Product Description

Quantum Theory is the most revolutionary discovery in physics since Newton. This book gives a lucid, exciting, and accessible account of the surprising and counterintuitive ideas that shape our understanding of the sub-atomic world. It does not disguise the problems of interpretation that still remain unsettled 75 years after the initial discoveries. The main text makes no use of equations, but there is a Mathematical Appendix for those desiring stronger fare. Uncertainty, probabilistic physics, complementarity, the problematic character of measurement, and decoherence are among the many topics discussed. This volume offers the reader access to one of the greatest discoveries in the history of physics and one of the oustanding intellectual achievements of the twentieth century.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #268786 in Books
• Published on: 2002-07-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 128 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780192802521
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Review
`John Polkinghorne has brought to life that most mysterious and perplexing of revolutions in understanding and has made its mysteries accessible.' Peter Atkins, University of Oxford

`John Polkinghorne has produced an excellent piece of work. ... Many authors of "popular" books on modern physics have the regrettable habit of mixing science fact with science fiction. Polkinghorne never does that: he always allows the truth to stand by itself and show its own fascination. ... I think that this is an excellent contribution to the literature on quantum theory for a general audience.' Chris Isham, Imperial College, London

`This splendid book explains both the triumph and the mystery that is quantum theory. It is a triumph because of its towering mathematical structure, and amazing empirical accuracy. It is a mystery because of the conundrums about how to interpret it. John Polkinghorne, himself a distinguished quantum physicist, is a sure guide to all of this: he celebrates the successes of the theory, and shows unfailingly good judgement about the conundrums.' Jeremy Butterfield, University of Oxford

About the Author

John Polkinghorne was from 1968 to 1979 Professor of Mathematical Physics in the University of Cambridge, and later president of Queen's College. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society, and was knighted in 1997. His many books include The Quantum World (1986), The Faith of a Physicist (1994), and Science and Theology (1998).

Customer Reviews

As best as can be expected, I guess
This book does its best, but in the end suffers from something that I think is inherent in the material itself. I did learn a little more about quantum theory from this book, but not much more than I already knew to begin with. And this book didn't really make many of the main concepts any clearer. I don't think is the author's fault, I think it's almost impossible to try to explain these things. Most of the problem, (and similar statements go for cosmology, cryptography, etc.) is that it's almost impossible to explain concepts whose fundamental expression is mathematical language without using mathematics. What inevitably results is some kind of vague, touchy-feely idea of what's meant, but little understanding. And I say this as a mathematician.

To give just one example, at one point in the book, the author talks about "probability amplitudes", for several pages. The only problem is, he never says what this term is supposed to mean, but he does mention that complex numbers are involved, and other facts. The result after this happens several times is that the reader starts to read entire paragraphs consisting of terminology that's never been defined clearly. The word "operator" is the best example here. It's fine to talk ABOUT operators in indirect, oblique language, but really you don't have a true understanding of what that word means unless you know its precise mathematical definition, or unless you have a clear understanding of the notion of vector space (axiomatically, not "stuff you can add together"). I didn't have this kind of problem with most of the mathematical terminology, because I know it, but the problem comes with the physics -- the physics concepts are essentially mathematical, and trying to explain them without using mathematics is like trying to understand Shakespeare without being able to read English -- you can always give a vague, hazy account, but not much more.

The book is well-written (aside from an overly-biased presentation of the philosophical aspects), but I think it tries to have its cake and eat it too. It says it's free of mathematics, but this isn't really the case. The whole text is fully of talk about operators, vectors, vector spaces, equations, probability theory, and so on. It's the _symbolism_, not the math, that's missing (except for the appendix, which thoroughly confused me, mainly because terms were introduced without precise definition, and the notation was the physicist's notation, not mathematician's notation...)

This book was confusing to me, but the reason was because it had too LITTLE math, not too much.

Profound, Concise, Scholarly, Accessible and "Real"
There are few things more beautiful to me than a profound, concise, respectable and rigorous small book. The gift of knowledge and time such a book provides matches is profound. "Quantum Theory, A Very Short Introduction" achieves this beauty nicely.

Looking at the small book, and my current desire to understand the essence of the mystery of Quantum physics, I had a strange desire starting the book- I wanted it to hurt a little bit. That is to say, I wanted it to be challenging enough to reach a profound depth and truth that matched my desire to know. And I wanted it to be real- not a fanciful tour of "cool stuff" but a book so steeped in knowledge that it exposes the diamond at the center of this leviathan. I wanted to be challenged, and maybe read a page two or three times to capture the occasional key point. I wanted a book by an author so knowledgeable that he would be brave enough to tackle this goal in a 100 page book. In other words, I wanted the truth, I wanted it quickly, and, as a result, I expected to sweat. I wasn't disappointed.

This book is part of an Oxford University Press series of "Very Short Introductions". The format of the books in this series is about 100 pages, in a small paperback size. The text is fairly small, with small margins, with maybe 300 words per page. That makes each books about 30 000 words, plus of minus 25% for pictures, paragraph size and so on. And the books are written by experts with a professional level of rigor. The are a very short, deep, and real introductions. They make you sweat a little.

My dream is to read the other hundred or so publications in the series. Probably not all of them, but a significant number. I'm at about six so far.

Very short, but not all that lucid
This is a short book, and that is its only advantage, unfortunately.

Granted, that the author is eminent in this field and was himself a student of the great Paul Dirac. However, this book does not sit easily in a series designed to make a subject approachable to the novice. It has far too much esoteric maths than is good for a book of this genre. An ever stronger criticism is the fact that instead of keeping to basic physics ideas such as the double slit experiment (which this book does well!) and then developing the ideas of atomic structure, and the uncertainty principle, it dwells on things like operators and such like.

If you want a good introduction to Quantum Theory, look no further than the books by George Gamow's "The New World of Mr Tompkins" or "Mr Tomkins in paperback", or, "Uncle Albert and the Quantum Quest".