LibraryTechtonics

I seem to keep running into movies that somehow involve quantum physics and time travel (Donnie Darko, Primer). I don’t know much about either, and decided to hit the books. It’s become somewhat of a small research obsession.

I tried The quantum world : quantum physics for everyone / Kenneth William Ford, but it really isn’t for everyone. It would have been better for someone who liked staring at lots of numbers and could still understand complex particle physics mixed in. Mr. Ford has apparently written some brilliant stuff, so I did try to give it a fair shot, but it was just too dry and slow moving, with math too oppressive for my brain.

Continuing my quest for quantum physics in layman’s terms, I came across Quantum : A Guide for the Perplexed / Jim al-Khalili amidst the rubble that was a bunch of subject searching that yielded too many graduate level textbooks. This book has been really useful and helpful so far, taking the complex ideas of quantum physics and speaking on a technical level but in a very human voice. I’ve only gotten through the history of physics section so far, and it really managed to keep my attention. Go fig. The book isn’t very thick, and doesn’t look very dense, but it is, with wonderful diagrams, sassy graphic art, and a sense of knowledged humor. All the same, it’s slow going. I may actually put this on my Amazon Wish List so I’ll really be able to absorb it all before I run out of renewals.

A friend recommended Alice in Quantumland : an allegory of quantum physics / Robert Gilmore, which totally got panned by a good few Amazon reviewers, but I trust my friend, so I’ll be digging into that next in tandem with the al-Khalili text.

I’ve also heard that The universe in a nutshell / Stephen Hawking is very good for the quantum physics-impaired, so that might be next on my list.

Anyone else have some reader’s advisory recommendations in demystifying quantum physics?

Tags: reading