Customer Reviews

Quantum Mechanics and Experience

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

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.

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.

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).

This book is a very good introduction to Quantum Mechanics. I thought that the first three chapters on "Superposition", "The Mathematical Foundation and " Nonlocality" were particularly interesting and well written and alone worth reading. Later chapters are of a lesser quality and the writer seems tired towards the end of the book. Also be warned this book needs effort, review will be required, and if you don't have some talent for mathematics its going to be hard going. Overall I think that the knowledge to be gained will be proportional to the work put in by the reader and I believe that this book is well worth the required effort.

Albert's book is an excellent introduction for the lay reader. He begins by taking the reader through the basic mathematics needed, and goes on to introduce the measurement problem. He then goes on to examine the various pros and cons of proposed solutions to the problem, in a way that is wonderfully lucid. This book is a valuable resource for anyone looking to learn where things stand with regards to the measurement problem, regardless of ones previous knowledge of topic.

This book will not please everyone (this much should be clear from the reviews). Those with a weak math background will find Albert's presentation of linear algebra hard to follow, and those seeking a detailed, technical treatment will likewise be frustrated. Rather, this book seeks a middle ground. The potential reader should bear this in mind, and the potential reviewer should not blame the book for being what it is. Having said this, the book is written in a breezy style that, I suspect, closely matches the way Albert speaks; this tone is not for everyone. Albert's presentation of superposition and the measurement problem is the clearest I have seen, and this is a major attraction of the book. His solution to the measurement problem, the Many-Minds theory, is strange, but the phenomena for which it seeks to account are strange. He discusses, and finds fault with, several other interpretations in a manner that may lead the reader to delve more deeply into these rival accounts. This is good, for Albert has not written -- nor has he intended to write -- an encyclopedic tome covering the entire history of philosophical musings on this subject. This should not be the only book you read on this topic, but it is a valuable text for your collection, if for no other reason than the clear and clever way Albert details the problem of quantum mechanical collapse.

I purchased Albert's book in anticipation of a philosophy course that he was teaching. Fortunately, I didn't enroll in the course. While Albert's intent to provide the lay person with a rigorous understanding of the conflicting interpretations of quantum physics is commendable, he is not very effective at accomplishing his goal.

To begin, he misleads the reader in stating that the only prerequisite for the book is high school mathematics. While Albert cleverly uses thought experiments with which the reader can identify when describing the experimental results of quantum mechanics (e.g., uses incompatibles of color and hardness to describe the results of the Stern-Gerlach experiment), Albert fails in effectively describing the fundamental linear algebra that he uses in his text.

Secondly, his writing style, while initially appealing in its informality, obstructs his message. The man is parentheses happy -- he uses them in nearly every sentence to convey key ideas. He also loves to leave key explanatory ideas for footnotes that can run on for pages. Furthermore, the progression of the text frequently obfuscates the logical relationship between ideas that he describes. After having read a section, I would often wonder which ideas were the premises of his argument and which were the conclusions. While we may excuse a physicist of this offense, I can't excuse Albert, a professor of philisophy.

However, I do not think that Albert should solely bear the responsibility for these offenses. Where was his editor? I know that she, as the editor of R.I.G. Hughes' "The Structure and Interpretion of QM", is capable of better work (I recommend this text to anyone disappointed by Albert's book who still has the energy to pursue a less technical account of QM). She should have informed Albert that the cutesy informal style was a big failure. She also should have tested the accuracy of Albert's claim about book's mathematical prerequisites.

It was a noble but failed attempt. With a great deal of editting/rewriting, and a better account of the QM formalism, the book could be a success.

This really is a wonderful book, directed at the interpretation of quantum mechanics.

Albert's elucidation of the mathematical formalism of quantum mechanics is not only the essence of simplicity, but also accurate. A most unusual combination!

Albert then examines the consequences of that formalism for non-locality, the EPR experiment, Bell's inequality, the problem of measurement and the collapse of the wave function in a laid-back but precise presentation. Some other reviews have criticized the prose, but I found the writing to be friendly, modest and (and here's the punchline) understandable.

This is an elegant piece of work.

This book explores quantum theory with a slightly mathematical approach. Albert presents the information largley with respect to linear algebra and how it directly represents paradigms in quantum theory, which definatley help the average reader understand abstract concepts such as non-locality and superposition. In doing so he gives a very elementary view of linear algebra, which should make even the mathematically inclined reader to reconsider how he/she views things like vectors, spaces and probability. At times he might delve a little to deeply into the basics, but it doesn't detract from the overall idea presented in the book.

If you want a book that explains quantum mathematics without condescending to the reader and are not afraid of a little math, this is the book for you. Virtually all books on QM unfortunately go to one extreme or the other -- either avoiding any mathematical formulas altogether, so that you can't possibly understand the theory and simply have to take what the author says on faith, or overdoing the math and becoming far too technical. Albert, a philosopher, is brilliant at selecting just the minimal amount of math that you need to know to understand what's going on; he simplifies where possible but does not oversimplify. He also explains things very clearly in words. Some may be put off by the colloquialisms of his language (he loves to say things like "cook up" and "cool," and perhaps he overuses italics for emphasis. But these are extremely minor flaws. It is simply mystifying why there are so many negative reviews of this excellent work. To be sure, it is not an easy read and demands quite a bit of the reader. But if you want to have a grasp of the real nature of QM, you have to make the effort, and Albert is as good a guide as you will find.