num_pages: 342
description: In this inspiring coming-of-age memoir a world-renowned astrophysicist emerges from an impoverished childhood and crime-filled adolescence to ascend through the top ranks of research physics. NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY KIRKUS REVIEWS  Youll encounter one extraordinary turn of events after another as the extraordinary chess player puzzle solver and occasional grifter works his way from grinding poverty and deep despair to worldwide acclaim as a physicist.Bill Nye CEO of The Planetary SocietyNavigating poverty violence and instability a young James Plummer had two guiding starsa genius IQ and a love of science. But a bookish nerd is a soft target and James faced years of bullying and abuse. As he struggled to survive his childhood in some of the countrys toughest urban neighborhoods in New Orleans Houston and LA and later in the equally poor backwoods of Mississippi he adopted the persona of gangsta nerddealing weed in juke joints while winning state science fairs with computer programs that model Einsteins theory of relativity. Once admitted to the elite physics PhD program at Stanford University James found himself pulled between the promise of a bright future and a dangerous crack cocaine habit he developed in college. With the encouragement of his mentor and the sole Black professor in the physics department James confronted his personal demons as well as the entrenched racism and classism of the scientific establishment. When he finally seized his dream of a life in astrophysics he adopted a new name Hakeem Muata Oluseyi to honor his African ancestors. Alternately heartbreaking and hopeful  A Quantum Life narrates one mans remarkable quest across an ever-expanding universe filled with entanglement and choice.
language: English
title: A Quantum Life: My Unlikely Journey from the Street to the Stars
publisher: Ballantine Books