Description
Book SynopsisEverybody has heard that we live in a world made of atoms. But far more fundamentally, we live in a universe made of quanta. Many things are not made of atoms: light, radio waves, electric current, magnetic fields, Earth''s gravitational field, not to mention exotica such a neutron stars, black holes, dark energy, and dark matter. But everything, including atoms, is made of highly unified or coherent bundles of energy called quanta that (like everything else) obey certain rules. In the case of the quantum, these rules are called quantum physics. This is a book about quanta and their unexpected, some would say peculiar, behavior--tales, if you will, of the quantum.The quantum has developed the reputation of being capricious, bewildering, even impossible to understand. The peculiar habits of quanta are certainly not what we would have expected to find at the foundation of physical reality, but these habits are not necessarily bewildering and not at all impossible or paradoxical. This book explains those habits--the quantum rules--in everyday language, without mathematics or unnecessary technicalities. While most popular books about quantum physics follow the topic''s scientific history from 1900 to today, this book follows the phenomena: wave-particle duality, fundamental randomness, quantum states, superpositions (being in two places at once), entanglement, non-locality, Schrodinger''s cat, and quantum jumps, and presents the history and the scientists only to the extent that they illuminate the phenomena.
Trade ReviewThis book is definitely worth reading. Hobson does an excellent job of explaining complex physics without mathematics and presents his argument clearly... Recommended. * CHOICE *
As Hobson mentions in his introduction, there are many pseudo-scientific popular expositions on quantum mechanics which belong in new age religion sections of the book shops. The readers who want to understand the workings of the natural world from a purely scientific point of view will benefit greatly from perusing Hobsonâs book (the production quality of which, by the way, is excellent). Hence, I have no hesitations in recommending the book to general public as well as students of the subject. * M. P. Gururajan, Contemporary Physics *
Tales of the Quantum -- a slim volume very handsomely produced by Oxford U.P. -- is his most ambitious undertaking, the capstone of a distinguished career. ... This is certainly an ambitious book, one in which the author has clearly invested a great deal of thought. It is, in its eccentric way, an important book, not least because it is so provocative. * Nicholas Wheeler, American Journal of Physics *
Table of ContentsChapter 1: The Tale of the Quantum in the Window THE UNIVERSE IS MADE OF QUANTA Chapter 2: What Is Quantum Physics About? Chapter 3: Particles and Classical Mechanics Chapter 4: Fields and Classical Electromagnetism Chapter 5: What Is a Quantum? HOW QUANTA BEHAVE Chapter 6: Perfect Randomness Chapter 7: Quantum States and How They Change Chapter 8: Superpositions and Macroscopic Quanta Chapter 9: An Entangled, Nonlocal Universe GETTING BACK TO THE NORMAL WORLD Chapter 10: Schrodinger's Cat and "Measurement" Chapter 11: The Environment as Monitor: How Change Becomes Irreversible Endnotes Glossary Index
