Teleportation: The Impossible Leap [Hardcover]

David Darling (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0471470953 | ISBN-13: 978-0471470953 | Publication Date: May 18, 2005 | Edition: 1

An authoritative, entertaining examination of the ultimate thrill ride
Until recently the stuff of sci-fi fiction and Star Trek reruns, teleportation has become a reality-for subatomic particles at least. In this eye-opening book, science author David Darling follows the remarkable evolution of teleportation, visiting the key labs that have cradled this cutting-edge science and relating the all-too-human stories behind its birth. He ties in the fast emerging fields of cryptography and quantum computing, tackles some thorny philosophical questions (for instance, can a soul be teleported?), and asks when and how humans may be able to "beam up."

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A science fiction staple and a fantasy of those with long commutes, teleportation—sending something from here to there in the blink of an eye—has long seemed likely to remain a fictional construct. But as Darling explains in this marvelous work, teleportation in one form or another has been happening in laboratories for a few years and is on its way to becoming a routine part of life—at least for information. Darling (Equations of Eternity) uses lively, companionable prose to explain such heady subjects as quantum mechanics, the property of entanglement (which Einstein referred to as "spooky action at a distance") and information theory. While these concepts appear to fly in the face of reason, the author is able to make sense of them and put them in the context of other new ideas that at first may be impossible to accept. After tracing the history of developments that became key to teleportation, the text delves into its use for secret communications, massive parallel data processing and investigating quantum mechanics; it also examines the moral, spiritual and philosophical questions that will arise if "beaming" people up ever becomes possible. Suitable for a pop-science audience, especially those looking for a way into quantum mechanics and wave-particle duality, this singular work deserves a wide audience. Agent, Patricia van der Leun. (May)

From Booklist

Teleportation is cool. Captain Kirk stands on the pad, and Scotty beams him up, down, and all around. Cooler is that teleportation may become practical soon. Computer scientists abetted by physicists are now exploiting quantum phenomena to teleport photons, mostly, and some atoms, though not all that far. As for anything big enough to see, well . . . Darling predicts that inanimate objects, at least, will be teleported eventually, and he broaches human teleportation and the philosophical, religious, and social questions it may raise fore and aft of the enlightening main text here, which begins with light. Darling chronicles the varying historical fortunes and the eventual merger of particle and wave theories of light before turning to the quantum phenomenon of entanglement and information theorists' appropriation of quantum mechanics because information comes in particles (bits), too. Cryptographers then wondered whether in entanglement lay the means to create absolutely secure messages. Darling's descriptions of recent experiments are readable, if not always transparent, and the -science--historical text that surrounds them is both. Terrific science writing. Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (May 18, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471470953
• ISBN-13: 978-0471470953
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,512,306 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating But Frustrating, May 9, 2006

By 

Wakka - See all my reviews

This review is from: Teleportation: The Impossible Leap (Hardcover)

This book is a peculiar mix of interesting science blended with frustratingly bad writing and poor editing. It slogs through (granted some slogging is appreciated) the entire history of physics, somewhat breathlessly leading you toward teleportation and quantum computing ... which should have been the START of the book, not the END. And the whole thing is book-ended by some heavy handed and sophmorically written sci-fi vignettes about some future dork trying to make up his mind about which planet would be suitable for tonight's dinner date ...

I counted several typos throughout the book, like "teleportee" instead of "teleported" or "heath death" instead of "heat death". Such small nits like this slipped through as tell-tale signs that this book was both written and edited in haste. It reads like nothing more than someone's assembled notes about physics history: "Person A did this experiment, which showed A. Then Person B did another experiment which showed B. They published their results in Journal B. Then guess what. Person C did an experiment and found C. Then person D discoved D. Then ... blah blah blah" ... until 200 pages of this mind-numbing chronology later, you finally get to the letter Z, if you haven't thrown the book across the room by then.

Even worse, the author goes through tortuous verbal gymnastics in an attempt to explain arcane photon experiments. Seriously, a few simple diagrams would've done wonders, but instead the reader is forced to imagine lasers and tubes and layered mirrors and all kinds of abstract junk based on the author's cryptic descriptions. Why not a nice historic diagram of Newton's apparatus, or a scematic of how the EPR paradox plays out? This lack of even a single basic diagram is the book's biggest flaw.

The comment on the book's jacket that this writer "brings characters to life" is laughable. That is the one thing this book DOES NOT DO. Explain photons and quantum entanglement for the lay-person, Hmmm, OK. It does that. List endless experiments published in journals X, Y, Z .. OK, it does that too. But it is devoid of personality, unless you find personality in a bland chronology of experiments. Which physicists may, in fact. Who knows how they think?

This is a book that is worth reading, but be prepared to skim when it is obvious that the writer is neither writing (just "listing") and the editor has stopped editing and fallen asleep (teleportee!). At the very least, drink some coffee first. If this guy is "one of the best science writers" around, as others claim, then the state of scientific writing must be in a shambles.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Very disappointed In this one, January 9, 2007

By 

game_a_lot "game_a_lot" (ukraine) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Teleportation: The Impossible Leap (Hardcover)

When I had originally ordered this, I was really intrigued about an entire book devoted to the topic of teleportation. I had read everything on the internet about the subject and felt I wanted to go deeper in to the complexities and possibilities of current and future research. And based on the title "Teleportation, the Impossible leap" that's what I expected this book to deliver. But sadly, that was not the case. The first 130 pages are devoted to what I would kindly refer to as "fill". Darling basically just regurgitates the history of physics and at such a simplistic level that any first year physics student would find it pedantic. I realize Darling, or his supporters, would say that such information is necessary because the book has to appeal to a mass market and the least knowledgeable reader. This would be fine if the book had plans to go deeply in to the subject of teleporation in later chapters. But at only 251 pages, over half of the book is gone before the subject of teleporation is even touched upon. Darling has a nice little physics chronology in the back that basically just restates everything in the first half of the book. In my opinion, he should have just included this at the start of the book and doubled the section that dealt with the real subject, teleportation.
I have to admit that Darling in an excellent writer and makes complex subjects easy for the reader to understand. But after paying $19 for this book, I would have expected it to be longer and more in depth.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Amazing Book!, April 20, 2009

By 

kclam (Hong Kong, China) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Teleportation: The Impossible Leap (Hardcover)

This book offers a good review of the evolution of teleportation. However, the account of its enabling technologies of quantum computing and cryptography are dry and boring. Teleportation is demystified as it depends on quantum entanglement. Only quantum teleportation has been a reality while human teleportation remains a fantasy to date. The exploration of classical teleportation for human, their issues and concerns are interesting.