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Six Impossible Things: The ‘Quanta of Solace’ and the Mysteries of the Subatomic World
A concise and engaging investigation of six interpretations of quantum physics.
Rules of the quantum world seem to say that a cat can be both alive and dead at the same time and a particle can be in two places at once. And that particle is also a wave; everything in the quantum world can be described in terms of waves—or entirely in terms of particles. These interpretations were all established by the end of the 1920s, by Erwin Schrödinger, Werner Heisenberg, Paul Dirac, and others. But no one has yet come up with a common sense explanation of what is going on. In this concise and engaging book, astrophysicist John Gribbin offers an overview of six of the leading interpretations of quantum mechanics.
Gribbin calls his account “agnostic,” explaining that none of these interpretations is any better—or any worse—than any of the others. Gribbin presents the Copenhagen Interpretation, promoted by Niels Bohr and named by Heisenberg; the Pilot-Wave Interpretation, developed by Louis de Broglie; the Many Worlds Interpretation (termed “excess baggage” by Gribbin); the Decoherence Interpretation (“incoherent”); the Ensemble “Non-Interpretation”; and the Timeless Transactional Interpretation (which theorized waves going both forward and backward in time). All of these interpretations are crazy, Gribbin warns, and some are more crazy than others—but in the quantum world, being more crazy does not necessarily mean more wrong.
Rules of the quantum world seem to say that a cat can be both alive and dead at the same time and a particle can be in two places at once. And that particle is also a wave; everything in the quantum world can be described in terms of waves—or entirely in terms of particles. These interpretations were all established by the end of the 1920s, by Erwin Schrödinger, Werner Heisenberg, Paul Dirac, and others. But no one has yet come up with a common sense explanation of what is going on. In this concise and engaging book, astrophysicist John Gribbin offers an overview of six of the leading interpretations of quantum mechanics.
Gribbin calls his account “agnostic,” explaining that none of these interpretations is any better—or any worse—than any of the others. Gribbin presents the Copenhagen Interpretation, promoted by Niels Bohr and named by Heisenberg; the Pilot-Wave Interpretation, developed by Louis de Broglie; the Many Worlds Interpretation (termed “excess baggage” by Gribbin); the Decoherence Interpretation (“incoherent”); the Ensemble “Non-Interpretation”; and the Timeless Transactional Interpretation (which theorized waves going both forward and backward in time). All of these interpretations are crazy, Gribbin warns, and some are more crazy than others—but in the quantum world, being more crazy does not necessarily mean more wrong.
112 pages, Hardcover
First published April 4, 2019
167 people are currently reading
1349 people want to read
About the author
John Gribbin
386 books854 followersJohn R. Gribbin is a British science writer, an astrophysicist, and a visiting fellow in astronomy at the University of Sussex. His writings include quantum physics, human evolution, climate change, global warming, the origins of the universe, and biographies of famous scientists. He also writes science fiction.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 118 reviews
April 4, 2019
On first handling John Gribbin's book, it's impossible not to think of Carlo Rovelli's Seven Brief Lessons in Physics - both are very slim, elegant hardbacks with a numbered set of items within - yet Six Impossible Things is a far, far better book than its predecessor. Where Seven Brief Lessons uses purple prose and vagueness in what feels like a scientific taster menu, Gribbin gives us a feast of precision and clarity, with a phenomenal amount of information for such a compact space. It's a TARDIS of popular science books, and I loved it.
Like rather a lot of titles lately (notably Philip Ball's excellent Beyond Weird), what Gribbin is taking on is not the detail of quantum physics itself - although he does manage to get across its essence in two 'fits' (named after the sections of Hunting of the Snark - Gribbin includes Lewis Carroll's epic poem in his recommended reading, though it's such a shame that the superb version annotated by Martin Gardiner is out of print). Instead, the focus here is the interpretation of quantum theory - the attempts to theorise about what is 'really' going on underneath the so-successful mathematics.
Different interpretations make up the 'six impossible things', which Gribbin poetically describes as the 'quanta of solace' in his subtitle. He covers the Copenhagen interpretation, pilot waves, many worlds, decoherence, the ensemble interpretation and the 'timeless' transactional interpretation. Each is dealt with in just a few pages, accompanied by some excellent full-page illustrations of key players, and I was extremely impressed by the way that Gribbin manages to encapsulate what are sometimes very complex ideas in an approachable fashion. This could well be the best piece of writing this grand master of British popular science has ever produced, condensing as it does many years of pondering the nature of quantum physics into a compact form.
Inevitably, there were one or two moments when even Gribbin managed to potentially lose the reader (though this was far less the case than with Rovelli). In his section on decoherence, it's pretty much assumed that the reader knows what coherence means (in a physics sense), which probably is an assumption too far. And there are a couple of examples of leaps of logic brought on by the compactness. Notably, at one point in the ensemble interpretation section, Gribbin comments 'In an infinite universe, there would be infinitely many copies of you...' - that's quite a big leap. I can certainly envisage plenty of types of infinite universe which don't have infinite sets of copies of everyone in them.
Early on, Gribbin says that he will offer an 'agnostic overview of some of the main interpretations' and that 'I have my own views on their relative merits, which I hope I shall not reveal.' I think he succeeds in this. It's clear he's no Copenhagen enthusiast, but where from previous interactions I assumed there would be a many worlds bias lying beneath the apparent fair dealing, I found at least two of the other interpretations to come across more acceptably, given his words.
Sadly, I suspect Six Impossible Things won't be such a big seller as Rovelli's book - but it deserves to be.
Like rather a lot of titles lately (notably Philip Ball's excellent Beyond Weird), what Gribbin is taking on is not the detail of quantum physics itself - although he does manage to get across its essence in two 'fits' (named after the sections of Hunting of the Snark - Gribbin includes Lewis Carroll's epic poem in his recommended reading, though it's such a shame that the superb version annotated by Martin Gardiner is out of print). Instead, the focus here is the interpretation of quantum theory - the attempts to theorise about what is 'really' going on underneath the so-successful mathematics.
Different interpretations make up the 'six impossible things', which Gribbin poetically describes as the 'quanta of solace' in his subtitle. He covers the Copenhagen interpretation, pilot waves, many worlds, decoherence, the ensemble interpretation and the 'timeless' transactional interpretation. Each is dealt with in just a few pages, accompanied by some excellent full-page illustrations of key players, and I was extremely impressed by the way that Gribbin manages to encapsulate what are sometimes very complex ideas in an approachable fashion. This could well be the best piece of writing this grand master of British popular science has ever produced, condensing as it does many years of pondering the nature of quantum physics into a compact form.
Inevitably, there were one or two moments when even Gribbin managed to potentially lose the reader (though this was far less the case than with Rovelli). In his section on decoherence, it's pretty much assumed that the reader knows what coherence means (in a physics sense), which probably is an assumption too far. And there are a couple of examples of leaps of logic brought on by the compactness. Notably, at one point in the ensemble interpretation section, Gribbin comments 'In an infinite universe, there would be infinitely many copies of you...' - that's quite a big leap. I can certainly envisage plenty of types of infinite universe which don't have infinite sets of copies of everyone in them.
Early on, Gribbin says that he will offer an 'agnostic overview of some of the main interpretations' and that 'I have my own views on their relative merits, which I hope I shall not reveal.' I think he succeeds in this. It's clear he's no Copenhagen enthusiast, but where from previous interactions I assumed there would be a many worlds bias lying beneath the apparent fair dealing, I found at least two of the other interpretations to come across more acceptably, given his words.
Sadly, I suspect Six Impossible Things won't be such a big seller as Rovelli's book - but it deserves to be.
November 21, 2021
This book is very good. A slim (80-page) but landmark publication, it cuts to the heart of the matter of the core mystery of quantum mechanics: the double-slit experiment where a passing electron or electrons can manifest in the final screen sometimes with the characteristics of a wave, and sometimes with the behaviors a particle. In a straightforward but spellbinding way, the author succeeds in the difficult task of showing to a lay audience how this simple physical or experimental anomaly shows that the nature of our universe is utterly and irrevocably preposterous. No dispute can be made about it: since the results of the double-slit experiment do not waver, then we must reconcile ourselves to the universe's correspondence to at least one of the outlandish interpretations proposed to explain the double-slit experiment. The book explains 6 of the interpretations. The first is the dominant one: the electron passes as a particle when observed because observation causes its probability wavefunction to collapse. But this supposes that the reality of the world depends on observation and the existing observer. The second is simpler: it imagines the electron particle surfing on a hidden wave that supports nonlocality. The third interpretation has captured the popular imagination: the electron takes every possible option or route, and the one we observe is the one our universe has branched into while an infinite array of parallel universes cover the rest of options. The fourth interpretation is the Consistent Histories and Incoherent Decoherence interpretation. The fifth interpretation takes every particle to be part of an ensemble, and everything is entangled with other particles, leading to instantaneous causality. The last interpretation is the Timeless Transactional interpretation: the electron has both returning and advancing waves, and as it sets out from its journey from the slit, it meets the wave from its future returning from its final result, so that it meets its future and 'knows' what will happen to it before it hits its final destination, causing it to assume the form of particle or wave accordingly-- there is no time, and no real free will. Which of these interpretations are true? Whichever path it is, our universe, and our lives as governed by its laws, are stranger than it seems.
December 20, 2019
Mind-expanding, and astoundingly good at explaining frighteningly complex concepts with flair and panache.
May 14, 2020
Surprisingly interesting!
Short book of about 100 pages, formatted in a comfy-reading font style (hard-cover). The content is amazing. The author excels explaining the six most successful approaches (interpretations) to quantum physics. Written for the layman, based on historical development, equations-free... though if all have to be said, the subject is kind of hard conceptual stuff.
Short book of about 100 pages, formatted in a comfy-reading font style (hard-cover). The content is amazing. The author excels explaining the six most successful approaches (interpretations) to quantum physics. Written for the layman, based on historical development, equations-free... though if all have to be said, the subject is kind of hard conceptual stuff.
April 13, 2020
A very readable and engaging explanation of six major interpretations of the rules of the quantum world. Gribbin does a nice job at describing the problem before he jumps into the "solaces" (possible conceptual models we may comfort ourselves with given the lack of a good common-sense explanation). The author traverses the pros and cons of each interpretation by deftly raising and then dashing our hopes for a sensible solution. I appreciated the brevity, clarity, and the inclusion of various bits of Physics history and personalities along the way. Notwithstanding the value of Gribbin's ability to say a lot with a little, I frequently found myself between chapters wishing for just a little more commentary and a little less even-handedness. I admit, by the end I almost began to resent the pleasure that this skilled writer seemed to take in leading us to what he already told us from the beginning would be a rather unsatisfying conclusion, namely, that given the various pros and cons of each interpretation, and given that they all make the same mathematical predictions, "you are free to choose whichever one gives you most comfort, and ignore the rest." Still, if you're only going to read one book on the various interpretation of the mysteries of the quantum world, I find it highly probable that this is a choice you will not regret.
July 6, 2022
Nothing at the quantum level makes intuitive sense, even to very smart people who spend their professional lives thinking about it. If you'd like to embrace the unintuitive and be pleasantly confused, this slim volume does a nice job of explaining some difficult concepts in ways that you can (mostly) understand. Be forewarned that understanding what you read doesn't mean you'll "get" it. Maybe you will, but I certainly didn't.
Here's a nice summary from the author; I think it's reasonable to assume that anyone reading this book will ignore Feynman's warning and pay the price:
" For the past ninety years, many of the best scientific brains on Earth have puzzled over the meaning of quantum mechanics. The six possible Solaces I have described here are the best ideas they have come up with, and they can be summed up briefly: One. The world does not exist unless you look at it. Two. Particles are pushed around by an invisible wave, but the particles have no influence on the wave. Three. Everything that could possibly happen does, in an array of parallel realities. Four. Everything that could possibly happen already has happened, and we only noticed part of it. Five. Everything influences everything else instantly, as if space did not exist. Six. The future influences the past. As Feynman wrote in The Character of Physical Law: “I think I can safely say that nobody understands quantum mechanics ... Do not keep saying to yourself, if you can possibly avoid it, “But how can it be like that?” because you will go “down the drain” into a blind alley from which nobody has yet escaped. Nobody knows how it can be like that.” "
Here's a nice summary from the author; I think it's reasonable to assume that anyone reading this book will ignore Feynman's warning and pay the price:
" For the past ninety years, many of the best scientific brains on Earth have puzzled over the meaning of quantum mechanics. The six possible Solaces I have described here are the best ideas they have come up with, and they can be summed up briefly: One. The world does not exist unless you look at it. Two. Particles are pushed around by an invisible wave, but the particles have no influence on the wave. Three. Everything that could possibly happen does, in an array of parallel realities. Four. Everything that could possibly happen already has happened, and we only noticed part of it. Five. Everything influences everything else instantly, as if space did not exist. Six. The future influences the past. As Feynman wrote in The Character of Physical Law: “I think I can safely say that nobody understands quantum mechanics ... Do not keep saying to yourself, if you can possibly avoid it, “But how can it be like that?” because you will go “down the drain” into a blind alley from which nobody has yet escaped. Nobody knows how it can be like that.” "
February 21, 2020
This is a halfway decent survey of quantum foundations. The author doesn't push his own views too hard. The writing style is a little flowery, with the "quanta of solace" stuff, but that doesn't harm the good hard science content.
October 7, 2019
I defy anyone not to gain wisdom from this book.
July 25, 2023
This one was basically a book about six existing interpretations of one of the most successful theories of scientific modernity, namely quantum mechanics (QM). Why does a theory need more than one interpretation, in the first place? Why are things not clear, obvious, certain, why do we need to come up with more interpretations of something that works so well in practice? And how do we know that quantum mechanics really works so well? Basically, most of the devices and the technology that we touch and use in the daily life make use of scientific knowledge advanced due and through the discovery of quantum mechanics, from the properties of transistors and diodes existing in all our devices, to LASERs, LEDs, home and public illumination, atomic energy, etc. All such things work because quantum mechanics produces reliable results in its predictions. But at its core, the problem is that what it predicts… is not so reliable for our common sense. The most accepted interpretation of the theory, known as the Copenhagen Interpretation, deals with state superposition and the so-called collapse of the wave-function of a quantum system in the moment of performing a measurement on one of its properties, evidenced in more real-life experiments. The Double-slit experiment is one of such example, but the most commonly invoked one deals with the well-known Schrödinger’s cat, which, as some people may already known, is assumed to be dead and alive in the same time in a box, until one opens the box and actually looks at it. Most of the quantum mechanics students deal with these examples in the QM classes. What this book tries to do, is to bring into discussion five more interpretations already advanced through the last 100 years by various members of the scientific community, in order to solve one of the most problematic aspects of the Copenhagen interpretations, its non-local character and the randomness involved in the wave-function collapse, not properly included in the equations describing the theory (Schrödinger). Some interpretations seem easier to deal with (particles “surfing” on top of a wave, as an analogue of a surfer on top an ocean wave), while some others deal with multiple universes, parallel universes and even with probability waves traveling from the future to the present building the reality in an interference process with their counterpart traveling from the past. Fantasy or not, all of them survive a reality test, and none is more unbelievable than others, than Copenhagen Interpretation, for example. Very easy reading, thinking generative, a good introduction to the philosophical (at least) problems of QM, a good possible starting point for further reading for the interested ones.
September 29, 2019
If you want the strange then you need not venture between the covers of a science fiction book, there is a world that is equally unreal, where particles can be in two places at the same time, they are sometimes a wave and could be a particle, it all depends when you look. It exists in our world and universe, it is the quantum world, a place that has been baffling the brightest physics minds for a century or so.
At the moment there are six explanations of what could be happening in this surreal world. The names of them are as strange as the theories, there is the Copenhagen Interpretation, the Timeless Transactional Interpretation, The Not so Impossible Pilot Wave Interpretation, the Ensemble Non-Interpretation the Excess baggage Many Worlds Interpretation and my favourite titled one, the Incoherent Decoherence Interpretation.
This is a very strange and surreal world, even Einstein couldn’t really explain what was going on and called it spooky action at a distance. As soon as physicists think they have defined a set of rules that this crazy world conforms to, something is discovered that proves them wrong, but not fully wrong, just enough for a new set of theories to evolve, hence why we have these six concepts in this little book.
I can safely say that no one understands quantum mechanics – Richard Feynman
And can assure you that I am still one of them… In some ways, I feel enlightened by what I have read in here, in other ways I am still utterly baffled by some of the concepts that Gribbin explores. That said he writes about this incredibly complex subject and highlights the significant people who have been thinking about this for a long time. I liked the way that each of the interpretations is summed up in a single sentence with a wry humour.
At the moment there are six explanations of what could be happening in this surreal world. The names of them are as strange as the theories, there is the Copenhagen Interpretation, the Timeless Transactional Interpretation, The Not so Impossible Pilot Wave Interpretation, the Ensemble Non-Interpretation the Excess baggage Many Worlds Interpretation and my favourite titled one, the Incoherent Decoherence Interpretation.
This is a very strange and surreal world, even Einstein couldn’t really explain what was going on and called it spooky action at a distance. As soon as physicists think they have defined a set of rules that this crazy world conforms to, something is discovered that proves them wrong, but not fully wrong, just enough for a new set of theories to evolve, hence why we have these six concepts in this little book.
I can safely say that no one understands quantum mechanics – Richard Feynman
And can assure you that I am still one of them… In some ways, I feel enlightened by what I have read in here, in other ways I am still utterly baffled by some of the concepts that Gribbin explores. That said he writes about this incredibly complex subject and highlights the significant people who have been thinking about this for a long time. I liked the way that each of the interpretations is summed up in a single sentence with a wry humour.
October 8, 2019
Episki, par pasaules lietu dabu
April 19, 2020
Charming and fun to listen to this audiobook. I think I may go back and get the paper version as I think there's a lot that I missed here.
March 19, 2020
Six Impossible Things: The Mysteries of the Quantum World” is very well written and is on the list of best science books of 2019. During a self-improvement moment, I noticed it on sale through Chirp and thought “Why not? I need to know more about physics.”
Truly, for me, this book was like reading science fiction. Wave theory, the cat in a box, a watched pot never boils (okay, I had heard of this!), and alternate universes (and, I saw a sci-go movie about this!) are just some of the ideas discussed. John Gribben does a remarkable job of making these topics interesting for someone like me who knows little about physics, but I wonder if a physicist would agree. The six possible solaces will definitely make you wonder. My favorite during this time of self-quarantine and social distancing due to COVID-19 was Number 4: “Everything that could possibly happen has already happened and we only noticed part of it.” Yes, I wonder!
Truly, for me, this book was like reading science fiction. Wave theory, the cat in a box, a watched pot never boils (okay, I had heard of this!), and alternate universes (and, I saw a sci-go movie about this!) are just some of the ideas discussed. John Gribben does a remarkable job of making these topics interesting for someone like me who knows little about physics, but I wonder if a physicist would agree. The six possible solaces will definitely make you wonder. My favorite during this time of self-quarantine and social distancing due to COVID-19 was Number 4: “Everything that could possibly happen has already happened and we only noticed part of it.” Yes, I wonder!
October 10, 2023
John Gribbin bu ufak hacimli kitabıyla, keşfedildiği günden bu yana geliştirilen kuantum dalga ve parçacık teorileri üstünde ancak yorumlar aracılığıyla biraz bilgi sahibi olabildiğimiz olağanüstü karmaşıklıktaki bir konuyu olabildiğince sade ve oldukça esprili bir biçimde ele almış. Söz konusu yorumlara “teselliler” demiş ve yığınla yorumdan 6 tanesini çekip çıkararak, Alice Harikalar Diyarında masalına öykünmüş. Yazarın anlatımı, kendiliğinden kompleks olan kuantum fiziğinin temel çerçevesini epeyi anlaşılır kılıyor popüler bilim okuru için.
Gribbin, Young’un çift yarık deneyinden başlayarak (https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%87i...), Schrödinger’in ünlü düşünce deneyi ile beraber, en çok tartışılan kuantum mekaniği yorumlarını olabilecek en yalın halleriyle anlatmış gerçekten. Kitapta yer verilen kuantum teorisi yorumları/tesellileri şunlar: Kopenhag, de Broglie-Bohm Pilot Dalgalar, Çoklu Dünyalar, Eşevresizlik, Uyumluluk, Geriye Dönük Nedensel/İşlemsel.
Yazar her bir yorumu, kendi deyimiyle agnostik bir bakış açısıyla ele alıyor, okurun seçeceği yorumu (ki bu yorum ille de Gribbin’in altılı seçkisi olacak diye bir koşul yok) ise kendisine bırakıyor. Kitabın özellikle kısa tutulmasındaki amaç elbette anlaşılır, çünkü böyle netameli ve girişmesi hayli cesaret isteyen, yoruma fazlasıyla açık, her an metafizik sınırlara girip bilimsellikten ödün verebilecek gibi duran açıklamaları makul sınırlar içinde izah etmek gerekir. Ancak, yorumlardan bazıları bu kısalık nedeniyle okurun kafasını daha da karıştıracakmış gibi görünüyor. Kişisel olarak, Çoklu Dünyalar Yorumu’nu biraz fazla kompakt hale getirilmiş bulduğumu söylemeliyim. Kapsamı belirsizlik içinde yüzdürerek olguları fazlaca ziplemek diğer yorumlara hak ettiklerinden fazla zaman/yer ayırdığını düşünmeme neden oldu. Belki Kopenhag Yorumu ilk “teselli” olduğu için üstünde çok durmayı hak ediyor denebilir ama diğer yorumlarla organik ilişkisi ele alınınca, tekrara düşerek diğer yorumlara ayrılan alanı daraltmış.
Gribbin’in kuantum fiziğinin tüm girişimlerini, sonuçları ve yorumlarıyla beraber Lewis Carrol’un Jabberwocky şiirinde anlatmaya çalıştığı absürt olgulara benzetmesine ise tek kelimeyle bayıldım. Daha kitabın girişinde, kalkıştığı işin sonunda bu şiirin anlattığından fazlasını yapamayacağını hatta teorinin bugün dahi fazlasını yapamadığını kabul etmesi ise harikulade yaratıcı ve gerçekçi geldi bana.
Türkçe’ye çevirisi de çok başarılı olan bu eseri (Çeviren: Arda Barişta, Alfa Yayınları) ilgili okura, bir başlangıç noktası olarak kesinlikle tavsiye ederim.
Gribbin, Young’un çift yarık deneyinden başlayarak (https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%87i...), Schrödinger’in ünlü düşünce deneyi ile beraber, en çok tartışılan kuantum mekaniği yorumlarını olabilecek en yalın halleriyle anlatmış gerçekten. Kitapta yer verilen kuantum teorisi yorumları/tesellileri şunlar: Kopenhag, de Broglie-Bohm Pilot Dalgalar, Çoklu Dünyalar, Eşevresizlik, Uyumluluk, Geriye Dönük Nedensel/İşlemsel.
Yazar her bir yorumu, kendi deyimiyle agnostik bir bakış açısıyla ele alıyor, okurun seçeceği yorumu (ki bu yorum ille de Gribbin’in altılı seçkisi olacak diye bir koşul yok) ise kendisine bırakıyor. Kitabın özellikle kısa tutulmasındaki amaç elbette anlaşılır, çünkü böyle netameli ve girişmesi hayli cesaret isteyen, yoruma fazlasıyla açık, her an metafizik sınırlara girip bilimsellikten ödün verebilecek gibi duran açıklamaları makul sınırlar içinde izah etmek gerekir. Ancak, yorumlardan bazıları bu kısalık nedeniyle okurun kafasını daha da karıştıracakmış gibi görünüyor. Kişisel olarak, Çoklu Dünyalar Yorumu’nu biraz fazla kompakt hale getirilmiş bulduğumu söylemeliyim. Kapsamı belirsizlik içinde yüzdürerek olguları fazlaca ziplemek diğer yorumlara hak ettiklerinden fazla zaman/yer ayırdığını düşünmeme neden oldu. Belki Kopenhag Yorumu ilk “teselli” olduğu için üstünde çok durmayı hak ediyor denebilir ama diğer yorumlarla organik ilişkisi ele alınınca, tekrara düşerek diğer yorumlara ayrılan alanı daraltmış.
Gribbin’in kuantum fiziğinin tüm girişimlerini, sonuçları ve yorumlarıyla beraber Lewis Carrol’un Jabberwocky şiirinde anlatmaya çalıştığı absürt olgulara benzetmesine ise tek kelimeyle bayıldım. Daha kitabın girişinde, kalkıştığı işin sonunda bu şiirin anlattığından fazlasını yapamayacağını hatta teorinin bugün dahi fazlasını yapamadığını kabul etmesi ise harikulade yaratıcı ve gerçekçi geldi bana.
Türkçe’ye çevirisi de çok başarılı olan bu eseri (Çeviren: Arda Barişta, Alfa Yayınları) ilgili okura, bir başlangıç noktası olarak kesinlikle tavsiye ederim.
January 14, 2023
I have a hypothesis: explaining quantum mechanics in an approachable way is an impossible task. It cannot be done. Any attempt at explanation leads only to further confusion, and the necessity for obscure jargon that cannot really be avoided. Quantum physics is a realm where analogy and metaphor break down. There is simply no adequate frame of reference, nothing the human mind can compare to, in order to better understand.
As Feynman puts it in a quote at the end of this book, “I think I can safely say that nobody understands quantum mechanics… Do not keep saying to yourself, if you can possibly avoid it, ‘But how can it be like that?’ because you will go ‘down the drain’ into a blind alley from which nobody has yet escaped. Nobody knows how it can be like that.”
This is my solace for feeling like a quantum idiot upon finishing this book. Despite a valiant effort by Gribbin—explaining quantum physics clearly for the layman is an elephantine task—I was lost throughout most of this book. Scratching my head in frustration and thinking, against Feynman’s advice, “but how could that be so?” And grasping violently for clarity, to try to piece things together into some semblance of coherence: superpositions, wavefunctjon collapse, waves going forward and backward in time, entanglement, spooky action at a distance, “beables”, and so on.
I don’t know if three stars is totally fair, because I don’t know how the author could have done a better job. This review should not put you off giving this book a shot.
What I took from this book is a vague understanding of some of the dilemmas faced in the field of quantum physics. That certainty, that is measurable definitiveness of a physical state, is a quantum pipe dream. Instead, this field deals largely with the wonky and fuzzy science of statistics and probabilities, seemingly impossible simultaneity, ignoring the “rules” of the universe—times forward arrow and the unsurpassable speed of light.
Definitely worth a read, but this book didn’t do what I wanted it to, at least for me: give me a confident understanding of the broad strokes of quality tim mechanics. But I’m beginning to think that may be impossible.
As Feynman puts it in a quote at the end of this book, “I think I can safely say that nobody understands quantum mechanics… Do not keep saying to yourself, if you can possibly avoid it, ‘But how can it be like that?’ because you will go ‘down the drain’ into a blind alley from which nobody has yet escaped. Nobody knows how it can be like that.”
This is my solace for feeling like a quantum idiot upon finishing this book. Despite a valiant effort by Gribbin—explaining quantum physics clearly for the layman is an elephantine task—I was lost throughout most of this book. Scratching my head in frustration and thinking, against Feynman’s advice, “but how could that be so?” And grasping violently for clarity, to try to piece things together into some semblance of coherence: superpositions, wavefunctjon collapse, waves going forward and backward in time, entanglement, spooky action at a distance, “beables”, and so on.
I don’t know if three stars is totally fair, because I don’t know how the author could have done a better job. This review should not put you off giving this book a shot.
What I took from this book is a vague understanding of some of the dilemmas faced in the field of quantum physics. That certainty, that is measurable definitiveness of a physical state, is a quantum pipe dream. Instead, this field deals largely with the wonky and fuzzy science of statistics and probabilities, seemingly impossible simultaneity, ignoring the “rules” of the universe—times forward arrow and the unsurpassable speed of light.
Definitely worth a read, but this book didn’t do what I wanted it to, at least for me: give me a confident understanding of the broad strokes of quality tim mechanics. But I’m beginning to think that may be impossible.
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September 18, 2020I don't know how to rate this book. It did a perfectly fine job in achieving its objective, explaining 6 impossible things. However, I was sort of desperate to read a Gribbin book because I wanted to read about his particular views on time, chaos, complexity, symmetry, multiverse., and especially the emergence of life It seemed like it would be very complimentary to read Gribbin along with Paul Davies book, The Demon in the Machine (only halfway through, but it is the best book I might have ever read). But the only book I could get in audio version and for free, was this book. I am spending all my non audio time actually reading Davie's book. So, I ended up with this. It was a good enough explanation of 6 impossible things, but it wasn't filled with any awe. In fact, in the introduction, Gribbin explicitly told his reader he would not be injecting his own thoughts into the book. Can you imagine how sad I was? I was looking for specific Gribbin insights. Instead, I got 6 impossible things, which have been written about ad nauseam by so many other authors. :( But, it's my own fault for not buying a Gribbin book more to my interest.
Gribbin did a nice job explaining:
- Copenhagen interpretation (I would recommend, What is Real, by Adam Becker)
- Timeless Transactional Interpretation
- Many worlds-Decoherence (This is something I am extremely interested in an would love recommendations on the best books that cover this topic)
- Pilot Wave Interpretation
Gribbin did a nice job explaining:
- Copenhagen interpretation (I would recommend, What is Real, by Adam Becker)
- Timeless Transactional Interpretation
- Many worlds-Decoherence (This is something I am extremely interested in an would love recommendations on the best books that cover this topic)
- Pilot Wave Interpretation
August 7, 2021
Gribbin's short book explains six different theories in quantum physics that all try to solve the same conundrum - the two-slit light experiment. He writes with good humour and knowledge, and the book is accessible for the most part (although deals with some very complex ideas). It is enjoyable, sharp, and well structured to make these ideas accessible to a broad audience.
One complaint worth noting is the "traditional" perspective of a book published in 2019. For example, Gribbin highlights the individual achievements of specific physicists (with photographs of certain famous characters) without acknowledging the assistance of colleagues or research students. Similarly, there are no women or non-western scientists named from one side of the book to the other, which could have at least been acknowledged as a bias in the theories presented, even if it would have meant little adjustment to the final book.
One complaint worth noting is the "traditional" perspective of a book published in 2019. For example, Gribbin highlights the individual achievements of specific physicists (with photographs of certain famous characters) without acknowledging the assistance of colleagues or research students. Similarly, there are no women or non-western scientists named from one side of the book to the other, which could have at least been acknowledged as a bias in the theories presented, even if it would have meant little adjustment to the final book.
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November 18, 2020I feel like I can’t justify actually rating this book because I hardly understood any of it. But I’m going to give it the benefit of the doubt and say I would have LOVED this one if I were a physicist. 5/5 theoretical stars
September 3, 2019
Not sure how to rate this... Not one for the physics-impaired but that doesn't make it a bad book... Definitely interesting and it did pack a lot into 100-odd pages!
3.5? 4?
3.5? 4?
February 11, 2020
If you are new to the world of quantum mystery, this book will leave you in a superposition: with the releave of understanding and not understanding at all
March 3, 2020
Quick and pretty accessible read, considering the subject matter.
June 14, 2020
What made me like this book so much was how straightforward it is, I love that in science books.
(I've boarded the physics train and I will try to make the most out of it!)
(I've boarded the physics train and I will try to make the most out of it!)
June 29, 2024
part of the reason I picked this specific book up was the cover blurb calling it “an accessible primer to…,” but honestly for someone at the beginner level it wasn’t superrrr comprehensible (that’s my mistake tho tbh). pretty good writing and was overall a fairly good introduction to these six approaches but it was concise to the point where too many things were regarded as common knowledge (if only u could see my search history and see many times I had to keeping googling the CI cause I just could not wrap my head around it lmao).
January 15, 2021
I've been reading about quantum mechanics for years now and can confidently agree with the great Richard Feynman : "I think I can safely say that nobody understands quantum mechanics...."
A concise and thorough elucidation of 6 of the fundamental theories of the quantum world - pick which one you like best :)
A concise and thorough elucidation of 6 of the fundamental theories of the quantum world - pick which one you like best :)
December 5, 2020
Excellent synthesis of the main interpretations of QM, with their historical contexts and philosophical implications. Concise, but packs a punch.
August 28, 2022
I read a lot of physics-for-laymen books and I found this one a bit harder to understand than some of my favorites. Additionally, some of the things I did understand were because of my other reading and I don't think I would have grasped if I only read this. It was difficult to differentiate the different interpretations of quantum entanglement as explained by Gribbon.
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August 3, 2025source Hoopla audio - Just over 2 hours . a good dog walking audio. Listen to twice. Notes to follow
June 18, 2024
AN OVERVIEW OF SIX DIFFERENT APPROACHES TO QUANTUM MECHANICS
John R. Gribbin (born 1946) is a British science writer, astrophysicist, and a visiting fellow in astronomy at the University of Sussex. In 1974, Gribbin also published (and later regretted) 'The Jupiter Effect,' which predicted that the alignment of the planets in March 1982 would cause gravitational effects that would trigger earthquakes in the San Andreas fault, possibly wiping out Los Angeles and its suburbs.
He wrote in the Preface to this 2019 book, “I thought it might be worth offering an agnostic overview of some of the main interpretations of quantum physics. All of them are crazy, compared with common sense… but in this world, crazy does not necessarily mean wrong… I have chosen six examples… I have my own views on their relative merits… Before offering those interpretations, though, I ought to make it clear just what we are trying to interpret.” (Pg. x-xi)
He explains, “Although the jumping-off point for Bell’s Theorem was an attempt to understand quantum physics… there results do not apply only to quantum physics. They apply to the world---the Universe. Whether or not you think that quantum physics might one day be replaced by a description of how the world works, this will not change things. The experiments show that local reality does not apply to the Universe. Whether you choose to find solace in keeping reality and accepting non-locality, or in keeping locality and rejecting reality, is a matter of personal preference, as we shall see.” (Pg. 17-18)
He notes, “When an atom absorbs light, an electron disappears from one orbit and appears in one further out from the nucleus of the atom. But it does not MOVE from one orbit to the other. First it is here; then it is there. This is known as a quantum leap… Schrödinger intended his wave mechanics to explain what happens during the leap, but it didn’t and he said: ‘If all this damned quantum jumping were really here to stay, I should be sorry I ever got involved with quantum theory.’” (Pg. 24)
He states, “In essence, the Copenhagen Interpretation says that a quantum entity does not have a certain property---any property---until it is measured. Which raises all kinds of questions about what constitutes a measurement. Does human intelligence have to be involved?... It was this kind of concern that led Schrödinger to come up with his famous puzzle about the cat locked in a room… Is the cat … in a superposition of states, both dead and alive, until someone opens the door of the rom to look in?” (Pg. 31-32)
He recounts, “De Broglie spelled out the pilot wave argument in detail… at the Como meeting. Looking back with the benefit of hindsight, in 1987, John Bell wrote in this book ‘Speakable and Unspeakable in Quantum Mechanics’: ‘this idea seems to natural and simple, to resolve the wave-particle dilemma in such a clear and ordinary way, that it is a great mystery to me that is was so generally ignored.’ Actually, this is not such a great mystery… [Niels] Bohr, aided… by Wolfgang Pauli, poured scorn on the idea and crushed the more diffident de Broglie, more by the force of their personalities and … reputations than by the validity of their arguments. The second reason de Broglie’s idea got trashed, was von Neumann’s incorrect ‘proof’ that such theories were impossible. De Broglie gave up any attempt to promote his idea, and it was … completely forgotten by physicists…” (Pg. 38)
He states, “it’s worth mentioning a surprising comment on [David] Bohm’s theory from someone who might have been expected to endorse it. Even though Einstein had been the instigator of Bohm’s attempt to find an alternative to the Copenhagen Interpretation, on 12 May 1952, he wrote to Max Born: ‘Have you notices that Bohm believes (as de Broglie did, by the way, 25 years ago) that he is able to interpret the quantum theory in deterministic form? That way seems too cheap to me.’ Nobody is quite sure what he meant by this, but it highlights the confusion surrounding all of the interpretations of quantum mechanics.” (Pg. 44)
Turning to the ‘Many World Interpretation’ [MWI] of Hugh Everett III, he records, “[the idea] as enthusiastically promoted by Bryce DeWitt… who wrote: ‘every quantum transition taking place in every star, in every galaxy, in every remote corner of the universe is spitting our local world on Earth into myriad copies of itself.’ This became too much for [John] Wheeler, who backtracked from his original endorsement of the MWI, and … said: ‘I have reluctantly had to give up my support of that point of view in the end---because I am afraid it carries too great a load of metaphysical baggage.” (Pg. 48)
He states, “So what actually happens when a ‘pure’ quantum entity interacts with the outside world and ‘docoheres’? It doesn’t get LESS entangled, but MORE… there is no such thing as a ‘pure’ quantum system separated from the world outside… but an entangled system of both, a superposition of everything that has interacted with the original particle and everything it has ever interacted with, and everything that that everything has ever interacted with or has ever come into contact with. ‘Decoherence’ actually involves linking everything in the entire world---the Universe---into a single quantum system. We no longer detect the quantumness of the once-isolated particle because it is mixed-up with everything else.” (Pg. 59)
He argues, “This also pulls the rug from under one of the philosophical objections to the Copenhagen Interpretation. Taken at face value, the CI says that ‘nothing is real’ unless it is being observed… So, said opponents of the idea, does the Moon exist when nobody is looking at it[?]… Did it exist, in this sense, before there was life on Earth? Bohr had no satisfactory answer to this. The Decoherence Interpretation has---photons from the microwave background radiation, let alone those of sunlight, are more than adequate to produce decoherence and make the Moon ‘real.’” (Pg. 60-61)
He explains, “Quantum mechanics, says [Lee] Smolin, applies to small subsystems of the Universe, which come in many copies… but macroscopic systems, like cats and people, have no copies anywhere in the Universe, so they are not affected by the copying process that involves interacting quantum beables. They have nothing to interact with, in this sense. This has some interesting implications. First, the Universe must be finite… Secondly,… Smolin can also derive the laws of classical mechanics… as an approximation of quantum mechanics. But he suspects that quantum mechanics is itself an approximate version of some deeper description of the Universe… and he goes to far as to suggest that genuine faster-than-light signaling might occur if that is the case… If all this sound bizarre, Smolin has a reminder for us. At one time, people found it impossible to believe that the Sun influenced … the planets.” (Pg. 72-73)
He outlines the Transactional Interpretation: “It should be no surprise that the way the Transactional Interpretation deals with time differs from common sense, because the Transactional Interpretation explicitly includes the effects of relativity theory. The Copenhagen Interpretation, by contrast, treats time in the classical… way, and this is at the heart of the inconsistencies in any attempt to explain the results of quantum experiments measuring Bell’s inequality in terms of the Copenhagen interpretation.” (Pg. 83)
He concludes, “All the Solaces are equally good; all of them are equally bad. At least that means you are free to choose whichever one gives you most comfort, and ignore the rest.” (Pg. 84)
This brief book will interest those looking for overview of major interpretations of quantum mechanics.
John R. Gribbin (born 1946) is a British science writer, astrophysicist, and a visiting fellow in astronomy at the University of Sussex. In 1974, Gribbin also published (and later regretted) 'The Jupiter Effect,' which predicted that the alignment of the planets in March 1982 would cause gravitational effects that would trigger earthquakes in the San Andreas fault, possibly wiping out Los Angeles and its suburbs.
He wrote in the Preface to this 2019 book, “I thought it might be worth offering an agnostic overview of some of the main interpretations of quantum physics. All of them are crazy, compared with common sense… but in this world, crazy does not necessarily mean wrong… I have chosen six examples… I have my own views on their relative merits… Before offering those interpretations, though, I ought to make it clear just what we are trying to interpret.” (Pg. x-xi)
He explains, “Although the jumping-off point for Bell’s Theorem was an attempt to understand quantum physics… there results do not apply only to quantum physics. They apply to the world---the Universe. Whether or not you think that quantum physics might one day be replaced by a description of how the world works, this will not change things. The experiments show that local reality does not apply to the Universe. Whether you choose to find solace in keeping reality and accepting non-locality, or in keeping locality and rejecting reality, is a matter of personal preference, as we shall see.” (Pg. 17-18)
He notes, “When an atom absorbs light, an electron disappears from one orbit and appears in one further out from the nucleus of the atom. But it does not MOVE from one orbit to the other. First it is here; then it is there. This is known as a quantum leap… Schrödinger intended his wave mechanics to explain what happens during the leap, but it didn’t and he said: ‘If all this damned quantum jumping were really here to stay, I should be sorry I ever got involved with quantum theory.’” (Pg. 24)
He states, “In essence, the Copenhagen Interpretation says that a quantum entity does not have a certain property---any property---until it is measured. Which raises all kinds of questions about what constitutes a measurement. Does human intelligence have to be involved?... It was this kind of concern that led Schrödinger to come up with his famous puzzle about the cat locked in a room… Is the cat … in a superposition of states, both dead and alive, until someone opens the door of the rom to look in?” (Pg. 31-32)
He recounts, “De Broglie spelled out the pilot wave argument in detail… at the Como meeting. Looking back with the benefit of hindsight, in 1987, John Bell wrote in this book ‘Speakable and Unspeakable in Quantum Mechanics’: ‘this idea seems to natural and simple, to resolve the wave-particle dilemma in such a clear and ordinary way, that it is a great mystery to me that is was so generally ignored.’ Actually, this is not such a great mystery… [Niels] Bohr, aided… by Wolfgang Pauli, poured scorn on the idea and crushed the more diffident de Broglie, more by the force of their personalities and … reputations than by the validity of their arguments. The second reason de Broglie’s idea got trashed, was von Neumann’s incorrect ‘proof’ that such theories were impossible. De Broglie gave up any attempt to promote his idea, and it was … completely forgotten by physicists…” (Pg. 38)
He states, “it’s worth mentioning a surprising comment on [David] Bohm’s theory from someone who might have been expected to endorse it. Even though Einstein had been the instigator of Bohm’s attempt to find an alternative to the Copenhagen Interpretation, on 12 May 1952, he wrote to Max Born: ‘Have you notices that Bohm believes (as de Broglie did, by the way, 25 years ago) that he is able to interpret the quantum theory in deterministic form? That way seems too cheap to me.’ Nobody is quite sure what he meant by this, but it highlights the confusion surrounding all of the interpretations of quantum mechanics.” (Pg. 44)
Turning to the ‘Many World Interpretation’ [MWI] of Hugh Everett III, he records, “[the idea] as enthusiastically promoted by Bryce DeWitt… who wrote: ‘every quantum transition taking place in every star, in every galaxy, in every remote corner of the universe is spitting our local world on Earth into myriad copies of itself.’ This became too much for [John] Wheeler, who backtracked from his original endorsement of the MWI, and … said: ‘I have reluctantly had to give up my support of that point of view in the end---because I am afraid it carries too great a load of metaphysical baggage.” (Pg. 48)
He states, “So what actually happens when a ‘pure’ quantum entity interacts with the outside world and ‘docoheres’? It doesn’t get LESS entangled, but MORE… there is no such thing as a ‘pure’ quantum system separated from the world outside… but an entangled system of both, a superposition of everything that has interacted with the original particle and everything it has ever interacted with, and everything that that everything has ever interacted with or has ever come into contact with. ‘Decoherence’ actually involves linking everything in the entire world---the Universe---into a single quantum system. We no longer detect the quantumness of the once-isolated particle because it is mixed-up with everything else.” (Pg. 59)
He argues, “This also pulls the rug from under one of the philosophical objections to the Copenhagen Interpretation. Taken at face value, the CI says that ‘nothing is real’ unless it is being observed… So, said opponents of the idea, does the Moon exist when nobody is looking at it[?]… Did it exist, in this sense, before there was life on Earth? Bohr had no satisfactory answer to this. The Decoherence Interpretation has---photons from the microwave background radiation, let alone those of sunlight, are more than adequate to produce decoherence and make the Moon ‘real.’” (Pg. 60-61)
He explains, “Quantum mechanics, says [Lee] Smolin, applies to small subsystems of the Universe, which come in many copies… but macroscopic systems, like cats and people, have no copies anywhere in the Universe, so they are not affected by the copying process that involves interacting quantum beables. They have nothing to interact with, in this sense. This has some interesting implications. First, the Universe must be finite… Secondly,… Smolin can also derive the laws of classical mechanics… as an approximation of quantum mechanics. But he suspects that quantum mechanics is itself an approximate version of some deeper description of the Universe… and he goes to far as to suggest that genuine faster-than-light signaling might occur if that is the case… If all this sound bizarre, Smolin has a reminder for us. At one time, people found it impossible to believe that the Sun influenced … the planets.” (Pg. 72-73)
He outlines the Transactional Interpretation: “It should be no surprise that the way the Transactional Interpretation deals with time differs from common sense, because the Transactional Interpretation explicitly includes the effects of relativity theory. The Copenhagen Interpretation, by contrast, treats time in the classical… way, and this is at the heart of the inconsistencies in any attempt to explain the results of quantum experiments measuring Bell’s inequality in terms of the Copenhagen interpretation.” (Pg. 83)
He concludes, “All the Solaces are equally good; all of them are equally bad. At least that means you are free to choose whichever one gives you most comfort, and ignore the rest.” (Pg. 84)
This brief book will interest those looking for overview of major interpretations of quantum mechanics.
June 1, 2024
This was such a relief! I'd recently tossed Deutsch's "The Fabric of Reality" because he was insisting on what I thought was a really crazed explanation of the results quantum investigators routinely get. I thought to myself "surely there's a more rational explanation that scientists simply haven't thought of yet," and sure enough, John Gribbin has come along to offer 5 other explanations, and the consoling thought that scientists actually don't agree on which (if any) is a correct explanation, and even goes so far as to share my hope that someday someone will think of someone that works, and doesn't violate our common sense quite so much.
(Although I'm already mostly on board with explanation #5. That one I can live with).
He's a good enough science writer that I also understood, all the way through. Often with sciency books, especially tricky ones about quantum or infinity or big bangs, etc., I feel a bit thick near the 70% mark, and am not entirely certain I grasped most of the conclusions. Here, I was right with him. I got it all.
And for anyone who thinks "why do you have to understand why something happens? Isn't it enough to know what happens?" I would argue the opposite is more important. As lovely as it is to be able to predict, or to calculate (Math is in the same boat for me), the understanding is far more essential to me. I recall Eugenia Cheng citing a parent who boasted something like "my tiny child can count to 20," while another parent retorted with "mine can count to 3, but they understand what that means."
(Note: I'm a writer, so I suffer when I offer fewer than five stars. But these aren't ratings of quality, they're a subjective account of how much I liked the book: 5* = an unalloyed pleasure from start to finish, 4* = enjoyed it, 3* = readable but not thrilling, 2* = disappointing, and 1* = hated it.)
(Although I'm already mostly on board with explanation #5. That one I can live with).
He's a good enough science writer that I also understood, all the way through. Often with sciency books, especially tricky ones about quantum or infinity or big bangs, etc., I feel a bit thick near the 70% mark, and am not entirely certain I grasped most of the conclusions. Here, I was right with him. I got it all.
And for anyone who thinks "why do you have to understand why something happens? Isn't it enough to know what happens?" I would argue the opposite is more important. As lovely as it is to be able to predict, or to calculate (Math is in the same boat for me), the understanding is far more essential to me. I recall Eugenia Cheng citing a parent who boasted something like "my tiny child can count to 20," while another parent retorted with "mine can count to 3, but they understand what that means."
(Note: I'm a writer, so I suffer when I offer fewer than five stars. But these aren't ratings of quality, they're a subjective account of how much I liked the book: 5* = an unalloyed pleasure from start to finish, 4* = enjoyed it, 3* = readable but not thrilling, 2* = disappointing, and 1* = hated it.)
December 21, 2019
Warning: This is not a light read or a cute book on weird science experiments.
If you're not a physics geek or enthusiast this book will give you headache very quickly.
Quick test to find out if you are one:
1. You watched the Big Bang Theory
2. You laughed at all (literally all) the jokes
3. You tried to understand the joke where you were supposed to laugh but didn't
I have always had the intrigue and patience for theoretical physics; although it is completely irrelevant to my life/job.
If you don't identify yourself with this, maybe this book is not for you.
Most of us, at some point, have studied the light beam through two holes in a paper experiment in science, demonstrating the interference pattern and dual nature of light as both a particle and wave.
John Gribbin describes the six out of many interpretations of the working of quantum mechanics/world in the most simple yet scientifically correct manner.
Each approach or concept is as put correctly by the author himself, is crazier than the other.
Still had to read several sections twice to wrap my head around. Probably would have to reread a couple of them again to register clearly.
In conclusion, the author does a great job at condensing each interpretation (which most likely is a lifetime of studying) into few pages.
If you're not a physics geek or enthusiast this book will give you headache very quickly.
Quick test to find out if you are one:
1. You watched the Big Bang Theory
2. You laughed at all (literally all) the jokes
3. You tried to understand the joke where you were supposed to laugh but didn't
I have always had the intrigue and patience for theoretical physics; although it is completely irrelevant to my life/job.
If you don't identify yourself with this, maybe this book is not for you.
Most of us, at some point, have studied the light beam through two holes in a paper experiment in science, demonstrating the interference pattern and dual nature of light as both a particle and wave.
John Gribbin describes the six out of many interpretations of the working of quantum mechanics/world in the most simple yet scientifically correct manner.
Each approach or concept is as put correctly by the author himself, is crazier than the other.
Still had to read several sections twice to wrap my head around. Probably would have to reread a couple of them again to register clearly.
In conclusion, the author does a great job at condensing each interpretation (which most likely is a lifetime of studying) into few pages.
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