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Portals to a New Reality
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  • Published: 28 January 2026
  • ISBN: 9780241803059
  • Imprint: Allen Lane
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 304
  • RRP: $65.00
Categories:

Portals to a New Reality

Five Experiments to Unlock the Future of Physics

Formats & editions
Hardback
28 Jan 2026
EBook
28 Oct 2025
Audiobook
28 Oct 2025
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An Oxford physicist signposts a new revolution in fundamental physics, and with it a new description of reality

For the last century, physics has been following the paths set out by the same two theories—quantum mechanics and general relativity—and, let’s face it, it’s getting pretty boring. Despite these great theories being fundamentally in conflict, most scientists are simply chasing decimal points in laboratories. To give the deeper explanation of reality we seek, we need new ways to explore and critique our best ideas of the universe on the smallest and largest scales.

The situation is much like that in 1890, right before Planck, Einstein and Bohr blew the roof off Newtonian physics. As Vlatko Vedral argues in Portals to a New Reality, this suggests we are on the brink of a new revolution.

Vedral first explains the state of the art of our current understanding when it comes to quantum mechanics and general relativity. Then he shows how quantum information theory has opened up radical new avenues, giving us a series of extraordinary experiments that could upend physics. They can sound very strange—one essentially involves entangling a human with Schrödinger’s cat—but they lay bare the elements of our theories that are particularly problematic, such as the widespread belief that nothing truly exists unless it is observed.

At present these take the form of fascinating thought experiments, but nothing, save inertia and a lack of ambition, stands in our way. This revolution has been a century in the making—the time has finally arrived to rewrite our understanding of the universe.
  • Published: 28 January 2026
  • ISBN: 9780241803059
  • Imprint: Allen Lane
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 304
  • RRP: $65.00
Categories:

Praise for Portals to a New Reality

Vlatko Vedral is a revolutionary in the best sense: where others see stagnation and impasse, he sees signposts – or "portals", as he calls them – to a future in which our very conception of reality will be overturned. In this stimulating and provocative book, Vedral seeks to shatter complacency by identifying five portals to a radically new understanding of reality

David Deutsch, author of The Beginning of Infinity

No, not magic mushrooms; something far more reliable and compelling: a lucid, unflinching, and undeflected commitment to the pursuit of a quantum theory of reality

Peter Atkins

In Portals to a New Reality, Vlatko Vedral opens five provocative gateways to the future of physics. With clarity and wit, he challenges the limits of conventional thinking, arguing that the next great revolution won’t come from ever-larger colliders or far-flung speculation, but from quantum information theory itself. From entangled cats to quantum gravity and the nature of time, Vedral explores how understanding quantum information could unify physics—and transform our view of life, the universe, and everything. A bold manifesto for those who believe real progress begins with asking better questions

Artur Ekert

A typically fearless contribution from Vlatko Vedral: a lucid, compellingly argued collection of bold ideas that defy the standard ways of thinking. At a time when the field feels like it is stuck for ideas, Portals to A New Reality opens the door on what could prove an exciting future for fundamental physics

Michael Brooks, author of The Art of More

Vedral delivers wild ideas with enthusiasm, technical know-how, and a new perspective on quantum reality

Kirkus Reviews

Quantum mechanics is the most successful scientific theory in history, yet there is much unfinished business. For a start, it is hard to merge with our best theory of gravitation. Worse, quantum mechanics seems to make no sense when describing 'reality.' I can think of no better person to reconceptualize physics through a quantum lens than Vlatko Vedral. His profound insights and grasp of technical subtleties make him pre-eminent among scientists now propelling quantum mechanics into its second century

Paul Davies, author of Quantum 2.0