Quantum Physics: A Beginner's Guide

Beginner's Guide (Oneworld Publications)

by Alistair I. M. Rae

From quarks to computing, this fascinating introduction covers every element of the quantum world in clear and accessible language. Drawing on a wealth of expertise to explain just what a fascinating field quantum physics is, Rae points out that it is not simply a maze of technical jargon and philosophical ideas, but a reality which affects our daily lives.

Genres: Science, Physics, Nonfiction, Quantum Mechanics, Stem

240 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2005

Reviews

[Cynbel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though considered a Beginner's Guide, it is best if the reader has some knowledge of physics. The author does spend the first two chapters explaining some basic physics concepts, to get the reader to be able understand some of what he would be talking about in later chapters. Having taken a physics course in college I had come across a lot of the concepts before, which really helped me to understand more what the author talks about. The section on Quantum Cryptography and Computing was really intriguing to me.

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

At the time of this review it has been almost three years since I read it. Back then I was very interested in learning more about quantum physics but was faced with the significant obstacle of my mathematical incompetence. At any rate I found this particular book useful in introducing me to certain facets of quantum physics and gave it an appropriate rating.

Initially I rated the book with four stars but have now reevaluated its usefulness. Yes ladies and gentlemen, I have begun to read Briane Greene's book on superstring theory, the elegant universe, and have, in light of the aforementioned book, given Quantum Physics: A beginner's Guide a solid two. I heavily recommend the elegant universe as a more appropriate introduction to quantum theory for us scientific laymen.

[Sam knowles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok i'll admit the Authors writing style is a bit technical, but overall this is a great read for those having an interest in quantum theory. Basically this book will introduce you to the basic concepts, show some examples of quantum technology (like a transistor)all the while utlizing some basic mathmatics. If your not into math or science, you may not like this.

[Bahareh · Rating 1 out of 5]

این کتاب در واقع کاربرد های کوانتوم بود نه توضیحی بر سیل و تکامل فیزیک کوانتوم، فصل هم که مختصری از فیزیک کوانتوم بود به سخت ترین و گنگ ترین حالت ممکن توضیح داده شده بود

[Ben Olsen · Rating 2 out of 5]

None the wiser

[Jeffrey Hendrix · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great introduction to the world of Quantum Physics. I really enjoyed this book, it was very thought provoking, and interesting to delve into. I'm an Electrical Engineer, so I've taken a fair amount of physics courses, though many years ago now. I'd like to purse a higher level education in physics, so this is just a subject I'm generally interested in. If you have a passion for science, this is a very good book for making quantum theory, a little more accessible.

[Zah Ra · Rating 3 out of 5]

خیلی خلاصه و درهم و برهم چند تا از موضوعات رو پوشش داده بقیه موضوعات رو اصلا اشاره هم نکرده می تونست خیلی بهتر باشه کتابی مثل کوانتوم به زبان ساده چون کوانتوم پر از موضوعات هیجان انگیزه
مترجم ایرانی هم یا فیزیکدان نبوده یا کلا با کلمات تخصصی ناآشنا بوده خوب بود می دادن قبل چاپ یک فیزیکدان بخونه ترجمه رو قابل فهم تر می شد مطلبی که ترجمه کرده

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great beginner’s guide to Quantum Physics and its applications. The author explains the basics of quantum physics through the Copenhagen integration and positivism model, and strives to elucidate theories in layman terms without much mathematical material. The complexity of concepts in the book increase with the chapters - from waves and particles to their applications in metals and insulators, semiconductors, superconductivity to quantum computers. You need a high school background in physics and to better understand the concepts.

The weakness of this book is that it simplifies the concepts too much in the later chapters. For example, to fully appreciate quantum computing, one would have to understand spin doctoring and quantum cryptography; however, he glosses over the fundamentals of those topics and asserts the observable conclusions without a logical build up of evidence.

Quantum physics is used in many devices today - from maglev trains to MRI machines. One of the aims of science is to construct the most faithful map of physical reality using mathematics as much as possible. However, in quantum physics - where the attributes of an object depends on the nature in which it is being observed - the unified “map” breaks down because the attributes of the object (such as mass, velocity etc) are predicted by probabilities of experimental outcomes.

I highly recommend this book to folks who would like to have a better appreciation of our world, and the uncertainty in science and reality.

[Anthony O'Connor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not too bad

An attempt to explain the EPR problem and Bells Theorem, and the Issues around the Measurement Problem in Quantum Mechanics. As for the first part. It’s a bit confusing and hard to follow. There’s no use making half hearted watered down attempts. Go the whole hog or go home. Mathematics required. As for the measurement problem - a thorough and sane coverage of a difficult problem. Expertly surveys some of the possible explanations. Definitely well worth a careful read. Though again a little more math would be useful and illuminating. I suppose the author can be forgiven for thinking the Copenhagen interpretation is still a good idea. Or might be. The book was first written in the early eighties. It was only just then beginning to crack. I sigh sadly when he quotes Wittgenstein in his closing remarks. Wittgenstein was a huckster selling snake oil. A temporary fad. Sounds hip and smart while saying nothing, and hence by his own admonition best ignored completely.

[Chris Esposo · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pretty good conceptual summary of the basic mechanism of quantum physics and a brief survey of its application areas. The author has written an undergraduate textbook in the subject, so he keeps the exposition precise.

This is good and bad unless you've gone over the trigonometry of wave mechanics and understanding how they aggregate or disaggregate depending on the situation in a more problem-oriented context, it will be somewhat difficult to fully grasp what the author is getting at and why it's important.

The author admits as much, but there is no real way to get around that issue. Besides the survey of wave behaviour and an explanation of the double slit experiments, the books go over a few application areas, including superconductivity, computing, and the philosophy of quantum physics. Good as a conceptual survey.

[Hira Hassan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good start if you want to learn about the subject at hand. Prior physics knowledge, even if a little, is recommended.
The language is dry and redundant, but the author does drill the concepts into your head. There is a summary for each chapter to keep you upto pace. This is a good introduction, the chapters are lightweight and very easy. It is like a science book except that almost anyone can reading. Its like a textbook as it does not marvel over quantum physics but is technical and focused on its approach. No complex mathematics is utilized nor any convoluted theories present.
In short, this I would recommend it.

[John Armstrong · Rating 4 out of 5]

Focuses on the impact of quantum mechanics on mundane physics phenomena as opposed to exotic experiments and mind-experiments. Good summary of the main ways that physicists come to terms philosophically with the experimentally established facts. Little or no coverage of new ideas that were emerging around the the the book was written, like quantum fields and loop quantum gravity.

[Dan Cohen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yet another introductory text on quantum physics for lay readers. It's largely non-mathematical and relatively easy to follow. It differs from some others by having more of a focus on explaining how quantum physics explains phenomena such as semiconductivity and superconductivity. Worth a read.

[Mohsen Abootalebi · Rating 3 out of 5]

کتاب خوبی بود.ارزش یکبار خوندن رو داره البته برای افرادی که فیزیک نخوندن و یا تازه شروع کردن و اینها
البته من قسمتهای پایانی کتاب رو با گرفتن مفهوم کلی بحث رد کردم :)

[Jullien Thur · Rating 4 out of 5]

Did a great job of explaining the core concepts of quantum physics. Worth a read if you are interested in that kind of thing.

[Amy Mikolajczyk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating when I was able to understand it but painful at times and I just skimmed. I do have a bit of physics background too, I'm not an absolute beginner.

[Rob · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent work introducing the non-scientist to the concepts of quantum physics. I would not envy the task of having to explain this science without the use of any equations beyond basic algebra!

Still, the format choices by the publishers were not good. Exponents were used instead of division lines, so instead of m/s, the text reads ms^-1. This seems unnecessarily confusing, especially for a general audience reader. Also some charts were missing some lines, which made it difficult to interpret them. Lastly, there was an egregious typo where they got the sign backwards when discussing quarks.

The first chapter takes some real time to get through, but the subsequent chapters are simpler, and in some cases fairly lightweight.

Overall this is a decent introduction to the subject, but I can’t believe it would be the best.

[Jay · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up this book in hope of enlighten me, who is not familiar with science, physics especially, upon Quantum physics. Chapter one was easy to understand; I gladly breezed though. But I have to admit that the rest of the chapters in the book were confusing and very hard to understand the concepts that the author was kindly describing.
I did get what I wanted from the book. One of which was being enlightened. I did, forsooth, learn many things. Along with the text, I had to look up some youtube videos and articles available online. wave-particle dulaity traits of many particles including light and electrons; the nuclear fission and fusion for energy and bomb; superconductivity; semi insulator's utilization in computer chips; maxwell's formula; and so on.
I wish I could have understood the book more than I did. I felt like I got about 40% of what the author wanted me to understand. Still, I feel like I gained much insight on Quantum physics. I will come back to this book, maybe after a number of books regarding Quatum physics and see if I can understand more.
I feel like the book could have been written in friendly manner and more warmth to it. However, it served its purpose.

[Beverley Wakefield · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is fairly comprehensive for how short it is, and the areas in which he focuses are appropriate. There is a pretty great balance between attempting to introduce and explain the mathematical root of the ideas, and the concepts that they imply. Focusing on the role quantum physics plays in our day to day lives as individuals and as a society was a clever way to find that balance. I docked it a star because it's supposed to be a guide for beginners. If you haven't taken an Algebra II (or higher) class recently, and/or if you aren't familiar with the types of graphs typically used when discussing quantum physics, you might feel pretty lost at times (even when you disregard the mathematical boxes that give you a more in depth explanation numerically). The way that he formed some sentences was a bit awkward and hard to understand (and this is coming from a person who loves classical literature, ha). Overall, I would say this book is a great guide for those looking to review the basics of quantum physics, rather than a guide for those who are just beginning.

[Margie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rae started off clearly and concisely, but mid-book digressed onto how technology was influenced by quantum principles. And while that may be interesting to some, it was not what I wanted to know. A beginner's guide suggests that we will be taught the theories and principles of quantum physics at a beginner's level. This idea didn't hold true for the whole book. I skipped the last three chapters.

[Hana · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book itself is nice, though it's a bit too technical for me. I just wanted to explore Quantum Physics' concepts as I was always interested in it, but I guess I really need to work on my classical physics first. There were concepts in the book I couldn't wrap my head around and I kind of understand now why Quantum Physics is so infamous for being hard. Nevertheless, I will return to it once I advance my understanding of classical physics.

[Mansi Punia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is perhaps the best introduction I could have had in quantum physics. The way in which the topics are explained is amazing, complex principles like spin doctoring, quantum tunneling, and superconductivity and quantum computing(to an extent) have been explained with very less(actually minimal-only few formulas) mathematics.

Such is the writing style, that my faith in the fact is affirmed- quantum physics is NOT rocket science. :)

[Andrea Boria · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked this book and enjoyed my way through it. It gives simple and plain examples if everything, the mathematical components are not hard, actually it barely has mathematical equations so this book is a really really source to understand a bit of what is quantum physics as an outsiders perspective.

[Minh]

Crazy stuff :|

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

Made me choose to study Physics alongside Fabric of the Cosmos - definitely an excellent read.

[Rakesh Akkineni · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really helped in understanding the basic concepts of Quantum Physics.