Customer Reviews

Introducing Quantum Theory: A Graphic Guide to Science's Most Puzzling Discovery

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I went through the ordeal of getting a PhD in Physics many years ago; like most students of physics, I spent a lot of time diagonalizing Hamiltonians and finding eigenvalues, and not as much time as I would have liked studying the big picture. Thus, I got a lot out of this book. It helped me "connect the dots" of the islands of knowledge I have of the more general theory. I very much like the historical approach this book takes; the history of quantum mechanics really is a great story. It is always nice to hear that the guys that invented this stuff had trouble understanding it too.

I don't know how much of what I got out of this book is due to the ten years (!) I spent in college and grad school struggling with these concepts. I think a book like this should be required reading for all physics majors and graduate students. It is my hope that all interested readers would get as much enjoyment out of this book as I did, but it may be that there is just too much pre-supposed knowledge for this to be the case. All I can say is, this is about as clear as quantum mechanics gets.

The "Introducing" and "Beginners" series of texts in the last decade, has paved the way for readers to understand, at least on a fundamental level, highly complex schools of thought on a wide variety of subjects. From Analytical philosophy to Semiotics and Modernism to Post Modernism, readers curious about these subjects now have the opportunity to at least grasp basic tenets and general theories, enabling a solid foundation or spring board to venture into further study. Unfortunately for some, these texts appear infantile, at least in appearance, because they are illustrated in a comic book style, peppered with dubious humour, and so basic, that those `expert' in these subjects believe, at least on a surface level, that they do more harm than good. In other words, this is an effort at mere trivialization of a known serious subject. In my view, this is no more than intellectual snobbery, as these books have indeed paved the way for students interested in complex subjects to grasp their basic tenets and graduate to specific and more sophisticated study.

For those not acquainted with Quantum Theory, this text is a must for those interested in further study. It begins with a basic explanation of classic physics and gently brings the reader forward in the subjects fascinating evolution to present day.

We are introduced to the theories of Max Planck and his Pre-Atomic Model of Matter. Albert Einstein's theories are explained and expanded upon, along with the "Quantum Hero" of quantum theory, Neils Bohr. We are guided through the theories of these physics giants, Heisenberg, Schrödinger and Wolfgang Pauli with his Anomalous Zeeman Effect, Electron Spin and the Exclusion Principle. These titles seem daunting, but author, J.P. McVoy and illustrator, Oscar Zarate, present these theories in translucent terms and easy-on-the-eye visuals, ensuring the penny drops for all of us.

There are two notions in Quantum theory that has always puzzled me. These are the `wave-particle duality and so-called `no-locality' theory where, almost magically, at the sub atomic level, a single particle seems to be "aware" of what the others are doing. In other words, there is an action and corresponding reaction, transcending the speed of light. This text adequately explains these theories and have made them much more comprehensible than ever before.

As an introduction to Quantum Theory, this text is an absolute must for the curious reader or serious student.

I already had the Introducing Logic book, which I thought was excellent, so I thought I'd try this one too in the series. I certainly never thought I'd see a book on quantum physics that was as good as this one done in such a cartoon-like style. I really liked the Introducting Logic book, and I wasn't disappointed with this one either. It presents the many strange and even paradoxical phenomena of quantum physics in a clear and concise way, and the illustrations are a fun and amusing way of keeping the reader's attention while helping to further the reader's understanding of the concepts. Even presented in such an engaging way, however, they're still not easy. Quantum physics is just not very intuitive and you just have to get used to that fact, but this book will give you a basic understanding of the area without too much cognitive anguish and serious brain strain.

After reading this book, if you're interested in further material, the late, great Richard Feynman's book, QED, is still the best introduction for the non-specialist. It contains almost no math and Feynman uses mainly spatial concepts to illustrate and explain quantum electrodynamics in a less mathematical, more intuitive way with his usual wit, enthusiasm, and style. The concepts are explained clearly and concisely in a way that is accessible to the layman and non-physicist. After reading this book, if you're interested in a more mathematical treatment, I would recommend the R.I.G. Hughes book, The Structure and Interpretation of Quantum Theory. It uses a little calculus, but mostly sticks to presenting the mathematics of quantum linear algebra, vector spaces, tensors, and matrix theory as developed by David Hilbert specifically for use in quantum mechanics. It's much more technical than Feynman's book but will give you a much better understanding of quantum mechanics in terms of the mathematical theory.

The explanations in this book assume that the reader already knows the terminology, understands the significance of the various functions that are tossed out without explanation, and realizes how each theoretical step is related to the next. Accordingly, almost no time is spent explaining these things. Instead, you get some interesting trivia about the lives of each of the important players in the development of Quantum Theory, along with some very strange stylistic flourishes and frequent asides from the author.

There are examples on every page, but take for isntance the bottom of p. 42, where we learn that Planck's constant is 0.000000000000000000000000006626. The author then informs us that if this were zero, "we would never even be able to sit in front of a fire! In fact, the whole universe would be different. Be thankful for the little things in life!" End of page, and on to the next subject. Maybe that helped someone. But it didn't help me.

Nor was I helped by the series of pages wherein a young Albert Einstein assumes a very condescending an paternalistic tone to explain to his visibly-confused wife the intricacies of his new theory. I realize the author is only attempting to help us follow the explanation when he peppers each of Einstein's speech bubbles with "Very good, Mileva" and "But my dear Mileva", finally ending with "Good idea, Liebchen..." (after she suggested that yes, he should publish it) "...I'm so pleased when you help me with my work." Einstein then suggests a title and his wife helpfully responds with "Sounds good!" So the segment ends, and by this time I'm feeling fairly disturbed by the Einstein family's household politics, but I still don't understand any of the physics he was supposed to be explaining.

These are only two small examples, but they are representative of the style of writing in the book. As for the art, it is attractive and engaging and will be familiar to anyone who's read any of the other titles in the Introducing series. As other reviewers have said, it doesn't really help the text, but it also doesn't detract from it.

I give this book 2 out of 5 stars because the topic is interesting, the art is well done, and the book does contain a good deal of interesting information. However, the style of writing is grating, and many crucial connections are simply skipped over while a few facts and equations are constantly repeated (we are told several times that S = k log w, but we're never quite sure what this means). The effect, at least for me, was that I came away having learned a few interesting things about the physicists involved but almost nothing about the theory itself. Indeed, my strongest impression from reading this book is that in the future I should avoid reading anything written by the author, J.P. McEvoy.

In short, I would not recommend this book to anyone who doesn't already understand the mathematics underlying Quantum Theory.

As an engineer, I have a good understanding of classical physics. However, I never understood the quantum world until this book came my way. The way the ideas are presented (from a historical and evolutionary perspective) plus the illustrations make this complex topic understandable. I found a pleasure to read the book several times just to refresh the new concepts. After reading this book I feel I understand concepts that I could not grasp before. I have 3 other books about the subject but none of them come close to this one. Quite a gem of a book!

This was certainly a fun book to read. The illustation and simple language made the book interesting, if not completely understandable. HOWEVER, if you're looking for a comprehensive explaination of one of the most perplexing scientific schools of thought, this is not your book. It only whet my whistle before I read "Alice in Quantumland" and "In Search of Schrodinger's Cat."

This book sets out to provide a comprehensible, informal introduction to quantum theory. It does just that.

The format could almost be described as a "science comic book."

It's a readable and understandable survey of the experiments which led the big names of the time (Bohr, Einstein, Dirac, Pauli, Heisenberg and some others) to develop the theory.

The book follows the story up to the challenge of non-locality. (What a cliff-hanger that is!)

If you're technically oriented and want to begin to understand the subject - to get past the conceptual difficulties - you'll find this book really useful.

I can say off the bat that I had trouble with this book. Although I learned about Schrodinger, Bohr, Heisenberg, Einstein, Newton, Plank, Dirac, Born as well as their theories, I found it to be a demanding subject for anyone. Although the book is an introduction, I would gather the book presumes you have some previous knowledge of (probably findamental) algebra, chemistry, thermodynamics and a solid foundation of QED. Seriously, its a good book and well written, and made hard conecpts a little bit easier to understand. Math has never been my subject so you may have better luck with it.

"Understanding Quantum Theory" was the first text that we turned to in a course I took last semester, which studied the philosophical implications of quantum theories... the logic, I imagine, was that complex and counter-intuitive concepts would be more palatable in faux-comic-book form...

I'm afraid this didn't turn out to be the case, While the illustrations are fantastic -- reminiscent of ink-heavy works such as Art Spiegelman's incredible "Maus" -- the concepts are no easier to grasp. The illustrations could have been used to better ends if the authors had a better idea of what makes these concepts so hard for beginners -- diagrams, when included, might have been more artistic than flat scientific sketches, but they were just as hard to interpret. The illustrations here are used, it seems, to trick the reader into thinking the concepts are simple and straightforward. The result, however, is that you (or I, at least) end up scratching your head and reading dialogue-bubbles which don't make sense in the least until the fifth or sixth reading... and even then, are often impossible to understand without a live discussion and Q & A.

Which is not to say that this text is a failure -- put aside what it was TRYING to do, and it is still a solid outline of basic quantum theory, and a good introduction to the major figures and developments in the field. The art might not make the material more accessible, but it doesn't hurt it either -- helpful or no, the illustrations make the lessons a more entertaining challenge than straight text would ever be.

BOTTOM LINE -- it's a good outline of basic quantum theories, developments, and figures. The art makes it pleasant to look at, but no less confusing to the beginner. If you're curious about the ideas involved in a radical reinterpretation of time, space, and matter as we interact with them, this is not a bad place to start.

Given that this is a "comic book" on quantum theory, I expected a fairly superficial treatment which I'd breeze through quickly.

I was instead rather surprised and very pleased to find that this book goes into substantial depth. McEvoy presents most of the key concepts of quantum theory in their historical context, and he goes beyond typical popularized treaments by including quite a few equations (sometimes with derivations), along with topics like statistical mechanics, the Zeeman effect, links to chemistry, Dirac's quantum algebra, Fourier series, and other important technical details. He even touches on philosophical interpretations and implications of quantum theory, though that's not a main feature of the book.

To be clear, McEvoy doesn't provide anything resembling a comprehensive treatment of quantum theory. No one can do that in just 173 pages, with much of the space taken by cartoons. But he still packs in a lot of content by writing clearly and concisely, and organizing the book well.

In short, I highly recommend this book as an effective and enjoyable resource to learn or review the basic concepts and history of quantum theory. The only caveat is that readers should preferably come to the book with at least a decent background in general physics. In other words, the ideal target audience for the book is perhaps a notch beyond the general reader and instead consists of people with a technical background, such as scientists, engineers, and mathematicians.