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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A book of fun fundamentals, June 3, 2006
This is a good starting point for the individual interested in understanding quantum and relativity physics. The volume is divided between issues of the very small and of the very large, essentially those that are affected by quantum factors and the nuclear force and those that are subject to relativity and gravity.
Like John Burke's series "Connections," the author chooses select oddities from among the outcomes of these theories to show just how strange reality is at the level of the very small or very large, following up their meaning to everyday experience. In the former he briefly describes the uncertainty principle, the multiple universes theory, the multiple dimensions theory, the fabric of the "vacuum" of space, and the "spooky action at a distance" exhibited by particles. In the latter he discusses space-time, gravity, the speed of light, and some of the theories regarding the beginning of the universe.
Generally speaking I've gotten tired of yet another colorful way of presenting Einstein's theory of relativity, but Chown has show considerable restraint in presenting the material. His similes are well chosen and contribute the desired clarification of concepts without being an obvious attempt to be "different" from everyone else's. His primary stress is on the meaning of the theories to what the individual experiences as "real," and he does a good job of connecting the reader to the theories. I have read quite a few of the popular science books on these topics and still found a number of things made clearer by the author's discussion.
This would make a good edition for a high school library, even a good reading list entry for a physics or chemistry class. For those in general rather than "hard science," the book would provide some of the basic concepts of modern physics without the "pain" of the mathematics that necessarily goes along with actual physics classes. If educators started with The Quantum Zoo as part of their curriculum in late middle school, their students might actually be motivated to take on the more challenging courses later. I could definitely see it used in a general science college course for teachers, nurses, and others who want more out of their science education.
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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant stuff!, April 21, 2006
Wow! Somebody's finally done it - written a book about quantum theory and relativity for the average person that REALLY IS for the average person. In the foreword, Marcus Chown says he got fed up of books that promised to explain relativity and quantum physics to dummies - but that short-changed the reader and totally baffled him (and he's got a physics background!). He thought: there must be a better way to do this. So he's come up with his own unique explanations - one's I've never seen before - and they are utterly crystal clear. Chown asks: what is the one thing you need to know about quantum theory from which everything else follows logically? What is the one thing you need to know about relativity from which all else follows? And then he proceeds to lay it all out, step by elegant step. I can't tell you how blown away I am by this book. I never thought I'd understand this kind of stuff. Now I do! Chown is right. The ideas behind relativity and quantum theory are fundamentally simple. Anyone can understand them - as long as they've got a good teacher. And Chown is the best. Brilliant stuff!
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant introduction to what we do and don't know, August 22, 2006
This book is a gem. In less than 200 pages, Chown presents and explains the basics of relativity, quantum physics, and cosmology just about as clearly and understandably as possible. If you want to understand Schrodinger's wave function, uncertainty, why atoms don't collapse, how the sun really works, why quantum rules sort out bosons and fermions, and what we do and don't know about dark matter and dark energy, you coulnd't find a better source. Chown consistently amazes me with his brilliant analogies. For example, in explaining how relativity's spacetime replaced Newtonian absolute space and time, Chown writes, "Like shipwrecked mariners clinging to rocks in a wild sea, to make sense of the world we search desperately for things that are unchanging. . . . When we see the world from a high-speed vantage point, we see neither space nor time but the seamless enity of spacetime." Science writing doesn't get better than this.
Robert Adler, author of _Science Firsts: From the Creation of Science to the Science of Creation, Wiley & Sons 2002.
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