Customer Reviews

This Strange Quantum World & You

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

 

 

Ms.Topp's short book should be on the book list of every 5th grade science teacher, 10 year old kid in love with science and mystery and adult who wishes to understand quantum physics or just the science behind the plot of Michael Crichton book "Timeline". She explains in incredible clear, developmental appropriate language how the world can seem solid yet is really light and energy,and how this is relevant in the world of kids and leading-edge physicist alike. Just 53 pages later adult and child alike will have a "A HA" explanation of why things can happen simultaneously and be related. Elegantly simple yet profoundly rewarding to read.

First, the cover should be a tip-off: Two (seemingly) Native Americans hailing a spider web with a star in the middle.

The first few chapters on background material are passable (the chapter on light is good as well as the one on particles/waves) and the comparison of cars crashing into each other should be fairly accessible to students. But then the wackiness begins and New Age religion starts to push actual science to the side.

It starts almost innocuously with a mention of sending out vibes and sensing good energy and quickly goes downhill from there. By the time the book is done, it claims that "messages can travel faster than the speed of light because they somehow travel in thoughts" (?), that the universe seems to be conscious, and that we must be careful about what we create with our thoughts.

The wackiness reaches the apex (or should that be nadir) when the book discusses Bose-Einstein condensates. According to the book, scientist believe that the "universe is the most powerful Bose-Einstein condensate" (no, they don't), and "some scientists believe that we are conscious because our minds act like Bose-Einstein condensates" (I suppose that's true in the same sense that "some scientists" believe that unicorns and leprechauns actually exist). The biggest howler comes from an experiment where one strokes a nail with a magnet. To quote the book: "You have made a (not very strong) Bose-Einstein condensate." Wow. This falls under the category of "not even wrong."

As for the experiments, they involve (among other household items) jump ropes, a button on a string, paper cup and string phones, and the aforementioned magnet and nail. They range from kind-of-helpful, to the irrelevant, to the "let's make a Bose-Einstein condensate!"

It might make a decent pamphlet if you tore out all of the pages after 21, but the misinformation and New Age interpretation that follows make this book, on the whole, unacceptable as a book on science.

As an adult reading this book, easy enough for children to understand, I absolutely loved it! The basic concepts of quantum physics is explained in fun and easy-to-follow formats with examples and experiments for you to try. This book has definitely perked my interest in physics and I intend to find similar books to learn more. I borrowed this book from my local library, but now intend to buy it so that my children can read it and we can discuss the experiments suggested in the book. I think this book will inspire children and adults to learn more about the world we live in. I read this book in an afternoon. It is easy, fun, and interesting reading, and only 53 pages of larger print writing with many diagrams.

Curious minds want to know! This very complex subject is made ridiculously easy to grasp by the author who seems to be writing for children, albeit smart children. Fascinating concepts are built upon each other in a very readable, understandable way. There are simple illustations that complement many concepts as well. As I read this book I would get so excited I would stop and share what I had just read with my husband. Mind boggling yet illuminating. I actually think I can wrap my brain around the Theory of Everything now by understanding bosons and Colossians 1:17!

As an elementary school teacher previewing science books for my students, I can appreciate how well this book speaks to kids. Patricia Topp has done a wonderful job breaking down quantum physics concepts into kid friendly language and diagrams. This book helped me clarify my own basic background knowledge in physics. The simple experiments that she suggests in every chapter are completely age appropriate and illustrate complicated science concepts in an accessible way. I'm excited to have this on the classroom science shelf this year!

This book really helped my sixth grader gain a better understanding of Quantum Physics. After reading the book and trying some of the experiments she was really able to present her research information well.