Waves and Stones: Graham Harman explores how continuity and sudden change shape reality, science, history, and human life

Graham Harman examines the ancient philosophical problem of how continuous processes relate to discrete breaks, arguing that this tension shapes human life and our understanding of reality. The book considers whether lives develop through dramatic turning points or gradual change, whether elections transform societies or mark arbitrary points in cultural shifts, and how general relativity can coexist with quantum discontinuities. Harman traces the issue from ancient Greek philosophy and the writings of Ibn Khaldun to architectural and evolutionary theory, the relationship between religion and science, and wave-particle duality. He presents this wide-ranging inquiry as a new way to think about the fabric of reality and its implications for understanding ourselves and a complex world.