The Quantum Guide to Life: How the Laws of Physics Explain Our Lives from Laziness to Love

With humor and intelligence, this New York Times–bestselling guide takes you through the fascinating intersections of quantum physics and everyday life.

Physics might explain why the Earth orbits the Sun, but can it really explain our tendency to put off doing chores?

In The Quantum Guide to Life, physics professor and bestselling author Kunal K. Das illustrates how the laws of physics define every aspect of our lives and society, from personal relationships to geopolitics, financial markets, globalization, and immigration.

With engaging stories and illuminating examples, Das explains the important laws at the heart of physics, in a way never done before—by showing how the defining patterns of our lives, our behavior, and our society already follow similar rules.

Das makes complex concepts—from the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle to Schrödinger’s Cat—relatable and easy to understand, while offering provocative new perspectives on the established principles of physics. The Quantum Guide to Life provides illuminating and practical life lessons while bringing humor and humanity to what is too often considered a painfully dry subject.

Kunal K. Das is a Professor of Physics and an active researcher in the fields of Nanotechnology and Ultracold Atoms with ongoing funding from the National Science Foundation. He has authored dozens of refereed journal publications and has held teaching and research appointments at several institutions including SUNY, Penn State, Fordham, Optical Sciences Center, and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Atypically for a physicist, he has a lifelong interest in the humanities and pop culture and a passion for classic literature, giving him a unique view of physical laws from the perspective of broader human experiences. He is currently a Professor at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania and a Scholar of the Kavli Institute of Theoretical Physics at the University of California, Santa Barbara.