Quantum Computing for The Very Curious

by Michael Nielsen

A series of articles explaining Quantum Computing from the very basics for the very curious.

Genres: Science, Physics, Computer Science, Technology

Article Series

Published April 1, 2019

About the author

On friend requests: I use the "updates" list a lot to find new books. So I will only accept friend requests if either (a) we're actually friends; or (b) your list of updates is mostly books that look really interesting to me, and like the kind of thing I might otherwise not see. It doesn't mean I don't like you if I don't accept the request!


On technical books: I struggle with how to shelve technical books. Serious reading of such a book may take an hour or more per page; I will rarely seriously read the entire book for that reason. On the other hand, I would like to put those books on my Goodreads profile.

Up until October 2023 I mostly simply didn't put them on my profile, with a few exceptions. Going forward I will add more, but tend to shelve them under "serious_use". Roughly speaking, that means I will have seriously used a fair bit of the book - many hours (or, sometimes, far more) of use.

Reviews

[Yury Kashnitsky · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very gentle introduction to basics of quantum computation, with all concepts appearing in context, with necessary connections to classical computer science and physics. The online version of the essay is enriched with Anki-like embedded tests which help solidify and reinforce the acquired knowledge. Highly recommended for anyone who wants to understand the basics of quantum computation or, in general, to any curious people with some background in physics, math, and Computer Science.

[Jovany Agathe]

The time to learn about quantum computing is now.