Customer Reviews

The New Quantum Universe

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When you think about quantum physics, you may be inclined to think small. Many people naturally think that quantum effects happen only on a scale that, for most of us, isn't relevant. Hey and Walters, though, help us think again. Quantum effects are in the world all around us. Indeed, the universe would be very different if the rules of quantum mechanics were not what they are.

The stated purpose of this book is to "present the essential ideas of quantum physics as simply as possible and demonstrate how quantum physics affects us all." After reading the book, I have to agree that Hey and Walters have succeeded on both accounts. They've achieved their goal by laying the book out in a careful and logical manner, including filling it with lots of informative and nicely made illustrates (on average, more than one for each page).

The book begins by discussing the classical differences between waves and particles. Most of us have been introduced to quantum mechanics this way. First learning how quantum-mechanical objects act like "particles" some of the time, and "waves" part of the time. An important point made by the authors is that particles and waves are idealizations. In reality, quantum-mechanical objects cannot be described by any simple picture. Overcoming this conceptual obstacle is one of the first challenges for someone who is first becoming acquainted with QM. This is a point made by their careful discussion about the results and implications of double-slit experiments.

This book has equations. Not many, and not too difficult (mostly just algebra). It's really written at a High School or Freshman College level. The ideas introduced are mostly qualitative. I think this makes the book an excellent introduction. I certainly wish I'd had something like this before taking my first QM class. Having a qualitative and conceptual understanding before diving into the mathematics is a more productive approach.

Leaving the chapter on waves and uncertainty, the authors introduce the reader to the weird world of the uncertainty principle, which is the strange characteristic of quantum-mechanical objects that they don't actually have an exact position/velocity until it's measured. There's an excellent series of photographs that illustrate the uncertainty principle in a macroscopic object by using a sequence showing the probabilistic formation of a camera image over time. The book quotes often from Richard Feynman, and this chapter has an introductory description of Feynman's diagrams/quantum paths.

These discussions lead naturally to the Schrodinger equation and matter probability waves. Again, there's a little mathematics here (the differential equation for a particle moving in one dimension, in a potential). The authors illustrate the tie-in with the macroscopic world by illustrating a photograph of some dust mites, made by using the quantum-mechanical nature of electrons.

Chapter 4 is one of the best, in my opinion. It's about the structure of atoms. When this subject was first introduced to me over 35 years ago, the explanation faltered and it took several more years before I felt comfortable in my understanding. How I wish I'd had this book then. The explanation here is crisp and clear, and does a nice job of explaining the notation used for the different quantum-energy levels and how they relate to things like the angular momentum.

How atoms are made affects our everyday lives. The fact that bosons and fermions have different statistical distributions makes a huge difference in how macroscopic objects behave. In fact, we would probably not be alive to notice how different the universe would be without these specific characteristics at the quantum level. One of the best examples is found in the life sequence of stars, where the quantum-mechanical structure of stars is inherently related to their evolution. There's an excellent chapter in this book that describes how stars work, how they are born, what makes them shine, and how they die. In each step, the laws of quantum mechanics govern the evolutionary process.

Other topics covered include superconductivity, superfluidity, Feynman diagrams, Hawking radiation and black holes, the weak and strong forces, the Higgs vacuum, particle accelerators, lasers, monopoles, and quark confinement. The book also has several informative appendixes in the back, that supply additional mathematical information, including a simple solution to the Schrodinger equation.

This book is a little like Chandrasekhar's book "Why Things Are the Way They Are," with a touch of the flavor found in Sam Trieman's book "The Odd Quantum." Both of these other books are among my favorite introductory texts, and "The Quantum Universe" sits on my bookshelf next to them.

This is a well-written book that makes an excellent introduction for students, and enjoyable leisure reading by scientists and engineers who've already had a college class in quantum mechanics. The illustrations and photographs add to the expressive and clear writing style to make this a book I can heartily recommend

I'm a novice in this area and this is the first book I read on the subject. On my first reading, I was only able to fully comprehend about 80% of this introduction to a most facinating subject matter. I must say that I enjoyed reading about all of it including the 20% I couldn't fully comprehend. The authors claim that no advanced math is necessary, but knowledge of differential calculus would help with the Shrodinger Equation. Perhaps my weakness in math (which I will soon address) accounts for the 20% I don't really understand at this point.

This book has plenty of beautiful pictures and illustrations of the technologies and experiements discussed. Each chapter is well written and a joy to read. Chapters include the following:

1) Waves Versus Particles
2) Heisenberg and Uncertaintity
3) Shrodinger and Matter Waves
4) Atoms and Neuclei
5) Quantum Tunneling
6) Pauli and the Elements
7) Quantum Co-Operation and Superfluids
8) Quantum Jumps
9) Quantum Engineering

10) Death of a Star
11) Feynman Rules
12) Weak Photons and Strong Glue
13) Afterward - Quantum Physics and Science Fiction

For a beginner, such as myself, it's the kind of book that's challenging in a good way. I found myself constantly wanting to pick this book up to read as much as I could. I was always looking forward to what was comming next. I highly recommend it for anyone curious about the subject matter.

Of all of the technical and "non-technical" books on Quantum Physics I've read, this is the best all-in-one package. It has plenty of color plates, a rich history of the major players (I feel like I can HEAR Rutherford bellowing!), and a good balance of detail and description. The last chapter or two get a bit "geeky", though they act as a good reference on subatomic particles. Try Fred Alan Wolf's "Taking the Quantum Leap" for another good overview on the less technical side.

I got the book to check if there were interesting ways of pedagogically conveying the basic principles/ideas of quantum mechanics to graduate students in computer science in teaching quantum cryptography, computation and communication. I know quantum mechanics from the mathematics side.

Contrary to the overwhelmingly positive reviews (here and on the back of the book), I find this book is mediocre. The book excels at conveying the history and human side of quantum mechanics. But where it should matter most -- penetrating the technical issues and presenting them in a clear, succinct and correct fashion -- the book fails to deliver.

The reasoning, logic, and development behind key arguments is sloppy and misleading. For example, in both the discussions on EPR and quantum key distribution, one wonders if the authors have a sufficient understanding of the essential points of the set-up. Like parrots they are able to "describe" a version of what's going on, but do not seem to know which points need emphasizing and which do not. For someone not versed in quantum mechanics already, there is a distinct danger that they will understand the material incorrectly or not at all.

The book is also imbued with adjectives such as "only" and such at places where they are not warranted. Even for popular books, what distinguishes science from other subject matters is the attention to careful qualification when so needed. There are excellent popular science books where this is properly done. This book falls significantly short in this respect.

I was hoping to recommend this book (based on others' reviews) to my students, but have decided against. The interesting historical accounts are not worth the undisciplined reasoning underlying some of the key issues of quantum mechanics.

I bought this book just over one year ago and I refer to it occasionally for the thrill of understanding quantum physics from a laymans nonmathematical viewpoint. There is no better book on the history of this branch of physics -- multiple sidebar illustrations and photos add to the "people" dimension of physics. The reader rides this thrill too and gets insight into Nobel winners and the contraptions used in experimental physics. The "New" in the title refers to an updated version of the book, providing confidence to the reader that the quality of the first book warranted an update by the publisher. This book should supplement any math based quantum physics course simply because the latter don't profile scientists as real people or have enough historical context. For nonphysicists, this is a great read, worthy of a long lasting presence on the family bookshelf.

This book provides an overview of quantum physics. It starts with wave - particle duality and moves through the structure of the atom to the large scale structure of the Universe. Some of the material really makes the reader think hard so be prepared for some hard thinking! The book does warn the reader of this in places however. It also covers the applications of quantum physics to practical issues such as electron micropscopes and the transistor. The explanation of the periodic table of the elements was most illuminating. It also provides many little vignettes of key people such as Dirac, Heisenberg, Planck, etc. all of which are very interesting indeed. An excellent read!

This book is what I suppose one would call a coffee table book on Quantum Physics - as contradictory as this notion might sound - and how it is manifested in our day-to-day world. The late, great physicist Richard Feynmen plays a key role throughout the book. A plug from Feynman on the back cover encapsulates the substance and tone of the book fairly well:

"The Quantum Universe has a quotation from me in every chapter - but it's a damn good book anyway."

This light, whimsical tone goes well with the colour illustrations and multitude of photographs and diagrams which take up almost as much space as the text itself. It is a light, enjoyable read - more a sort of history of how this view of the universe came to be, than a rigorous investigation of it. And a very good thing too! As Feynman himself is famous for asseverating: "If you think you understand quantum mechanics, then you understand nothing of quantum mechanics!" Also, the mathematics that would be involved in a rigorous approach might make for light postprandial reading for a Caltech professor, but not for the layperson, regardless of how mathematically astute he/she may be.

So, the book hops, skips, jumps and cartwheels all about our current understanding of the universe and throws in many a pleasant anecdote. Finally, it leaves us to ponder what an odd world it is in which we dwell. My only complaint is that I simply wish there were more of it here. It's a rather slim volume and, whilst the illustrations - covering everything from electron microscopic pictures of dust mites, to hydrogen bomb explosions, to explicatory diagrams - are all quite eye-catching, it's all a tad disjointed.

But, then, one might argue - quite correctly - so is the quantum universe

A book filled with colored pictures and anecdotes involving the history of how quantum mechanics came to be. It's got Schroedigger's Cat and Many Universes right on the money with pithy quotes. But according to the blurb review above, "The book looks ahead to the nanotechnology revolution, describing quantum cryptography, quantum computing and quantum teleportation." Unfortunately with those bold unfolding contemporary fields, this book is not helpful.

It talks a little about the theory of quantum computing/crypto, and describes the very first experiment that showed the concept was possible. That's it. Nothing concrete regarding the emerging field of quantum computing. Ditto with quantum teleportation -- the first experiment dealing with a couple atoms which showed the concept was *possible*. Nothing further.

I've got books (though not as well illustrated) involving the history of quantum concepts. Quantum Theory: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) is what I would recommend if you are taking a class on the subject and have someone to answer questions for you, as the book by itself needs more math to really synch. If it's just you struggling with Quantum stuff, go with Quantum Theory -- doesn't have the newest stuff, but covers the background in an excellent manner.

The reason I picked this one up is the cool quantum stuff -- teleportation, crypto, computing, etc... and it really failed in that area for me. I felt like what was in there was window dressing. In terms of the subject overall it isn't a bad book, but isn't a great one either. If you prefer visual learning add a star. (If you are majorly visual and can't learn otherwise, buy this book.)

Not much more I can add to the title, actually. This is the ONE best single body of work for getting the basic introduction to quantum physics. It has the best explanations and it has, contrary to most of the other books on this subject, a lot of really helpful and interesting PICTURES. Might sound like a grade-school mentality, but I am certain that pictures make stuff easier to understand and more fun to read.

this is an excellent book, from the beginning to the end. it introduces all the modern physics concepts with very clean explanations and beautiful colorful pictures. i just love it.