Review copies are now available.
Here is a selection of reviews and other comments.
"A tremendously exciting book. Deutsch argues that we are much closer to A Theory of Everything than we realise - we just have to take a deep breath and face up to the embarrassingly enormous implications of the theories we already have. What prevents us from seeing this is the same thing that prevented us from seeing that the earth orbits the sun - sheer incredulity."
"Stunning philosophical work by a quantum physicist, who plays across the major theories of our time - and comes to some startling conclusions."
"Deutsch writes with great clarity, and his unifying philosophy is expressed persuasively and with a great deal of good sense."
"The Fabric of Reality is a vibrant and eloquent defence of four pivotal modern themes in natural philosophy, marshalled by a thinker of unusual originality and insight. No philosopher ... with interests in the nature of scientific rationality, quantum theory, consciousness, time or ... evolution can afford to ignore the synthesis offered in this important and timely book."
"...his writing crackles with originality ... this is an awesome book." (New Scientist March 22 1997)
"Great news left on my answer machine. David Deutsch has finished his book and it's called The Fabric of Reality and ... it comes out early next year. A pity it's not out for Christmas because then I would give it to everyone I know and they could stop thinking I'm mad, or at least know who I got it from. Because yes, it will have all about the multiverse in it." (The Guardian October 4 1996.)
"...nothing less than a tour de force." (Jewish Chronicle August 8 1997)
" the real universe has a genuinely deep and disturbing strangeness, which I shall be trying, yet again, to fathom, with the help of two iconoclastic young physicists: David Deutsch on The Fabric of Reality ... and Lee Smolin on The Life of the Cosmos..." (The Sunday Times, Summer Reading June 22 1997)
"David Deutsch is one of Britain's most original thinkers. In this major work he confronts the deepest questions of existence head-on, challenging traditional notions of reality with a new world view that interweaves physics, computing and philosophy. I haven't been so inspired since reading Douglas Hofstadter's Gödel, Escher, Bach."
"This is a book that should be of at least as much interest to specialists as to the general reader. It has to be read slowly, in many sittings...."
"...never less than fascinating." (New Moon June 1 1997)
"Deutsch offers the best justification for this seemingly wild idea [the many-universes interpretation] that I have ever read ... Deutsch has a wild story to tell, he mostly tells it with great clarity, and he provides neat synopses at the end of each chapter to keep you up to date with the story so far. This is a book to be read for an inspiring one-man view of what science is all about, and an insight into the questions that need to be addressed in the next century." (The Sunday Times April 6 1997.)
"Popular belief has it that science-fiction visionaries of today paint pictures of where science fact will be exploring tomorrow. The truth is more often the other way around. David Deutsch's book contains more than enough in the way of new, fascinating, and in many cases stupefying insights to the underlying realities and meaning of our existence to inspire the best of science fiction for the next fifty years. ... A "must" read for those who have been experiencing a growing conviction that there's a lot more to science than many scientists seem to think there is."
"...worth the work for anyone interested in the thought processes of a scientist on the leading edge of his discipline." (Kirkus Reviews June 1 1997)
"Knowledgeable, fiercely outspoken and quite partisan, David Deutsch aims to introduce us to his view of reality ... This is a highly stimulating book, full of ideas and spurring us on to greater efforts of imagination." (Nature July 10 1997)
"The Fabric of Reality is a marvellously exhilarating read. By drawing out the consequences of our most fundamental theories, Deutsch opens up, for the reader, astonishing new vistas; and gives us reason for thinking that intelligent life, so far from being merely a 'scum' that occasionally forms on the surface of insignificant planets, is destined to take centre stage in the evolving cosmic drama."
"The Fabric of Reality is a fascinating, highly readable, and wonderfully well-informed book about the world we live in. It will challenge and intrigue the philosopher of science and the intelligent layman alike. Deutsch, a physicist at Oxford, ranges over the fundamentals of contemporary physical science with a master's touch, illuminating, intriguing, and even inspiring as he goes. It is remarkable how well he is able to communicate what is often pretty arcane stuff to readers with little background knowledge or mathematical expertise. His book is a model of how these things ought to be done, as well as being probably the very best book of its type today."
"David Deutsch tackles a difficult subject with beautiful clarity. Writing with a careful simplicity which bespeaks deep consideration for his reader, he merits comparison as a stylist with Bertrand Russell. If it is possible for the untrained mind to embrace what Deutsch describes in The Fabric of Reality, then no better description will be found."
Written by one of the pioneering thinkers into quantum computation and cosmology, this is a breathtaking perspective on current science, deftly welding together ideas in quantum physics, computation, evolution, and the philosophy of science (epistemology). If you are untrained in any of these areas, this is the book I recommend highly. (The Critical Café September 5, 1997)
"...Deutsch provides a model of reality that is as provocative as it is complex ... an intellectually stimulating read for the science-literate and motivated lay person ... The author exhibits not only a thorough knowledge of his subject matter but a genuine desire to draw the reader into the complexities, paradoxes and possibilities surrounding quantum physics. In a particularly effective manner, each chapter begins by outlining basic scientific history or concepts before delving into the complex, and ends with a glossary and summary, both invaluable tools for the lay reader. In a field where scientific inquiry challenges not only our imagination but basic assumptions about our physical world, this volume provides the essential information needed for future debates..." (Publishers Weekly July 7, 1997)
"...dazzling" (The Guardian June 19, 1997)
"This is the finest popular work that I've read so far. ... I am bowled over by the incredible clarity, the carefully crafted sentences, the brilliant arguments, the way in which objections ... are dealt with as soon as they arise in the reader's mind ..."
"In the library of physics for laypeople, Deutsch's book is unique ... the confidence with which he presents his views, and the absence of condescension in his style, accesses nonscientists to his seemingly alien world(s)." (The Booklist July 1997)
"The Fabric of Reality is the most important book in the philosophy of science to be published since Karl Popper's The Logic of Scientific Discovery appeared in the 1930's."
"Deutsch is someone to be taken seriously ... he has made significant original contributions to the theory of quantum computing, and shows a broad command of an amazing range of material. He also writes clearly and forcefully. Moreover, his attempt at metaphysics in this book is based on sharp insights from physics and other branches of intellectual endeavour. Whereas most scientists, I think, find that much contemporary philosophy is quite alien and remote from their concerns, this book is different." (Physics World June 1997)
"amazingly enough, it is Deutsch's idea - one he has harbored since childhood, he says - to truly understand "everything" that is known. Even more amazing is how close he seems to have come and how well he explains it to the rest of us." (San Jose Mercury News, October 12, 1997)