Review by Choice Review
This especially interesting book examines the origins of quantum mechanics-material previously mined in a number of similar books. It is the result of a collaboration between a philosopher (Crease) and a physicist (Goldhaber), both professors at Stony Brook University, who co-taught several classes on the subject. The physics discussions are mostly qualitative yet surprisingly clear and accurate. Some equations do appear, but they may be omitted by those for whom any mathematics is forbidding. Treatments of the uncertainty principle, wave particle duality, and Bell's theorem are excellent. These are interwoven with both biographical material and social and literary connections. They are made to be seamless and always to the point. The interplay of ideas and the people who created them contains some new, for this reviewer, and helpful insights. The quotes from original sources support the authenticity and enliven the treatments. A collection of notes (with references) is quite extensive and supplies additional explanatory material. The tone of the text benefits from an extensive set of cartoons that enhance the insights and the readability. This work is a pleasure to read. It belongs in all college libraries. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All students, researchers/faculty, and general readers. --Kenneth L. Schick, Union College (NY)
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review
*Starred Review* When scientific pioneer Erwin Schrödinger highlighted the conundrums in quantum physics by imagining a cat simultaneously alive and dead, he little dreamed that he was creating a T-shirt icon. Crease and Goldhaber a philosopher and a physicist respectively examine both the conceptual theorizing behind Schrödinger's perplexing feline and the T-shirts that theorizing unintentionally inspired. Without taxing readers with the rigorous mathematics, the authors recount the discoveries that shattered Newtonian physics, explaining with marvelous lucidity how Max Planck's tentative idea that light might propagate as packets sparked a revolution redefining the cosmos. As traditional understandings of continuity and causality disappeared in the wonderland of quantum mechanics, influential nonscientists discerned broad cultural implications in this paradigm shift. Readers see in particular detail how new scientific understandings of quantum leaps, of complementarity, and of uncertainty have permeated nonscientific thought, affecting everyone from poets, to artists, to late-night comedians, to (yes) T-shirt designers. Even cartoonists now regularly crib from physicists! Though the authors acknowledge that many of those appropriating the jargon of quantum physics have no clue as to its scientific meaning, readers will learn to appreciate the imaginative process that transforms quantum formulas into new metaphors for understanding the human condition. An exhilarating romp for the intellectually adventurous!--Christensen, Bryce Copyright 2014 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Histories of quantum theory are typically dense with complex, abstract ideas, but philosopher Crease and physicist Goldhaber, both of Stony Brook University, offer a new twist, adding a fascinating look at the ways the mainstream world has embraced (though not always accurately!) the concepts of quantum mechanics. Pop culture took up the quantum cause with far more gusto than most physicists. When first proposed, quantum theory was deemed "ugly, weird, unpredictable,"¿ and "quite distasteful."¿ Experimentalist Robert Milliken tried to kill the idea, but his lab results kept confirming it. The authors cheerfully discuss how much Einstein, along with many of his peers, hated the way the theory allowed uncertainty to toy with reality. While physicists struggled to fill in the missing bits of their incomplete theories, quirky quantum ideas became parts of a "sphinxian riddle"¿ that captured the mainstream imagination and inspired everyone from cartoonists and sculptors to such writers as Ian Fleming and John Updike. Crease and Goldhaber have written an accessible and entertaining history that embraces both the science and the silliness of quantum mechanics. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Starred Review. Crease (philosophy; Physics World columnist) and Goldhaber (physics, C.N. Yang Inst. for Theoretical Physics, both Stony Brook Univ.) explore the history of the quantum and the true meaning of metaphors such as Schrodinger's cat, quantum leaps, Hook's spring, and more. The authors begin by discussing Sir Isaac Newton and the Newtonian world, then cover quantum physics and study of the micro, a particle so small that scientists rely upon metaphor to discuss it. The authors make the connection to popular culture, where the ideas of quantum physics have sparked interest in a wider, nonphysicist audience. While the title is written with the general reader in mind, a basic knowledge of physics and quantum physics will aid in its understanding. VERDICT Readers who want to comprehend quantum physics, creativity, metaphor in physics, and the history of modern quantum physics will enjoy this work. A lighter read than a science text, this is more accessible to the average person and will be enjoyed by creative readers who have a scientific leaning.-Dawn Lowe-Wincentsen, Oregon Inst. of Technology, Portland (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A history of some of the most "forceful, imaginative, and insightful" minds in quantum theory and how the world became entranced by their scientific language. The lyrical vocabulary of quantum mechanics is all around usthe word "quantum" alone is used to describe seemingly every entity on Earthdespite the fact that very few individuals, if anyone, truly understand how quantum mechanics works. Ideas like entanglement and superposition have specific mathematical correlations and imply bizarre and beautiful things about the universe and how it behaves. Popular culture, on the other hand, takes a lot of creative liberty, and the results illuminate human nature on a different, but perhaps no less beautiful, scale. Crease (World in the Balance: The Historic Quest for an Absolute System of Measurement, 2011, etc.) and Goldhaber, professors of philosophy and physics at Stony Brook University, recount a series of historical moments that occurred during the development of quantum mechanics in order to demonstrate how quickly and profoundly scientific language worked its way into the artistic objects we love. Countless writers, artists and philosophers have taken ideas from the quantum realm and applied them as metaphors for the human condition. Through the authors' careful and vivid storytelling, science and culture inspire and reflect one another, from Einstein's theories of relativity to Heisenberg's uncertainty principle to modern conceptions of causality. The authors keep their discussions of these dense topics clear and fun to read without sacrificing detail by including technical "interludes" between chapters. Crease and Goldhaber provide an excellent reminder that quantum mechanics affects so much of what we do and say and that concepts imagined 100 years ago will influence the physical and intellectual spaces we inhabit in the future. Always entertaining and meticulously composed, this book will reorient your relationship with the quantum. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
