Where Does the Weirdness Go?: Why Quantum Mechanics Is Strange, But Not as Strange as You Think

by David Lindley

Book Overview

Few revolutions in science have been more far-reaching -- but less understood -- than the quantum revolution in physics. Everyday experience cannot prepare us for the sub-atomic world, where quantum effects become all-important. Here, particles can look like waves, and vice versa; electrons seem to lose their identity and instead take on a shifting, unpredictable appearance that depends on how they are being observed; and a single photon may sometimes...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0465067867
• ISBN13: 9780465067862
• Release Date: March 1997
• Publisher: Basic Books
• Length: 268 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.1" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Beautiful and entertaining

I bought this book just when it came out (1997) by that time I was finishing high school and I had lots of interest in the mysterious quantum mechanics so I hoped that this title would enlightening me a little bit more. The result: I had a couple of weeks full of entertaining and amazed discussions as how nature works. One of the things that I still remember to this date is the wonderful first section called "The mystery of the other globe", the description of the Copenhagen interpretation, the presentation of the EPR (Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen) paradox and the success of Bell experiment. I highly recommend this book to anyone who's interested on how weird the Quantum World really is.

Excellent book for science novices

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. I have read other books about quantum physics and found this one to be most down-to-earth and easy to relate to. Physics majors and scientists, relax. This book is not directed towards you. It is directed towards laymen without a strong foundation in science, and it succeeds very well in its goals. It is readable, refreshing and makes deep concepts almost tangible.

Finally, a clear explanation of entanglement.

I'm fascinated by non-locality and have read a few other books on the subject. Most give a brief description of the issue and move on to talk about the implications. This book takes what is inherintly something impossible to conceptualize and walks you through the subject. This book does a great job explaining what happens but not why it happens. Apparently, noone knows. Read this book. Then, read it again. Non-locality is a major issue that will revolutionize the way we look at the world and ourselves. (It's permitted to get a little metaphysical)

The later life of Schrodinger's Cat

This account of quantum mechanics deals with the enigmas and ambiguities of the standard Copenhagen account, including the mysteries of the EPR, and Bell's theorem. It is useful for including material on the question of decoherence and its clarification of the contradictions of the Schrodinger's cat paradoxes. The book deals also with the more extravagant views about the place of consciousness in the process of measurement that entered the fray with Von Neuman's classic work. A number of works in this genre are slightly out of date and this work serves as a corrective and an introduction to the new perspective on the transition from quantum to classical domains, left stranded in howling absurdities by the suspense of over a live or dead cat, and in general the relation of the measurement process to the quantum realm. Cf. Also, In Search of Schrodinger's Kittens, By Gribbin and Understanding Quantum Mechanics, By Omnes

This book puts common sense back into quantum mechanics

This work puts common sense back into quantum mechanics. The new age philosophers with their mumbo jumbo of parallel universes and live/dead cats will not like the clear and common sense explanation of how the definition of the meaning of measurement takes the weirdness out of quantum mechanics. The fact is that quantum mechanics does work and does explain the real word better than any other theory. I have tried to understand it as a non math and non science layperson for years. This book does it! Really exceptional!