My relationship with physics has always been… troubled.
Probably because I had a high school teacher who never managed to spark any interest in me, I just never caught up. I remember sitting silently at my final exam (Maturità) when the physics question came up, completely blank. I also struggled like hell with the physics exam at university. It just never clicked.
And honestly, I don’t deal with physics in my daily life, so the chance to change that never really came up.
Until recently.
I’m writing this because I want to recommend you a fantastic book: “We Have No Idea”. It’s a brilliant example of how good writing can revive (or even create) interest in a topic that once felt boring, frustrating, or simply too hard.
The authors: a cartoonist and a physicist
“We Have No Idea” is written by Jorge Cham, the cartoonist behind the popular webcomic PhD Comics, and Daniel Whiteson, a physicist at CERN and professor at UC Irvine. They’ve been collaborating on educational content for a long time: videos, a podcast, and another book (this one about the mysteries of the universe). As you’ll see, they have great synergy!
Each chapter starts with a big question like “What is dark matter?”, “Why can’t we go faster than light?”, or “What’s inside a black hole?”. If you’ve ever watched The Big Bang Theory and wondered what Sheldon was rambling about (string theory, quarks, Planck constants, antimatter), this book gives you the basic-level tour. Then it explains why the answer is either ridiculously complex or, more often, completely unknown.
As you can probably guess, “we have no idea” is the recurring theme. The authors even added a meta joke about it.
Physics has made huge progress, but the more we learn, the more questions we unlock.
So what makes this book special?
For me, it hits the perfect balance for a newbie: it explains complex topics while being genuinely funny. And by funny, I mean the kind of silly, nerdy, dad-joke humor that either makes you laugh out loud or groan in appreciation.
To be fair, the jokes can be a bit much. There’s at least one pun or silly cartoon on every other page, and if you’re just trying to learn, it might feel like noise. But personally, I loved them. They lightened the tone and made the material feel way more approachable.
The chapter structure is usually well organized:
- A question
- Some background/context
- The answers we think might be true
- And finally, why any of this matters
That last part is the most important, in my opinion, because it really helps you understand why we even bother working on these wildly complex, hard-to-test theories. I learned that GPS technology relies on Einstein’s relativity, that quantum mechanics powers semiconductors, that black holes might be key to understanding the universe itself.
Shoutout to the Italian translator, by the way. I read the book in Italian, and 90% of the jokes still worked. Some fell flat, sure, but I imagined how they landed in English and it clicked.
Why this matters
“We Have No Idea” made me reflect on how we communicate with people who aren’t naturally drawn to a topic. I spent most of my life actively resisting physics. But this book cracked the shell. Suddenly, I saw why people find it fascinating: I just needed someone to explain it in the right way. It’s a spark that acts a starting point for more exploration and discovery.
I see the same thing in my daily life with tech, especially when I try to explain IT or finance to non-tech friends. The world needs more content like this, smart, clear, funny, and kind to the skeptic.
take here for example: the books managed to explain Einstein’s relativity with an hamster and two flashlights!
Have you read anything like this?
If you know other books like “We Have No Idea”, let me know. I’ve already picked up their follow-up book.
It totally changed how I see physics, and if you’re a skeptic like I was, give it a shot. That’s the magic of a good book.
Note: All image credits go to Jorge Cham, Daniel Whiteson, and Riverhead Books