Quantum Mechanics and Experience [Paperback]

David Z Albert (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0674741137 | ISBN-13: 978-0674741133 | Publication Date: March 15, 1994

The more science tells us about the world, the stranger it looks. Ever since physics first penetrated the atom, early in this century, what it found there has stood as a radical and unanswered challenge to many of our most cherished conceptions of nature. It has literally been called into question since then whether or not there are always objective matters of fact about the whereabouts of subatomic particles, or about the locations of tables and chairs, or even about the very contents of our thoughts. A new kind of uncertainty has become a principle of science.

This book is an original and provocative investigation of that challenge, as well as a novel attempt at writing about science in a style that is simultaneously elementary and deep. It is a lucid and self-contained introduction to the foundations of quantum mechanics, accessible to anyone with a high school mathematics education, and at the same time a rigorous discussion of the most important recent advances in our understanding of that subject, some of which are due to the author himself.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Over the past two decades, philosophers of physics have worked long and hard...to extract the philosophical pith from the theoretical physics. There are now a number of excellent books which explain the issues at a reasonably advanced level to non-physicists. Albert's is among the best of the bunch.
--David Papineau (Times Literary Supplement )

A lively, lucid, elementary, yet deeply challenging account. The layperson and seasoned philosopher and scientist alike could do no better in their attempts to get out of the quantum muddle than to read this book.
--Frank Arntzenius, University of Southern California

This is a wholly original, engaging, and provocative work on the conceptual foundations of quantum mechanics, written in David Albert's inimitable style.
--Jeffrey Bub, University of Maryland

Review

A lively, lucid, elementary, yet deeply challenging account. The layperson and seasoned philosopher and scientist alike could do no better in their attempts to get out of the quantum muddle than to read this book. (Frank Arntzenius, University of Southern California ) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 222 pages
• Publisher: Harvard University Press (March 15, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0674741137
• ISBN-13: 978-0674741133
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #212,471 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely worth the effort, January 22, 2004

By 

lo3 (Leuven, Belgium) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Quantum Mechanics and Experience (Paperback)

This book was a revelation to me. It covers exactly the middle-ground I was looking for, between no-math lay books and dense PhD-level math texts.

It's a book for someone looking to take the next step, once you've understood enough of basic QM on the lay level to start asking deeper philosophical questions. The author's approach is unique in asking these philosophical questions about this utterly strange QM world, but yet doing it in a way that is formal enough to be credible, as opposed to many fuzzy lay texts that leave you in a rather more than less confused state.

Mind you, despite the first innocent-looking impression, it is not an easy read. But then the really interesting books seldom are. I read it once, then I studied it again, taking notes. But at that point I got rewarded by insights unavailable elsewhere.

As to the tone of the author, it is indeed unusual, but I personally like it. The parentheses, repetitions and footnotes other reviewers complained about actually helped me a lot, by providing multiple angles on difficult concepts constantly. I'd welcome more books written in this style. Also the math-level in the book is certainly within reach of most people, if you are willing to learn while reading the book. I have no significant math background myself and yet could understand almost everything.

35 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Almost what I wanted, but not quite, September 27, 2003

By 

Bruce R. Gilson (Wheaton, MD United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Quantum Mechanics and Experience (Paperback)

This book is unusual in that the author's interpretation of quantum mechanics is at variance from the one that is popular today. And since it seems to be close to my own preference in this regard, I wanted to give the book a high rating. But it misses for two reasons.

The mathematics is done using a notation that is sometimes a bit difficult to follow. (And I say this as a holder of a Ph. D. in theoretical chemistry, i. e., one thoroughly familiar with the kind of mathematics that is presented in the book!) And the writing is hard to follow in some places (especially because he'll make lists of points as A, B, C, D and then refer to them by those letters, making the reader go back to find out what he's talking about!)

Another reviewer stated that what this book really needs is some editing by someone else. With that judgment I concur. The _material_ in the book is first-rate. The _presentation_ could use some improvement.

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Professor David Albert does not promote the occult, November 15, 2005

By 

Cascio Marianna "cascio" (Italy) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Quantum Mechanics and Experience (Paperback)

A previous reviewer expressed her dismay that Professor Albert has appeared in a "cult promotional video" called "What the Bleep Do We Know". I recommend that those concerned or interested by this claim do a search in the Wikipedia for the title of the film, and then search within that page for the phrase "David Albert". Within the paragraph containing his name is a link to an article in the on-line edition of Popular Science Magazine which explains that Prof. Albert does *NOT* and did *NOT* support the views of the filmmakers: the statements he made in his interview for the film were edited and cut such that he appears to support their ideas, when he actually considers them to be nonsense.

I have read this wonderful book by Prof. Albert. I give it four stars instead of five because of the writing style: while said style is occasionally refreshing, it can sometimes be a hindrance to the reader's understanding of the ideas presented by the good professor.

Prof. Albert uses a combination of intuitive and interesting thought experiments, coupled with a conceptual abstraction from the QM math, to engage the reader in a profound exploration of the *consequences* of the quantum reality that seems to encompass the microscopic world (and indeed the universe as a whole).