. The text feels like a light hearted discussion but covers difficult topics in a thoroughly enjoyable way. I was lucky enough to study Felix Flickers Advanced Quantum Mechanics course during my Masters and his writing is every bit as engaging as his lecturing. Would thoroughly recommend to anyone.
July 1, 2024
The title should have been "The Magick of Condensed Matter Physics" as the book is concerning this very branch of physics which has much applications. I like the storytelling of how physics is portraiyed as magical and the intersplicing of fantasy elements as well as the author's own experience. I was engaged with the book from beginning to end.
April 4, 2025
Great writing. The author weaved condensed matter concepts into a cool storytelling and it totally worked for me. I learned a lot of new things. The explorations of "why"s is something I appreciate a lot.
July 16, 2023
I loved this book. The explanations are so clear - both the writing and the narration. I've listened to dozens of physics and cosmology books over the years. I think this was the best.
October 21, 2023
Great attempt at explaining complicated physics concepts but a lot of it was still hard to understand.
April 15, 2024
Quirky take on condensed matter physics.
July 2, 2024
Written in an approachable style, with very simple, easy to follow examples. I still don't get Quantum Physics, my brain must be wired wrong.
April 9, 2025
An interesting and cleaver book on physics. It gives a different perspective.
August 9, 2024
Made me start actually learning physics.
February 19, 2025
A 2023 Staff Nonfiction Favorite Pick for Natalia! For readers of Atom Land by Jon Butterworth and The Matter of Everything by Suzie Sheehy.
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