Customer Reviews

Taking the Quantum Leap: The New Physics for Nonscientists

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

This is one of the best books for finding out about quantum physics and what impact it has on our lives, from the vantage point of the parallel universes (or many worlds model) perspective. Wolf's writing is humorous and descriptive, and the book is chock full of wonderful cartoons, photographs, charts, and quotations. Whether you've studied physics before or are a complete novice, you'll find lots of good information here! As active observers, we are responsible for selecting which of the infinite possible realities we will experience. As Wolf puts it, "To be or not to be is not the question; it is the answer".

"Taking the Quantum Leap" is an excellent introduction to the bizzare and amazing world of quantum physics. Wolfe takes the reader on a journey from the early Greeks to the modern day as man searched for the answers to the universe's riddles. He shows systematically how physicists first thought they had solved everything with Newtonian mechanics and were then thrown on their heads with the discovery of the quanta. Wolfe proceeds to describe how the science world struggled with these new ideas and attempted to bring meaning to a universe that had suddenly become unpredictable.

Wolfe's analysis delves into the inner workings of the human mind and shows how each of us affects the "reality" we experience. Suddenly the human mind becomes the shaper of the universe and each of us is "god". This is both reassuring and disturbing at once, but Wolfe guides the reader through it, showing that we and we alone control our destiny.

The book only gets four stars because at some points, Wolfe moves beyond the realm of science and introduces a strong religious trend into the story. While he weaves it in well, it still seems out of place, and would have been stronger had he not taken this route. However, the book is still very strong and informative. Definitely a good starting place for a novice of quantum theory.

Excellent book on Quantum Physics, which is a complex field to understand, especially because of the mechanistic frame of reference we all exist in and are limited by. Entertaining and playful in the way ideas and concepts are presented. Excellent presentation of the history of ideas in Physics. I disagree with one of the previous reviewers, who rated the book low, based on his (her?) claim that Wolf simply uses the text as a means of propagating his own ideosyncratic personal ideas. I urge the reviewer to read other literature on Quantum Physics, and not to give up on trying to understand this complex field. It's not Wolf's descriptions that are fantastic, but the field of Quantum physics that we find hard to grasp, coming, as most of us do, from a rigidly narrow framework of perception of time and space, which we take for granted.

Just when you find out the 'weirdness' of quantum mechanics (QM), things start to get entangled and in the realm of human consciousness, philosophy and what not. I had started reading QM with Nick Herbert's book 'Quantum Reality' and in the middle of the book I realized that I need a little subtler treatment of the subject matter and hence ending up reading this book, 'Taking the Quantum Leap'. I have to the say that Fread has done an outstanding job at explaining the wave-particle duality with reference to all the famous experiments and their interpretations. He then moves on to the famous Bohr vs. Einstien debate EPR. Much of the book is devoted to exploring the point of views of these two schools of thought.. complementarists vs. the continuists. There are chapters on the theory of Parallel Universes etc.

My dismay begings, and thats why I gave the book 3 stars rather than a 4! is when towards the end of the book, the whole QM is tunred into a hodge podge of philosophies of human consciousness, fate and free will. To my surprise it seems that the author has made up his mind that whatever the state of QM is today, IS indeed the complete description of the physical world. At least I got that impression. In my opinion, this is only 2001 and who knows what discoveries are waiting to be happen in next several hundred years regarding our current understanding of the physical world.

As Einstien once said something to this effect to one of his friends, 'do you really think the moon is there because someone is there to see it!' and yet QM has proven to be successful in proving thores of physical phenomena.

Yet indeed I'm still bothered by QM as I was before reading this book but know a lot more about the various schools of thoughts. Could the Schrodinger's cat be alive and dead at the same time in parallel universes?!?

All in all, an excellent reading for starters in QM.

The physicist Fred Alan Wolf writes a lucid book of the weird & wonderful world of quantum mechanics for we non-scientist types. The field is fascinating.....and bizarre.

Wolf traces the origins of QM from the late 19th century & also discusses how it disproves some of classical physics' most treasured suppositions. This is a great work for those intrigued by science & the "big" developments in physics of the 20th century.

So, for those who possess inquisitive minds, this is a splendid work. The biologist JBS Haldane once said "Reality is not only stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we can imagine." After reading this book, I think that one would be inclined to agree.

"In the literal sense, the quantum leap is the tiny but explosive jump that a particle of matter undergoes in moving from one place to another." "In the figurative sense, taking the quantum leap means taking a risk." "The first paradox was that things moved without following a law of mechanical motion."

This is the world of weird. From the early scientific thoughts on the paradoxes of motion and matter, (which eventually led to materialism) to, "what is reality", the wave particle theory, and parallel universes.

It is written in laymen's terms,.............. well sort of. Wolf was formally a professor of physics at San Diego State University. With the authors wit, philosophy, and spirituality, he helps makes it a fun read. He gives us plenty of analogies to help in his explanations of the complex. He also brings forth loads of information without being exhaustive.

The most fascination part of the book, is why free will exists. This is true, because of how the brains neurons are set up to fire. If this were not so, we would be as if robots. So we are then only left to free will.

God the initial cause, nothing is left to chance. Does this allow for "natural selection"? We will never discover God's secret. "We cannot help but disturb the universe when we observe it." "We are just victims of the universe."

Are we beginning a new age of awareness of quantum consciousness as did the individuals of the past?

No this is not Quantum Physics, this is just another book picking little parts of Quantum Physics, removing all the math, removing a lot of the logic, and adding poetic license. Look, if you're interested in Quantum Physics, and REAL science, there are plenty of other books that are much better at explaining real Quantum Physics on a level most people understand. Brian Greene has a couple very good books that do just that, No formuli either. You may have to look up an occasional word, but if your not willing to do that, I don't understand how you're going to learn anything ever anyways. This book is much more towards philosophy than physics. I can agree with the first paragraph, and from there on is philosophy. And physicists don't have 'faith' particles exist, they know they do from scientific observation. Billions aren't invested in Particle Accelerators so scientists can get faith, that would be clearly pointless. I'm working to my Doctorate in Physics, and when they find out I'm primarily interested in Quantum Physics I am too commonly asked what I think about beliefs that are in books like this. If you read this, you're wasting your time. The only thing it is good for, is for the author who's making money off of whoever is foolish enough to buy it, so please, find a book with real science. A key way you can tell is real books will often try to explain concepts with examples, the other kind of books explain things with imagery and romanticism.

Reading this book is in fact the equivalent of taking a quantum leap, an explosive jump with uncertain destiny, off into an unchartered territory with little or no guidance. Fred Alan Wolf carries us through a scientific journey of how the phenomenon of motion has been viewed, from Zeno to the most recent scientific discoveries. It is a journey of risks and paradoxes. The apex in this adventure is the Principle of Indeterminism or Uncertainty, a law that has given a new meaning to world order and has disrupted the foundations of mechanical motion, determinism, continuity, and objectivity. What is matter? Particles or waves? It depends on what one chooses to observe! There is no reality until that reality is perceived. But quantum mechanics affirms there is an order in the universe, and it may be the order of our minds.

If duality was a term used by theologians and philosophers, quantum mechanics brought about the concept of duality in nature. Our actions in the world are always a compromise between two such opposites, the more we determine one side of reality, the less the other side is shown to us. When it comes to the so-long discussed theme of free will versus determinism, the philosophy of quantum mechanics affirms both views are wrong and right at the same time.

Moving away from traditional physics, dissatisfied with mechanical notions of the universe, the author passionately moves into the world of deep philosophical questions, a world which arises from the limitations of quantum theory. Albeit using a logical reasoning, he speculates on some of his concepts, his wild imagination carries him into a world in which God is placed in the center of the universe, "preparing quantum feasts of knowledge, all kinds of magical and tasteful future goodies in the form of magnificent qwiffs!" Fred A. Wolf dares to exceed the speed of light!

I read "The Quantum Leap" over 10 years ago and it introduced me to the "New Physics," and the quantum view of the universe. I rediscovered "The Quantum Leap," after coming accross "The Dreaming Universe," which has just arrived on the bookstore shelves. Wolf continues to introduce forward leaning, interesting and vital developments in spirituality science to the general public. I highly recommend "The Quantum Leap" as a general introduction to quantum physics and spirituality.

A very informative book dealing with the past and present theorys of how the universe works. I found this book is written in easy to understand language.