Customer Reviews

Alice in Quantumland: An Allegory of Quantum Physics

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I found this book very readable & an excellent introduction to QM. The other really good intro that I would recommend would be Fred Alan Wolf's "Taking The Quantum Leap." Some of the ideas of this fascinating subject I found to be clearer in Gilmore's book....others I thought were said with less verbosity in Wolf's book. As Gilmore's book is told in the style of Lewis Carrol's allegory, it is a touch more pleasant to read.....but not much. I would recommend reading them both for a complete intro to the wonderful world of theoretical physics. Afterwards, I would recommend "In Search Of Schroedinger's Cat" by John Gribbin and "Parallel Universes" (also by Fred Alan Wolf).

The Alice in Wonderland metaphor fits the subject perfectly and Gilmore does a fantastic job of catching the tone and feel of the original. He manages to make many subtle concepts understandable in an entertaining manner. Everyone in our family has read it and enjoyed it, even those who don't normally like science texts. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants an overview of Quantum Physics!

Like a previous reviewer, I can appreciate the author's efforts. Being a physicist, I am well aware of how difficult it is to explain even the simplest concepts of quantum mechanics. Unfortunately, I find the book to be extremely boring if you happen already to know something of QM, and extremely confusing if you are trying to learn something about it. I'd highly recommend George Gamow's Mr. Tompkins in Wonderland, instead, which I read for the first time in my junior year in college 17 years ago, and several times more since then, always with great joy.

I had attempted to read several writings geared toward introduction to quantum theories and practices,without any real understanding of what was being said. Then I stumbled across this book, and with it's easy to follow format and great illustrations of ideas, I now have an understanding I can apply to the previously read works. This book has proven invaluable to my studies and I would recommend it to anyone who has an interest in this field of study. It is informative and makes the information easier to retain with amusing visual memory aides.

Alice in Quantumland is an entertaining novel that is sure to get the basics of quantum physics across to its readers. Gilmore teaches his readers the basics of complex concepts through lovable characters that are sure to hook his readers. While the concepts are hard to grasp without formal teaching Gilmore presents them in a way that makes it easier to understand. Characters such as the kind and lovable Quantum Mechanic or even the Classics Mechanic help to keep the readers entertained while teaching them new concepts.

However, if you have never taken any type of physics course and have no background in chemistry, this book may come across as very confusing. The concepts can be very difficult to grasp. It is hard to understand how someone can be in six different places at once without having a physicist standing behind you explaining quantum physics while you read about Alice's adventures. As Gilmore explains in the Preface, "Neils Bohr, the father figure of quantum mechanics in its early days is said to have remarked that anyone who did not feel dizzy when thinking about quantum theory had not understood it."

Yet, once the concepts are understood there is an underlying bit of humor that makes the book amusing. There are characters such as the ugly duckling, the little mermaid, and even the emperor with new clothes. Bad puns and old storybook characters appear in this book making the adventures of Alice rather humorous.

As a junior in high school with two older siblings majoring in physics I recommend reading this book (provided you have some physics knowledge or siblings that can explain quantum mechanics). If you are able to understand the concepts of quantum mechanics the book is hilarious and will call you back to read it again and again.

I am a 15yr old student and didn't really know anything about Quantum Physics - other than that it was supposed to be really difficult, complex and beyond the average person's intelligence. This book taught me quite a lot and I found it interesting(which can't be said for a lot of physics books) and informative. The only problem was that when I got to the last page, there was still more that I didn't really understand - as if there should have been more pages, it inspired me to find out more about the subject as well. I think that this book definetly deserves all five stars.

I was really excited by the idea behind this book- making learning about quantum physics interesting and entertaining. The problem was, the analogies were just too imprecise and seemed to muddle things up. I got incredibly bored with the book as things were never explained properly. The best part of the book is the little blurbs and notes at the end which actually explain what is going on. The actual content of the book just seems to confuse rather than explain.

When my son was ten, I read this to him as bedtime reading. We had a LOT of laughs. It's a great way to get the feel of quantum mechanics and have fun at the same time.

It is a cute book, and the beginning and the way it is like hte Alice in Wonderland theme makes the book easier to follow and understand. It is a neat idea, but still hard for the unadvanced physics student to completely understand. There are a lot of notes to help out, but it is a pain to keep flipping to the end of the chapters to read them. Overall a cute idea and a start to make physics more interesting for those who are not too much into that type of science.

Very fun book almost complimentary to Mr. Tompkins. A lotof concepts are explained, Uncertainity with Heisenberg Bank, matter antimatter, electric current,I loved the description of electrontron spin described as umbrellas up or down,two slit experient, superposition principal with taking routes in the wilderness. It is very nice to put some imaginations into Quantum Concepts. I think it is very good book for interested student in high school, before he gets into dry formulas of Quantum Mechanics to see what is to come or someone who is already in it to put some image to the formulas.