Customer Reviews

Einstein's Moon: Bell's Theorem and the Curious Quest for Quantum Reality

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I found the explanations of the standard modern physics subjects to be mediocre except the part about Bell's Theorem. The significance lies not in the treatment of the subject (Bell's Theorem) but in the fact that Peat has tackled the subject at all. This theorem may prove to be the most important discovery in human history. Experimental proof (I've heard tell that it has been proven.) of local indeterminacy is mind-boggling. Why every science writer worth his salt isn't jumping to come up with a better write up is beyond me. This book is a must read--even for real students of quantum mechanics.

What a good book! The metaphors for the layman are usually dead-on, although the heart of the paradox of Bell's Theorem is fuzzy, and better handled in "Shroedinger's Kittens". Otherwise, this book does the best job of navigating clearly through the history of the debate over reality.

In college I took physics courses but I am NOT a physicist. So I was not interested in a 'heavy-duty', mathematical discussion of Bell's theorem. This book accomplishes my goal: it provides a nice, well-written summary of what is accurately described as one of the most profound ideas in the history of science.

The other reviewers have been a little excited and mistated the propositions that this book outlines.

1. Einstein never proposed a "hidden variables" theory, he was against this formulation. It was David Bohm who proposed hidden variables.

2. Einstein's ironic statement was "Does the moon disappear when I'm not looking at it?" This was stated in order to show the absurdity of the Copenhagen Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics, which states that there are no particles in the universe until scientists perform experiments; i.e. the experiments themselves 'create' reality ahead of them, creating an illusion that scientists are exploring a reality that is independent of their mental existance.

"Einstein's Moon" is an excellent summary of that small, but important, battle that occured between the realists, lead by Einstein, and the quantum nihilists, lead by Niels Bohr.

The surprising state of affairs today, summed up under the ruberic of "Bell's Inequality" has yet more surprises waiting just around the corner. This is an area of physics and philosophy that can and will produce world-changing results in the very near future.

So, "Einstein's Moon" is excellent reading for anyone who wants to be prepared for the next revolution in man's understanding of the universe!

Einstein thought quantum uncertainty would eventually be explained by "Hidden Variables" . Little did he realize those "Hidden Variables" would travel faster than the speed of light. I wonder what Einstein would say about the breakdown of his speed of light constant by those variables?