Customer Reviews

Teleportation: The Impossible Leap

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

 

 

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.

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.

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.

First of all, bravo! The insight that organic teleportation could not take place before quantum (sp?) computing is something that breezed through my mind, but I thought I did not understand enough for it to be true. And then I read it in this wonderful book! Helped my self-esteem and also showed me that Darling is not only brilliant, but open-minded. There is science of course: that which has been established as fact, science fiction: that which is fantasy and need not be at all rooted in science, and a third realm: the realm of the scientific imagination which I like to call "science faction." And Darling embraces the importance of imagination and inspiration as necessary to any scientific progress of any significance. If one cannot dream it, or will not dream it, it will NEVER happen. But if one dares to dream, much more is possible than that which has already been established as fact. A lot of people think space initiatives are unimportant to us humans, but they've got it wrong: we must, MUST see our species as one people searching for friendship both on terra firma and well, wherever else. Who does not look at the stars at night without dreaming of what (or who) may be in that vast sea of existence. And out of such imaginings come ideas that have led young scientists to actually try to do "the impossible": to teleport information, then things, and then perhaps people. When you think of the death rate on today's roadways, how could anyone complain about possible dangers? We must dare to dream to make life better.

David Darling is one of the best science writers around, and in this book he tackles one of the most mysterious of the latest breakthroughs in quantum physics, teleportation. Entanglement, the spooky action at a distance connection between particles, allows teleportation to occur. Learn all about this in this well written account by David Darling, a skilled science writer whose penetrating prose has kept me up thinking at night many times. Also try to get a copy of his excellent work "Equations of Eternity".

This book presents current information regarding scientific leaps regarding teleportation, sorry for the pun, in a way that is very accessible and interesting. Now all we need are quantum computers! "Teleportation depends on entanglement. If nature has already been kind enough to entangle large portions of itself, then it seems that a lot of the work needed to teleport macroscopic objects has already been done." (p. 221)