Entangled States: A Life According to Quantum Physics

by Karmela Padavic-Callaghan

A young queer millennial physicist unveils some of the most mind-bending physics concepts in the universe—and uses them to illuminate their own fascinating life story

“I see physics everywhere,” Karmela Padavic-Callaghan writes. “It offers itself to me when I try to make sense of all the paths my life did and did not take, it reassures me when I try to reconcile all the identities that I feel describe me.” Born in Croatia in 1991, Karmela grew up against the backdrop of the Yugoslav wars. They grew to love science and hair metal, and they began longing to see more of the world. At age 16, they received an offer to study at a boarding school in New York, setting them on a path to a physics PhD.

Now a science writer in New York, Karmela uses physics to meditate on building a life in a new country, on being nonbinary in a field dominated by cishet men, and on cause, effect, future, and destiny. Each chapter examines a moment in Karmela's life through the lens of a physics concept. Knot theory becomes a lens for the story of Karmela visiting a Croatian healer. Ultracold atom labs lead to a meditation on societal expectations that women be unfailingly warm and nurturing. And the workings of an electron microscope become a framework for Karmela's evolving relationship with cosmetics as they realized they are nonbinary.

Taking us from Croatia to New York, from quantum computing to Queen, Entangled States offers listeners a unique and unforgettable journey—and shows how the world of physics and the world of humanity illuminate one another.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Queer, Memoir

248 pages, Hardcover

Published May 19, 2026

Reviews

[Debbie Gale · Rating 5 out of 5]

CW: medical/dental trauma, disordered eating, sexism, and transphobia/biphobia/bi-erasure

I really loved ENTANGLED STATES!

The prose was stunning! And, I really loved the structure with a theme for each chapter and weaving science, journalism, and memoir. The book was divided into three sections centering around different areas of physics: Time, Space, and Interactions.

I love how Padavic-Callaghan found parallels between their own life and physics. One example from early on in the book was when they explained the physics of quantum computing and how memory is stored.

They wove in a memory of their family surviving a bombing during the Croatian War of Independence and compared the fallibility and beauty of memory in both quantum computing in their own life.

My favorite section was the section on spin and how analogies are so useful even if they are not perfect:

"I worry about you, the person reading this book, and whether there is enough truth embedded in the fanciful & self-indulgent metaphors & analogies I have constructed in some of these pages. But then I remember quantum spin, and how deeply wrong, yet deeply useful that four letter word is."

I also really liked the discussion of anti-capitalism in the Path Integrals section. I wasn't expecting it, but the idea of enmeshment really resonated with me.

"Within capitalism, workers are more easily exploited if their identity is inseparable from their job." WHEW

Books that I thought of while reading this book: THE DISORDERED COSMOS, MATH IN DRAG, HOW FAR THE LIGHT REACHES, and Katalin Kariko's memoir BREAKING THROUGH.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

I never completed my physics degree, but I wanted to do something with fundamental physics. As an adult I've slowly learned the graduate-level math I would have needed.

A few years ago, I was reading a physics textbook and learned about a concept called eigenstates. I had a funny thought about how they could be a way to describe how I think some of my closest friends experience gender. Then I realized that, sadly, there was no-one in my life who could appreciate it. None of the people with nontrivial gender identity were familiar with the requisite math, and everyone who knew that math would be too distracted by "you know how the gender spectrum isn't one-dimensional?" to focus on the joke.

This memoir is from someone who would get the joke, has already made it, and has several more up their sleeve. They might even be able to find that balance to explain just enough to help the non-physicists in the room feel included. They describe the stories like something you'd hear from at someone's party, by the pool or in your friend's kitchen, and now I want to be their friend.

[Emily Lavieri-Scull · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a really fascinating book. It blends together concepts and history of physics with personal topics of family, relationships, gender, and more in a really interesting way. It’s well researched but also very approachable and the author achieves their goal of these stories feeling like they’re being told at a pool or over a meal. It’s very unique and memorable and I’ll be thinking about it for a long time.

[Lucia · Rating 4 out of 5]

"A young queer millennial physicist unveils some of the most mind-bending physics concepts in the universe—and uses them to illuminate their own fascinating life story" states the blurb.
A fascinating and readable memoir from a non-binary science writer from Croatia.

[Joel Gottlieb · Rating 4 out of 5]

thoughtful and interesting. I have to re-read to try to catch some of the physics connections.

[Emma Guinan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Made me simultaneously more excited and terrified to be a woman in a physics phd program

[GONZA · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ll admit that more than once I kept reading because I was more interested in the glimpses into the author’s life than in the physics she was trying to explain to me, but I appreciated her effort.

Ammetto che piú di qualche volta ho continuato a leggere perché mi interessavano piú gli spezzoni della vita dell'autrice che la fisica che tentava di farmi capire, ma ho apprezzato lo sforzo.

I received from the Publisher a complimentary digital advanced review copy of the book in exchange for a honest review.