Good books about Quantum physics?

[Freeman]

Are there any works on simple quantum physics? Like Quantum Physics for Dummies? Or original works?

[PerpetualYnquisitive]

the Black Mesa compound just collecting dust?

 

How about these:

 

Schrodinger's Kittens and the Search for Reality: Solving the Quantum Mysteries

-John Gribbin

 

The New Ambidextrous Universe: Symmetry and Asymmetry, from Mirror Reflections to Superstrings

-Martin Gardner

 

The Elegant Universe

-Brian Greene

[swansont]

Are there any works on simple quantum physics? Like Quantum Physics for Dummies[b']? Or original works?

 

"simple QM" is an oxymoron

[Dave]

Schrodinger's Kittens and the Search for Reality: Solving the Quantum Mysteries

 

I can recommend this book after reading it; tis rather good.

[TheProphet]

Also se a book by David Lindley about QM... altough idon't know the english name fot it, sorry!

[ydoaPs]

"Fabric of the Cosmos"--brian greene

[Paul Halpern]

If I can take the liberty of mentioning my own book, which provides some of the history and background behind superstring and other higher dimensional models in the search for a quantum theory of all known forces:

 

It's called:

 

The Great Beyond: Higher Dimensions, Parallel Universes and the Extraordinary Search for a Theory of Everything by Paul Halpern

 

Here's a link for more information:

 

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/047146595X

 

Regards,

Paul

[Sayonara]

Why your book?

 

Come on, really sell it to us.

[Paul Halpern]

OK, I'll accept that as a challenge:-)

 

Here are some reviews of The Great Beyond: Higher Dimensions and the Extraordinary Search for a Theory of Everything:

 

*

Editorial Reviews:

 

From Publishers Weekly:

"Halpern masterfully creates word pictures to illustrate mind-bending scientific theories, and he paints highly detailed sketches of the scientists involved..."

 

From the Author:

"What strange new realms lie just beyond ordinary space and time? Could there be parallel universes, separated from us by the thinnest curtain, penetrable only by the invisible pull of gravity? Could the existence of higher dimensions unite all the forces of nature into a grand Theory of Everything?

 

Many decades ago, Albert Einstein, Theodor Kaluza, Oskar Klein and other scientists dreamt of unification by means of unseen hyperspace connections. Their visions persisted throughout the horrors of the Second World War, when their desire for unity clashed with the utter chaos around them. Young researchers escaping Europe joined Einstein in his plan and worked beside him as he ceaselessly modified his ideas. Even from his deathbed, Einstein asked for pencil and paper in a vain attempt to complete his scheme.

 

In recent years, Einstein’s dream has been brilliantly revived through string theory, supergravity, M-theory, brane worlds and other unified models. Scientists are now grappling with the possibility that the universe has as many as 11 dimensions. They are designing clever experiments with the hope of discovering hidden portals to neighboring domains. Join the bold quest to explore higher dimensions, parallel worlds and the ultimate theory of the cosmos."

 

From the Inside Flap:

"It is among the most elegant, radical, and tantalizing theories ever to be fashioned by the keen lathe of mathematical insight. For the better part of two centuries, the notion of higher dimensions beyond space and time has fueled the imaginations of scientists, writers, occultists, and more than a few con artists.

 

By turns triumphed, mocked, and misinterpreted, the concept of unseen directions outside the range of our senses may now present the only path toward unifying all of the forces of nature into a single cohesive expression: a theory of everything. The best way to understand the substance and impact of this mind-bending idea is to start from the beginning.

 

In The Great Beyond, the award-winning physicist, mathematician, and author Paul Halpern presents a comprehensive history of the foundations and development of this unfathomable yet irresistible construct. He traces the influence of multidimensional theory on science and society, profiling dozens of brilliant, idiosyncratic thinkers whose labors and insights have advanced, expanded, and popularized the theory. Readers will meet the mathematician who believed that geometry could explain the entire universe, the headmaster who imagined life in two dimensions, and the two theorists who independently discovered the "miracle" that forms the foundation of all modern multidimensional concepts.

 

At the core of this fascinating tale is Einstein’s famous quarrel with Heisenberg and Bohr, whose theories of uncertainty threatened the order that Einstein believed was essential to the universe. Halpern explains how this discrepancy between these two well-established theories drove Einstein to ponder the existence of a fifth dimension, and how his attempts to devise a unified field theory have influenced modern efforts, including M theory and the brane approach.

 

The Great Beyond will delight and astonish readers seeking a deeper appreciation of the most profound and controversial questions that confront modern science.

 

From the Back Cover

Praise for The Great Beyond:

 

"A marvelous book--very clear, very readable. A brilliant introduction to the math and physics of higher dimensions, from Flatland to superstrings. Its greatest strength is a wealth of fascinating historical narrative and anecdote. I enjoyed it enormously."

--Ian Stewart, author of Flatterland

 

"A remarkable journey from Plato’s cave to the farthest reaches of human thought and scientific knowledge. This mind-boggling book allows readers to dream strange visions of hyperspace, chase lightwaves, explore Klein’s quantum odyssey and Kaluza’s cocoon, leap through parallel universes, and grasp the very essence of conscience and cosmos. Buy this book and feed your head."

--Clifford Pickover, author of Surfing through Hyperspace

 

"Halpern looks with a bemused eye at the wildest ideas currently afoot in physics. He takes us into the personal world of those who relish and explore seemingly outlandish notions, and does it with a light, engaging style."

--Gregory Benford, author of Timescape

 

About the Author

PAUL HALPERN, Ph.D., is professor of physics and mathematics at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia. He received a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship award for the research that ultimately resulted in The Great Beyond. Halpern’s previous books include Time Journeys, Cosmic Wormholes, and The Cyclical Serpent.

 

Book Description

The fundamental conundrum in physics today is the incompatibility of Einstein’s theory of general relativity with quantum mechanics. To bridge the gap between the two theories, a number of physicists have posited novel solutions involving hyperspace dimensions beyond the four that we can perceive and, most recently, branes, or membranes that exist in the fifth dimension and beyond. This lively account describes, in plain language, the history of hyperspace theory.

 

For more information from Amazon.com, including customer reviews:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/047146595X

 

 

Hope that is sufficient:-)

 

Regards,

Paul

[Sayonara]

What sort of audience is it aimed at?

[Paul Halpern]

My book is aimed at several audiences:

 

Those interested in the history of science, who enjoy learning about the lives of various scientists. It has a lot of fun and unique anecdotes that I found through archives and interviews.

 

For example, I looked through the papers of Oskar Klein and found humorous letters he wrote while he worked with Niels Bohr. I describe how Klein drank with Pauli to the death of the five-dimension soon after the Dirac equation appeared. I note how Paul Ehrenfest in his letters, pleaded again and again with Einstein, Bohr and other physicists to visit his house to discuss ideas. I write about how the mathematician Kaluza described himself to Einstein as the "local Cinderella" and how he sang opera when he discovered his five-dimensional theory. How Charlie Chaplin, Einstein, and a neurosurgeon-turned-actor discussed higher dimensions and ghosts at Chaplin's estate.

 

The book is also targeted at those who wish to learn the physical basis of relativity, quantum gravity, higher dimensions and unified field theories, in a descriptive way without mathematics. For that reason, I use a lot of analogies to describe these ideas.

 

So, in short, it's for those who like their science with a dose of history--learning about the great thinkers and their controversial theories.

 

Regards,

Paul