Absolutely Small: How Quantum Theory Explains Our Everyday World

by Michael D. Fayer

Demystifies the world of quantum science for the layperson, exploring scientific concepts—from particles of light, to probability, to states of matter, to what makes greenhouse gases bad—in considerable depth, but using examples from the everyday world. By the author of of Elements of Quantum Mechanics.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Physics, History, Popular Science, Quantum Mechanics, Audiobook

383 pages, Hardcover

First published June 16, 2010

About the author

Michael D. Fayer is an American chemical physicist. He is the David Mulvane Ehrsam and Edward Curtis Franklin Professor of Chemistry at Stanford University.
He attended the University of California at Berkeley for both undergraduate and graduate school. He received his Ph.D. in Chemistry in 1974 under the supervision of Professor Charles B. Harris. Fayer began his academic career at Stanford as an Assistant Professor in 1974.
Fayer pioneered and launched a fundamental transformation of how the dynamics and dynamical interactions of complex molecular systems are investigated. The multiple experimental approaches he initiated have forever changed the manner in which chemists, biologist, molecular physicists, and materials scientist interrogate key aspects of nature.

By the early 1970s, just as Fayer was beginning his career, advances in laser technology were occurring to make pulses of light that were short enough to get to the time scales of molecular motions. While Fayer contributed to laser development, his real ground breaking contributions are in the methods that we use to look at molecular motions. Even with ultrashort pulses of light, it is still not possible to look, in the normal sense of the word, at molecules moving. Fayer developed and continues to develop and apply what are called ultrafast nonlinear optical experiments to the study of molecular dynamics in complex molecular systems such as liquids, glasses, crystals, and biological systems. Ultrafast nonlinear methods involve sequences of light pulses. In a typical experiment, three pulses of light impinge on a sample, and remarkably, the nonlinear interactions in the sample give rise to a fourth pulse of light that leaves the sample in a unique direction. If the experiments are conducted with visible light, you can actually see this nonlinear production of an additional light pulse. Three beams of ultrashort light pulses go into the sample, but four beams of light come out of the sample. It is this fourth beam of light that contains the information about the sample. There are many versions of this type of experiment that Fayer developed and applied to understanding molecular materials. Depending on the timing of the pulses, the colors of the pulses, and the directions of the pulses coming into the sample, different properties can be investigated. Fayer drove the field of ultrafast optical spectroscopy through his developments and use of these new methods to explicate the properties of complex molecular systems.

Fayer’s contributions are a play with two acts. In the first act, approximately 1974 through 1993, Fayer’s ultrafast nonlinear experiments were conducted using visible or ultraviolet light. These were the colors that were available with the laser technology of the time. In the early 1990s, Fayer realized that a great leap could be taken if the experiments could be extended to the infrared regions of the optical spectrum. Infrared light acts on molecular vibrations, which are the motions of the atoms that make up molecules. By using infrared light, it is possible to more directly interrogate the structural dynamics of molecular systems than with the use of visible or ultraviolet light. However, a source of ultrashort infrared light pulses was necessary, so Fayer got together with Stanford physicists to use a physics experiment, the free electron laser, and turn it to the study of molecular process using ultrafast infrared nonlinear experiments. These first experiments using the free electron laser, which was two football fields long and took a crew to run, set off an explosion of interest in infrared nonlinear methods. In less than ten years, it became possible to perform the experiments using lasers that could be housed in a normal laboratory and did not require a free electron laser. Fayer contributed substantially to the equipment side, but his main creative impact was exploiting the new ultrafast infrared methods and technology for a wide variety

Reviews

[Kyle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh, Dr. Fayer...

How in your own world you are. In the foreword to this book, Michael Fayer claims that it is an attempt to remove the technical terminology and math from the discussion, and instead focus on explaining the world around us at a quantum level. Well... he certainly manages to explain, at a quantum level, a wide range of everyday things we take for granted. Yet, he uses technical speak and math to do it.


Without using any math or technical terms, I shall now explain to you what's happening in your body when you eat this bacon. Now, all we need to do is look at this equation and figure out the trigonal molecule with 120 degree bonds. Atomic boron has three valence electrons, two in the 2s and one in a 2p orbital. We promote one electron from a 2s orbital to a 2p orbital. If the molecule lies in the xy plane, then the 2p orbitals... *snore*..."wha? What happened? Oh yes, I'm still listening doctor... To form the equilateral trigonal BH3 molecule, the three boron atomic orbital will hybridize to yield three atomic orbitals... *snore*..."Wha! No. I must pay attention. This stuff is interesting dammit, and I want to learn!" ...The lipoproteins can be divided into two classes: Low density lipoproteins (LDL) and high density lipoproteins (HDL). They are somewhat egg-shaped with an approximate diameter of 200 A(200X10^-10 meters). The volume of these particles is approximately 5,000,000 A^3. So, an LDL or HDL particle is about 20,000 times...what was that thud? "Ow! that really hurt my head! Um, thanks doctor, but I have to go now, my cat is on fire. Sure thing, just remember: quantum physics without technical mumbo jumbo or math of any kind is great fun! "yeah...um... see you next time!"


"... the idea of next time scares me."


This book is a valid attempt at writing a quantum physics book meant to explain everyday things. But the author is not honest with himself at all about the reality of what he's trying to explain. He claims, over and over again, to be presenting the material for an audience that doesn't need math or a previous understanding of quantum physics. I'm sure, to his mind, he has made his material remarkably accessible, and has dumbed the math down as much as he can. The problem? Some things can only be dumbed down so much, and some people just aren't equipped to handle the demands Dr. Fayer puts upon them.

Luckily for me, I have enough of an armchair physics familiarity that I was able to at least understand what Dr. Fayer was saying. That doesn't mean it was accessible or interesting. This book is probably at the accretion edge of my ability to follow the material, and frankly, I obviously learned a lot since I can't look at a kitchen stove the same way again. I think the book would have just been easier to swallow if Dr. Fayer had been more realistic about the accessibility of this book. Hopefully he will try writing another one so I have a chance to read that one too. And hopefully, by that time, he will have adjusted the accessibility level of it, or I will have gotten more learned. Either one is fine for me, and I shall try to achieve my side of the goal. :)

[David Rubenstein · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent book for a non-specialist. It may be a bit challenging to a non-scientist with little math background--but the math is not difficult--just simple algebra. The book is filled with useful diagrams that really do help elucidate the concepts. I like how the book starts from first principles of quantum theory. It explains lucidly how quantum theory deviates from classical physics. The book explains that in classical physics, relative sizes matter, but in quantum physics, absolute sizes matter.

The book has an excellent discussion of the wave-particle duality of light. Starting from first principles, the book builds up slowly from the smallest scales--simple hydrogen atoms--up through the periodic table to large atoms, and then continues from simple molecules up through large, complex molecules. What I like best about this book, is how the author uses quantum theory to explain macroscopic properties of molecules. The book shows why carbon dioxide is a "greenhouse gas", and explains why it is important to the earth's climate. There is a good description of some types of organic molecules, including fats, alcohols, and cholesterol. The book explains exactly what saturated, unsaturated, and poly-unsaturated fats are, as well as transfatty acids, all from a quantum physics perspective.

My only complaint about this book is the editing. There are many misspelled words, and not all of them are typos. The editor should have caught the fact that "discreet" and "discrete" are two different words.

[Charles LaCour · Rating 5 out of 5]

The details of the topics covered in the book are likely not going to be interesting to someone who doesn't want to delve into why the electron orbitals of atoms and molecules are the way they are or even the molecular reason why saturated fat is bad for you.

In college I was planning to go into astrophysics but got sidetracked into computer science but still have a passion for physics so this was one of the best general discussions of QM that I have come across.

In many of the other reviews I have seen complaints that the author says without math but the book has math and technical jargon in it. However the level of math that is in the book is what I had in high school algebra and Fayer doesn't expect you to have to calculate things with the equations given he uses them to illustrate relations and explains them in as much detail is needed to understand his point.

Also I do not see how you can talk about any topic in any detail without having to resort to resort to related jargon.

[Islomjon · Rating 4 out of 5]

From scientific point of view, the book is insightful. However, as a main topic, Quantum Mechanics discussed only in the beginning within few chapters. It is worth to admit that the explanation of how Quantum mechanical world works was excellent and it was stright-forward to understand. But as soon as topics expand to explain classical world, it becomes a bit tough. Later chapters deal with chemistry and their corresponding reactions that I could not overcome at all.
Ultimately, I would highly recommend to read this book to those who want to understand Quantum Mechanics, for this elaborate uncovering unknown world.

[Chris Esposo · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Absolutely Small” is a unique read that successfully blends elements of a textbook on quantum mechanics, with a general tour of how quantum phenomena ultimately informs many ordinary experiences in everyday life by connecting the properties discussed and studied in the first 10 chapters to (mostly) molecular-level phenomena that influences everyday life, including greenhouse gases, the properties of ethanol, it’s solubility (and a general discourse on solubility), and how this can inform our understanding of soaps, the nature of various types of fats (saturated, unsaturated, trans, etc.), aromatic molecules (specifically focused on the most canonical, Benzene), and finally, the properties of conduction & insulation.

Of all of the quasi-layman books I’ve read on the subject of quantum mechanics (QM) or quantum phenomena, I’ve only the last topic (conduction) ever replicated in chapters of those books, which include most notably Anton Zeillinger’s most excellent text “Dance of the Photons” and Anansthaswamy Anil’s “Through two doors at once”. Those and the other 4 text in this subgenre do have intersections in topics-covered with this text, mostly in the preliminary/introductory material that covers the historical thinking around the ultraviolet catastrophe of the late 1800s/early-1900s that inspired Planks “cludge” (which became his constant), and the traditional folklore experiments, the double-slit and the various early interferometer experiments revolving around polarity, to which a considerable amount of Anil’s book is dedicated by design. The reason however, is that there is a divergence between this and those books that have more to do with trends in the field of quantum theory itself, which has finally started to look deeply into its own foundations. Thus, these other books are much more appropriate as prerequisites to studying quantum information or computing. Fayer’s follows the traditional outlines of an introductory QM textbook designed to equip physics students with the calculation/problem-solving knowledge to progress deeper into the field. This purposeful design makes Fayer’s text singular within this subgenre.

Treated well in this book was an exposition on waves (which is achieved without use of characterizing via a trigonometric identity) purely via english and figures, and a 1-page explanation of interferometers (though Anil’s book dedicates more time to explaining both the device and the early and experiments involving this apparatus). Also unique in this book is a treatment of superposition of an observable (say momenta) via it’s linear algebraic language (i.e. characterizing it as a linear combination of eigenstates/vectors). This sort of language is often only used in a textbook, though I do recall the notion of an eigenstate being referenced in other layman books of this class, it is a functional notion in Fayer’s text. Interestingly enough though, he does not leverage the bra-ket notation.

Following, Fayer has a fairly drawn out discussion of how to interpret amplitudes via Born’s rule, and how to understand empirical distribution functions via their first/second moments in an intuitive/diagrammatic way. All these concepts are in service to ultimately explaining Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle, which is well-done. Immediately afterwards there are 2 chapters of formal applications including photo diffraction to understand the functioning of a CRT (though obsolete now, probably made more sense 15 - 20 years ago), and a chapter on color, which also introduces more formal material, specifically the particle-in-a-box model to characterize energies of a wavefunction. Again, the sequencing of this material is surprisingly close to a standard textbook / course in this field from my understanding (something like the Feynman Lectures), and I appreciate this closeness to the functional material. There’s some mathematics here, but nothing beyond LHS/RHS identity algebra. The last of the “theoretical” textbook material is on the hydrogen atom, both Bohr’s analysis and Heiseneberg’s refinement. For a more exhaustive treatment of the former, I recommend readers check out Oxford’s “A Short Course on Bohr” just published in 2019/20, a good chunk of that book deals with Bohr’s theory of the atom and how he came to leverage the Rydberg constant and his associated algebra to complete his first theory of hydrogen.

Another unique feature of this book vis-a-vis other non-textbook books on QM is a treatment on the radial distribution function found in these chapters, that when squared (and normalized?) forms an empirical distribution to characterize the probability of an electron “to be found” in a certain radii away from the center of the nucleus of the atom. Up to this point, I understood the material fairly well, primarily because I’ve covered it previously in a more formal setting in QM or I’ve read the material so many times in other books in the subgenre. After the next applied topic, which is an exposition on how the material learned thus far w/ the Pauli Principle can explain the structure of the periodic table I was far less certain with the material, which as mentioned before delves deeper into the ramifications of these findings on molecular structure.

That material introduces the notion of bonds, as well as introducing two new analytic apparatus, the wire/ball model/diagram and the space-filling model, to understand how these molecules are arrayed in space. This is likely again due to the fact that this is the first time in a long time that I’ve been exposed to this subject (since HS chemistry). And this leads us to acknowledge a potential problem with this book, it may not be the best book to read as a first-pass on these topics. Although, the first 2/5th of the text I understood at least decently, that may have only been because it was a well-trodden path for me. The experience I had with the last 3/5ths on the “applications of QM to our everyday world” is primarily chemical/molecular not as much (on this first pass). It also didn’t help that I primarily consumed this book via audiobook (though I also read the Kindle in certain sections that weren’t as clear to me via audio the first time).

However, I can’t fault the author for this, QM is not meant to be easy, and I don’t think there’s an honest way of conveying this material at a level simpler than his treatment, that would still provide some useful, but more minimal level, of functional knowledge. This is the only (and possibly the best) treatment of the material that isn’t a textbook, but is true to its subject. I will have to append to this review another report after re-reading the later 3/5ths of the applied carefully visually. However, as it stands, I am impressed at the level of detail and function provided in this book. Combined by the novelty of a book on QM that focuses on things other than information/computing/foundations, and this is a 5-star tour of the material for those who are willing to put in a bit of work (and only if you are willing to put in that work). Recommended.

[Gendou · Rating 3 out of 5]

A strange but interesting book. The author is not a good writer, but he has a lot to say about quantum effects in our daily life. He spends too much time building up our mathematical vocabulary, when two or three English words might have sufficed.

[Clayton Perkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is not a book to listen to unless you have a good understanding of chemistry. The reader references dozens of molecular structures and unless you can visualize those you will struggle to grasp the content. College-level chemistry suggested.

[Лина Сакс · Rating 4 out of 5]

Книга для роста в развитии.

1. Если вы беретесь за эту книгу надеясь, что вот сейчас быстренько ее прочитаете и все поймете - забудьте, такого не будет!

2. Если вы все же решились взять книгу и прочитать для своего развития - готовьтесь! Вам потребуется время (так что не читайте ее по играм!), потребуется тетрадка и еще дополнительные материалы по мере того как вы будете встречаться в тексте с тем, чего не знали или благополучно забыли, школьную программу по физике и химии вам постараются напомнить, но восстанавливать знания все равно придется дополнительно самостоятельно. Иначе чтение этой книги пойдет коту под хвост!

На такой нон-фикшн довольно сложно писать рецензию, это как писать рецензию на учебник, а это дело непростое и ответственное, особенно понимая, как надо было работать с учебником и как я это ловко провалила. Но я за эту книгу хочу взяться второй раз и именно так, как советовала выше, вот бы кто мне это перед чтением посоветовал) Просто, когда читаешь в блоге про физику и космос рекомендацию на книгу:

Так что если вам тоже интересно почитать что-то последовательное про квантовую физику, но вашей математической подготовки не хватает, чтобы погрузиться в гильбертовы пространства, то эта книга — хороший выбор.

Ты считаешь, что ты умный и все сможешь и вроде как и математика тебе как мать родная, а оказывается, что если бы тут еще и математика была, то ты бы закопался в ней на год, а не на месяц. Но при этом книга действительно простая, полезная и без математики, но с кучей формул, куда уж от них деться. Потому что просто так сложно объяснить КАК:

Из повседневного опыта вы знаете, что яблоки падают вниз, а не вверх и что автомобилю, едущему быстрее, требуется больший путь, чтобы остановиться. Однако повседневный опыт не позволяет объяснить, почему вишня красная, а черника синяя. Цвет неразрывно связан с квантовомеханическим описанием молекул.

Без всей таблицы Менделеева этого, кстати, тоже нельзя объяснить. Так что тут все начинается с прекрасного греческого вечера (с). И это понятно только сейчас, когда книжку закрыл, день походил ни к чему не прикасаясь и давая вспухшему мозгу прийти в сознание. Майкл Файер как мог проще, буквально как для детей рассказывал про все что требуется для этого самого минимума. А в это понятие действительно входит не очень много, но основное, чтобы овладев этим, человек умел оперировать данными и смочь увидеть и узнать многое и даже самостоятельно, без подсказок.

Квантовая механика описывает движение электронов и форму молекул, скажем, ненасыщенных жиров, а также электропроводность и сверхпроводимость.

И Майкл Файер действительно уверен, что данное им развило человека, ну уж в крайнем случае помогло:

Пробившись через предыдущие главы, вы в своём квантовом мышлении выросли от младенца до взрослого.

Я в принципе тут на его стороне, действительно прочитав книгу уже можно многим оперировать и понимать как задействована квантовая механика, и даже попытаться это объяснить рядом стоящему или просто радоваться в одного, что теперь тебе видны не только проявления классической механики и ты теперь видишь дальше, больше, глубже, до молекул!

Только не надо думать, что все в голове уложится сразу, что вам не придется по раз пять перечитывать главу. Рост от младенца до взрослого займет не мало времени и не мало труда, а чтобы это хорошенько запомнить, понять не просто поверхностно, а так чтобы были обоснования отвечать людям на вопросы, придется учиться, учиться и еще раз учиться. (Фраза эта никогда не устареет).

Книга выстроена хорошо, от главы к главе с большим раскрытием темы. Мало того, из главы к главе есть повторения каких-то истин разными словами, чтобы уж точно до людей дошло, но это не просто повторения, это как напоминание, чтобы обратить внимание и тем поспособствовать создать цепочку понимания от простого к сложному от одной темы к другой, чтобы создать воспоминание, заставить наш ленивый мозг работать.

Как вывод могу сказать, что книга действительно хороший выбор чтобы узнать про квантовую механику и вырасти в ее понимании, только надо помнить, это не художественная литература, это именно учебник, пусть он и без математики, но учебник и с ней надо работать так же, как вы в школе работали над учебниками, только теперь это все под вашу ответственность. Где-то поленились, махнули, мол и так понятно, не закрепили тему и вы обязательно провалитесь дальше и вам придется вернуться даже раньше, чем там, где вы махнули рукой. Но это замечательно на самом деле, это то, что помогает, развивает, обучает, то что дает вам быть в теме мира. Для меня такое очень важно и я считаю, что и каждому человеку, который не хочет быть в отстающих это важно!) Читайте, становитесь умнее, вырастайте!

[Sebastian · Rating 2 out of 5]

There is a very special blindness about boundaries, encountered when experts try to explain things to non-experts (I’d avoid saying “laypersons”, for one may come short of being an expert in a field while not exactly being a full-on layperson, either). The expert knows so much about their own field that there are lots of things that, for them, are a given, something that everyone implicitly knows and something we can skip or skim over, yet for non-experts they are something that needs explaining. This is most readily visible around computers, when an expert tries to teach a novice without first covering all the fundamentals – frustration rapidly sets in on both sides, with the teacher thinking their student must be a moron, while the student either blames the teacher for not explaining things properly, or concludes that “this is all just too hard for me/I’m just stupid for these things”.

Well, Professor Fayer is blind as a bat in this regard.

He seemingly tries to explain the fundamentally mathematical concepts of quantum mechanics without using any math, and then without realizing he is doing it, slips right into, well, math. It’s like he tried to write a Quantum Chemistry 101 textbook, but hobbled himself by trying to avoid any calculus. It’s not that the math itself is too complicated, but once you do “just enough” math without doing it properly, the subject matter becomes confoundingly complex to follow, because your brain does not have the foundations upon which to rest the more complex concepts – unless you have already learned all that stuff elsewhere.

Had I not had a solid heaping of Professor Susskind’s Theoretical Minimum series under my belt, I suspect I would have given up quite early, but difficult as it was to follow, I soldiered on to a bit after half-way through, when I had to take a week-long break from reading this. By the time I returned to the book, so much of what was being explained evaporated from my head, that I had to re-read about a hundred pages – taking notes – just to get back to where I was, with a solid, albeit somewhat limited idea of how ionic and covalent bonds functioned at a quantum level.

And then the tedium started. The second (more-or-less) half of the book is an analysis of the shapes of molecules and why some of them react to other atoms, molecules or the general environment the way they do. This is elementary-to-high-school chemistry (at least in my neck of the woods), and although the first half of the book provides a decent explanation of why covalent and ionic bonding happens, all that can be abstracted away into the simple “rows and columns of the periodic table” rules of basic chemistry while reading the second part, making a significant part of the explanations superfluous. Despite this, the author insisted on giving very long-winded explanations about very simple relations constantly and unintelligibly referencing material from the first half of the book, leading to very rapid skimming over much of his commendable efforts to explain organic chemistry.

So, what the problem breaks down to is – I have no idea who the target audience for this book is. If it is supposed to be laypeople, they will be lost or bogged down in the incomplete, yet seriously complex explanation of quantum mechanics never reaching the practical and elementary quantum-chemical explanation of everyday phenomena. If it is non-experts (say, scientists with different fields of specialization) who want to peek into the world of quantum chemistry, they will be shortchanged by the lack of proper calculus that would describe exactly how orbitals and atoms and molecules get their shapes, and then, I suspect, get bored by the overly simplified explanations in the second half of the book.

[Samsara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read half of the book. It is detailed and complicated, and I lost interest because after he roll out the 4 factors, it is obvious he cannot explain more without high mathematics. I can see the facts, but won't really know why. It did show why transitional metal are transitional. Iron can either be 3+ or 2+ because the way the energy level locates.

If the disturbance to an object caused by an observation, which is another way of saying a measurement, is negligible, then the object is big. If the disturbance is nonnegligible, the object is small.

Dirac succinctly put forward the assumption that makes size absolute. Assume: There is a limit to the fineness of our powers of observation and the smallness of the accompanying disturbance, a limit that is inherent in the nature of things and can never be surpassed by improved technique or increased skill on the part of the observer.

It says that whenever you observe a system (make a measurement), there is always a disturbance; it may be small, but it is always there.

The energies of the different states of the hydrogen atom only depend on a single quantum number, n.

In the hydrogen atom, in addition to the principal quantum number n, the two other quantum numbers are l and m. l is called the orbital angular momentum quantum number and m is called the magnetic quantum number.

The fourth quantum number is s. It is called the spin quantum number.

The orbitals are probability amplitude waves that obey Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle, in contrast to Bohr’s orbits.

Adding d electrons in the transitions series doesn’t eliminate the ability of an element to give up its outermost (highest n) s electrons. The d electrons only add more electrons that can be lost under the right circumstances. Adding f electrons doesn’t change things. Therefore, in addition to the two left-hand columns of elements, all of the transition series of elements are metals, usually called the transition metals.

The interposition of the 3d orbitals between the 4s and the 4p orbitals gives rise to the first transition series in the Periodic Table.

Fe2+ is readily understandable. Fe can lose the two outtest 4s electrons just like Ca to make the +2 oxidation state.
In addition, Fe has six 3d electrons. Hund’s Rule says that electrons will stay unpaired if possible. it will readily lose a 3d electron in addition to the two 4s electrons to give an oxidation state of +3.

[Pia Bröker · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some good parts, but does not work for me as a whole.

This book is a little too ambitious in trying to explain the quantum world to non-scientists. The book consists of three parts that all seem to be for a different audience.
The first part is about the difference of relative and absolute small things and introduces the wave particle duality of light and electron. The concepts are explained with lovely analogies and even though it had a lot of maths I enjoyed reading it.
The second part is mostly about atoms and molecular electron orbits. This could be compared to high school chemistry lessons. But I liked the emphasis on quantum theory, and actually think I understand the topics better now.
And the last part is basically about everyday molecules like alcohol, fats, or greenhouse gases. I understand the intention, but I think it was very misplaced. I really did not get much from this part.

So while I think the author is brilliant in their field and made a great effort to write this book, I can not recommend it as a whole. The three parts don't feel like they connect well, and it might be either too hard to too boring at some points.
If I ever find books that do well in either of the three parts above, I will update this review.

[Lyle Blosser · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a great introduction to the quantum world and made the connection to what we experience daily (a.k.a. "the classical world") apparent and understandable. Of special interest was the explanation of why objects have color, and why molecules have the shapes (and therefore the physical properties) that they do, why electricity is conducted (or not) by certain materials, etc. To lift a phrase from the author, after reading this book, I no longer feel like a "quantum toddler". While the author did not exactly deliver on the "no math" portion of the book, the math itself was rather simple and straight-forward (for those with some background in basic algebra), and did not overly detract from the reading experience, and allowed the reader to dive a little deeper, if interested. If interested at all in the topic of quantum physics, and how it connects to the world around us, this makes for a great read.

[Jim Mann · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read a number of popular science books on quantum physics by physics such as Brian Greene, Lisa Randall, and Brian Cox. Absolutely Small is different: it's by a chemist. The book starts with a good overview of quantum physics, the Schrodinger Equation, the Uncertainty Principle, and so, unlike many other books, explores atoms and molecules. It discusses the quantum nature of molecular bonds, and how this influences size, shape, and other properties. It even looks at complex organic molecules, the Greenhouse effect, and electrical conductivity. A very worthwhile read.

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is not for the scientifically faint of heart. He sticks to his promise of no math, but he really digs into the atomic structure. If you don't remember the difference between a covalent and ionic bond, what a wave function is or the ground state of the hydrogen atom, then I'd suggest moving along. I'm not ashamed to admit there were portions of this book that I flat out skipped. Several chapters went way to far into the weeds for my level of understanding.

[Paññādhammika Bhikkhu · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is less about physics as it is about physical chemistry. Good book for A levels chemistry and physics student.

Also, don't believe the front where he says no equation, there's so many in them, and I listened to it on audiobook! To me it's more of revision and going a bit deeper into A levels chemistry as I have a bachelor's in Physics and don't mind it when he goes into equation mode, but audiobook wise, of course I couldn't follow it completely.

[Ronald · Rating 3 out of 5]

Skipped the middle part due to just how boring it is. Most of the layman readers would expect a book like this to explain some of the most intriguing quantum effects such as tunneling and entanglement. Instead, this is practically a chemistry book on how electrons end up where they are and the constraints on how molecules form and behave. I can’t imagine many people would seek this experience to go through the element table to learn about a part of the quantum physics.

[Robin J · Rating 4 out of 5]

Always good to have an entertaining review of concepts that have been learned but are rusty. Only gripe with the Audiobook was the forward to the book the author boasted that he wrote the book to not need the mathematics, then proceeded through the book by referring to graphs that are in the printed book a lot!

[Bijan Choudhury · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kudos for the great effort by the author. It is not at all easy to write about Quantam theory in simple layman language. Of course, there are portions that will go above your head but be sure that when you finish the book, you will know better than before.
Must read for young students.

[Plamen · Rating 3 out of 5]

**Synopsis:**

What gives objects their color? Why does copper conduct electricity, but glass does not? Why is carbon dioxide a greenhouse gas while oxygen and nitrogen are not? These are basic questions about how our world works that can’t be answered with the usual explanations.

Instead, we must turn to the fascinating field of quantum theory. *Absolutely Small* investigates the counterintuitive world of the tiniest particles on earth—photons, electrons, atoms, and molecules—that act nothing like objects in our human-sized world and actually upend conventional notions of physics.

*Absolutely Small* opens up this extraordinary field to nonscientists, as it presents complex ideas without the complex equations. You’ll finally “get it” about quantum physics and quantum chemistry, now made accessible and understandable like never before—the math-drenched bestsellers of Stephen Hawking don’t even come close!

**Advance Praise for *Absolutely Small***

“There are a few books that I always keep near at hand, and constantly come back to. *The Feynman Lectures on Physics* and Dirac’s classic textbook on quantum mechanics are among them. Michael Fayer’s wonderful new book, *Absolutely Small*, is about to join them. Whether you are a scientist or just curious about how the world works, this is the book for you.” **— Leonard Susskind, Professor of Physics, Stanford University; author of T*he Black Hole War: My Battle With Stephen Hawking to Make the World Safe for Quantum Mechanics* (Professor Susskind is widely regarded as one of the fathers of string theory.)**

“*Absolutely Small* by Professor Michael Fayer provides us with a clear way of visualizing the strange world of the quantum, and provides a deep understanding of many of its bizarre features; features that often on first encounter seem to defy our everyday experiences.”**— Richard N. Zare, Professor in Natural Science at Stanford University; and Chairman, Department of Chemistry, Stanford University (Professor Zare is renowned for his research in the area of laser chemistry, resulting in a greater understanding of chemical reactions at the molecular level. He has received numerous honors and awards.)**

“Most lay readers think of the world of quantum mechanics as abstruse stuff accessible only to highly trained scientists. In this absolutely terrific book, Michael Fayer seemingly breaks one of the iron laws of science by making this material both lively and accessible.”**— Richard A. Epstein, James Parker Hall Distinguished Service Professor of Law, The University of Chicago**

**Publishers Weekly:**

How a photon can be in two places at once is just one of the conundrums of quantum physics that Fayer (Elements of Quantum Mechanics) helps to unravel. The Stanford University Professor of Chemistry provides a roadmap for non-scientific readers who wish to understand the subject but lack advanced mathematical training. Fayer's belief that our everyday experiences "teach us to think in terms of classical physics" helps him easily breach the leap from playing ball to understanding how the earth orbits the sun. But because what we learn as children "prepares us to view nature in a manner that is fundamentally wrong," most people are at a loss when probing seemingly simple questions: "Why are cherries red and blueberries blue?" While the large objects treated in classical physics can be measured without appreciable disturbance, the same is not true at the quantum level. We may take the color and size of fruit for granted, but Fayer illustrates the ways in which "the natural world is driven by quantum phenomena" with a serious, accessible treatment of a complex and fascinating subject. (June)

**Biography:**

MICHAEL D. FAYER, PH.D., (Stanford, CA) is the David Mulvane Ehrsam and Edward Curtis Franklin Professor of Chemistry at Stanford University and a member of the National Academy of Sciences. He has won major prizes and honors in the fields of physics, chemistry, and molecular spectroscopy. He is the author of *Elements of Quantum Mechanics.*

[Seaniqa C. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I knew an absolutely small amount of quantum physics before this book, only the essentials, which help create a really good feel for this book. I believe Dr Fayer had a vast knowledge about, Quantum Physics (which I guess a quantum physicist should), which he broke down into terms, someone with no prier Quantum physics experience could really comprehend. I also believe Dr Fayer did a spectacular job of explaining one of the youngest, broadest and most complex fields of science.
I believe Quantum physics explains everything about us and our surroundings, from the basic building blocks of life and material, to complex engineered capric acid triglyceride fats. And even more vital, how they surround and affect us. Why things are different colors, why things conduct, why things react; really have to do with, sometimes a few, sometimes trillions, of atoms interacting with each other and themselves, it explains how the tiniest particles, can create the biggest phenomenons. It explains AND rationalizes how the most miniscule particle act in a completely different way with completely altered rules, which creates everything we know which seemingly is a different world. Which I think is the whole essence of quantum physics, physics and science as a whole. I think we are to supercilious with our visible world, favoring it to the smaller quantum world and larger universal world, whether it is atoms, or galaxies, I think it is only in human nature to think only of what is in plain visibility. But with that being said, Quantum particles and rules make up our visible world, as well as the infinitely large universal world.

- Seaniqa

[Ravi Warrier · Rating 2 out of 5]

Absolutely Small had a lot of promise. And it did deliver on it. Well, at least partially. Fayer's promise was that he would try and simplify the complex science of quantum theory into something that most people would understand. Now, that's a tall order, because some things cannot be simplified beyond a certain point. And that's where my disappointment lies - his partially kept promise.

The book on the other hand was informative and decently okay. He took the most common phenomenon experienced in the world and tried to explain them through the lenses of quantum mechanics. And for those who have the penchant for doing maths, the book is delightfully enlightening. If you can do and understand basic mathematics and as Fayer put it, "willing to do a bit of mental gymnastics", this book is a good read if you really want to understand why the world is they way it is and how it is moulded by things that are 'absolutely small', i.e., the things of the quantum world.

For those who cannot do mathematics, there are other books that explain quantum theory is simpler terms. However, none of the books I have read on the subject try and explain what this book tries to explain. The silver lining - use those books to get a basic level understanding of the science and scientific processes involved before you jump on to this one.

Nevertheless, my low rating is purely based on my disappointment of the promise not kept.

[Cara · Rating 4 out of 5]

To tell you where I'm coming from with this book, it's probably useful to say that I'm currently in a graduate program in physics and taking a graduate level quantum mechanics course. So I am more familiar with the subject than many, though not as good at is as I would like to be. I picked up this book thinking it would be like every other pop science book I've read on quantum mechanics (and I don't know why I keep reading them when I generally don't like them), in that it would be overly simplistic, full of tortured analogies, and not at all useful, at least for me. But I was actually pleasantly surprised by the angle this one took, focusing a lot on what I would think of as chemistry instead of physics. That's coincidentally exactly what I needed at this point in my life for a research project I'm working on. "Molecular Orbitals for Dummies", if you will.

[Jonathan Biddle · Rating 3 out of 5]

A boring book with fascinating sections. Fayer is a dreadful writer but somehow that helped the concepts get through to me since he repeated himself so often (even with identical sentences that followed each other with just a few words changed). I though it would delve deeper into quarks and leptons, etc. but it actually never mentioned them. Rather than spend most of the time on quantum theory, half of the book is review of high school chemistry and how a slightly deeper understanding of the wave function of electrons and photons makes sense of what you learned.

[Ron Joniak · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is ideal for anyone interested in college level general chemistry. Author Michael D. Fayer introduces an abundance of chemistry topics generally concerning the quantum world. He does so in a manner that does not complicate things but holds scientific integrity. For me, I did not enjoy the last 25% of the book as it became very technical in areas that I did not care about (polyunsaturated fats vs. monounsaturated fats, etc.). This book is highly recommended to anyone looking to learn about the quantum world that is unseen.

[Luis · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is the first book in about 5 years that I could not finish and it is for a variety of reasons, but it is for these two reasons foremost.

1) THIS BOOK IS BORING! Perhaps this is my fault for thinking that a book about Quantum Theory could be interesting, but it was too dry for me and I am patient, I can push through some boring. But this was pretty bad.

2) Quantum Physics is hard to understand. There are just certain topics you can't dumb down. oy vey.

[Jsrott · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although the author has a noble goal, he doesn't quite hit it. Parts of the book were done pretty well, but once the author moved on to quantum explanations, I found myself bogged down in descriptions of hybrid orbitals and molecular bonds. Although the boo is written with minimal math, I don't see it as friendly to the non-mathematically oriented. I did like the description of the quantum origin of electrical resistivity, but on the whole I found the book merely OK.

[Scott Howarth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic book for my re-introduction to physics, in particular, quantum mechanics. Every time I was left with a question, which happened regularly, the answer arrived in the following pages. Always a clear explanation with, what I presume is, the absolutely necessary equations to convey the concepts of quantum theory to the non-physicists.

Fascinating read about the quantum mechanics behind the macro world that left me craving more.

Highly Recommended.

[Don Charlton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book taught me more chemistry than I learned in high school. Sure, I learned all the definitions and standard stuff back then, but this book answered the WHY. For example, this book explains WHY water has a slightly negative charge. Of course, the WHY to many aspects of chemistry is based on quantum mechanics. This book, despite needing a little more stylistic energy, filled many gaps in my understanding of chemistry. For that, thank-you!

[Mohammed alkindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

definitely another step for my understanding of quantum particles and physics. it feels good to know not just how but also why blueberries are blue and cherries are red! the shrodinger cat also became more understood and its relation with real system. super position is another concept that i feel more comfortable at least from the mathematical point of view.

[Christopher Mcilroy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I could contend with this only when well rested and at full concentration. Always fascinated with the material, I finished with a paradoxically concrete sense of how the elusive nature of quantum physics determines such everyday phenomena as color and the danger of trans fats.