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103 of 104 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent conceptual introduction to quantum mechanics, with history and humor., December 25, 2009
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
First let me say that I have a degree in physics and in education. I may not be the typical reader but I think I can provide a reasonable review of this book.
The book is a very clear and well delineated explanation of the basics of quantum mechanics. Orzel provides the relevant background needed to understand each section along with a historical outline of how the physics developed. His teaching is lucid and straightforward (think Carl Sagan or Isaac Asimov). The examples and questions are provided outlined in a tongue in cheek manner as discussions with his dog. I am somewhat torn about the verbiage relating to his dog, it is sometimes funny, but can also be distracting. I think in the classroom the humor would come across more consistently. It does add a level of absurdity to the book, and if quantum mechanics is anything, it is sometimes quite absurd to those of us living our daily lives in a classical world.
I also laughed out loud many times while reading the chapter on debunking the snake oil salesmen who try to use various garbled versions of quantum mechanics to explain how their gizmos can provide "free energy" or "improve your health". I have had a lot of conversations with people about these contraptions (and those Amish space heaters advertized in the paper all the time, but that is another issue).
The historical perspective in each section is excellent, specifically the development of wave/particle duality and the Copenhagen interpretation. Orzel's presentation of the manner in which theories are developed and tested is superb. For students this is may be eye opening, many of them seem to believe that science develops in a linear and straightforward manner and the examples presented by Orzel show the more convoluted path often taken.
I took a class from Murray Gell-Mann a few years ago (well more than a few years) and we read "The Quark and the Jaguar" as part of our class assignment. After reading the Gell-Manns book and taking his class I felt like I knew a lot more about quantum mechanics, but I had to break up each section and really chew on it to reach that understanding. Mind you, I took quantum mechanics in college, I could do the math, but I had little true understanding of the underlying principles. "How to Teach Physics to your Dog" is a lot less mental work (and substantially less math) and yields an overall understanding of the concepts of quantum mechanics. In a way this book reminds me of Hewitt's Conceptual Physics textbook, the ideas are the most important and the minimal math plays a secondary and supporting role.
This book is appropriate for
* Physics students (after taking classical mechanics) from about high school AP level.
* To read BEFORE you take quantum mechanics at the college level. This book is not going to help you with the differential equations, Fourier transformations and other math, but at least you might know why you are doing them.
* Those with at least some background (or a great deal of interest) in science who wish to grasp the concepts of quantum mechanics. If you have absolutely no science at all you may struggle with some of the vocabulary.
Overall a very enjoyable read, laugh out loud funny at times and a clear and well organized introduction to quantum mechanics for those with interest in science. Highly recommend.
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31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Quantum Mechanics for the Lay Person - excellent job with a few minor quibbles, December 26, 2009
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
Writing a book about physics for laymen can always be a difficult task. I have read more than I can count. Books can either be too technical and unapproachable to be of interest to the lay person, or they can be so silly and irrelevant that not enough meaty information is contained within. As a background on myself, I am an engineer by training, and as a wise man on Magrathea once said, "I am a great fan of science."
The book itself is geared towards somebody with a decent knowledge of physics and math, but not necessarily quantum mechanics. I would say high-school level should be fine, but then again, with what passes for high school education, it's possible that it could be beyond some people (some may have issue with words like exponential). The reader should note that the book is really "How to Teach Quantum Mechanics To Your Dog" as Physics in general is not covered (and it even avoids relativity). This is not a negative, but just an FYI.
Overall, excellent book---I probably picked up something new in every chapter. Some of the science was familiar, though I was not aware of all the players and fun stories involved. For the science I knew, I appreciated having a good way to explain it to friends and family. As the book progressed, I discovered new things about quantum mechanics which I did not know.
You'll learn about how the most often referenced piece of quantum mechanics (Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle) is also the most misunderstood. You'll also learn not only about Schrodinger's Cat, but also his many women (who knew physicists were like that?). The book builds on basic quantum mechanics to discuss some of the more interesting theories---for instance, the many-worlds theory to explain how things like superposition actually work (while Orzel doesn't mention it, the many-worlds theory also helps solve some mathematical difficulties in both cosmology and evolution). However, no matter what the philosophy you choose to apply to why certain things happen, it does not change the equations, which is the point of the book. He also discusses quantum zeno (how to stop a quantum state jump by observing it), quantum tunneling, quantum entanglement, quantum teleportation, quantum electrodynamics, and some misuses of quantum physics (like quantum healing). In short, anything quantum you want to know about is likely summarized in this little tome.
Throughout the book, the dialogue is presented as a talk between the scientist and his dog. At times it got a little tedious, but more often than not, it broke up the scientific jargon with conversation, and occasionally the analogies to a dog finding a bunny in the backyard actually seemed to work (or treats in a bag). I also dug the occasional obligatory Star Trek reference... of course quantum states existing in many worlds would include the evil worlds where the quantum particles all have goatees.....
I will knock off 1 star for this----I don't feel the book did enough to explain how quantum mechanics is used in our everyday lives. Quantum tunneling microscopes are cool, but who knows what they are? A few pages on lasers or tunnel diodes might have been nice. There were brief discussions of quantum cryptography and computing, but I thought these could have been expanded. In addition, quantum electrodynamics started to get a little too technical and deep for an average reader (but it was the last technical chapter, so I think it was well placed).
To learn more, I would recommend some of the excellent books by Simon Singh who has an equally approachable way with explaining complex science. Chad Orzel brushes the edge of relativity, but specifically says he is avoiding it for the purposes of his book. To read some excellent explanations of relativity and cosmology in a similar voice, you might augment this book with "The Big Bang" by Singh.
Overall, I give the book 4 stars---it is an excellent effort, and I definitely learned quite a bit from reading it. While I did get it through the Vine program, this is the kind of book I would definitely recommend purchasing yourself. I removed 1 star because I really did want some more practical applications (and I did feel that the voice sometimes drifted too technical for the average reader), but it is a quality piece of work and will have a place on my shelf by Stephen Hawking and others.
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19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A delightful introduction to Quantum Physics, December 28, 2009
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
I was delighted to read scienceteachermom's positive review of this book here on Amazon; as a general reader with a superficial interest in science and mathematics, it was very helpful to learn that the science here was well founded. (I thought so, but as our Cavalier King Charles often reminds me, I'm not always well informed -- especially when it comes to how much food he should get to eat.)
Chad Orzel's conceit is to carry on conversations with his dog about physics. As an example he describes a solution of the "collapse" problem proposed by Hugh Everett III -- "there is no such thing as the collapse of the wavefunction." After some difficult thinking (by me) through some elegant and clear prose (by Orzel), I was able to make "some" sense of a number of mathematical equations. But as Orzel points out they get complicated very quickly and his dog sets me straight:
"You know, I'm not getting a lot out of these equations."
"You're not supposed to understand them in detail. They're just there to illustrate the increasing complexity of the wave function in a more compact manner."
"So, basically, they're just supposed to look scary?"
"Pretty much."
"Oh, good job, then."
***
Orzel's book is mostly fun for me, a general reader who finds reading about science as much more interesting than almost all science fiction. And, when Orzel takes on what he calls "quantum quackery", I learn stuff that I can actually apply in discussions with my New Age friends. A particularly delightful expose involves analyzing Deepak Chopra's alternative medicine tome, Quantum Healing: Exploring the Frontiers of Mind/Body Medicine.
Orzel says that Chopra uses scientific sounding terms that are just word salad. The theory, as Orzel describes it, "the key is to measure yourself as healthy ... if you always measure yourself to be in fine health, quantum measurement will see to it that you never get sick." By this point in Orzel's text, I had a general sense of how that might work on the quantum level.
But, Orzel points out two major problems: Chopra and others are applying quantum ideas to systems that are far too large to show quantum effects: they are hard to tease out, the largest demonstration involved "only" a billion electrons and for the Zeno effect, only a single particle. More fundamental, quantum effects are fundamentally random -- no matter which wavefunction theory you subscribe to, "there is no way to know in advance how a given quantum measurement will turn out."
***
So long as you have a basic understanding of science and mathematics, and an interest in learning more about both, you will find this charming little book a very pleasant read.
Robert C. Ross 2009
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