| Summary: | The article focuses on James Read's book, "Background Independence in Classical and Quantum Gravity," which analyzes the concept of background independence in the context of general relativity and other theories. It discusses how background independence is not a singular, well-defined notion but rather a collection of loosely related ideas, with varying interpretations affecting whether a theory is considered background-independent. The book provides a comprehensive classification of these definitions and examines their application to both classical and quantum theories of gravity. It is noted that the book is suitable for philosophers of physics and those familiar with the literature on spacetime theories, although it has high technical prerequisites.
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