Quantum, Jim AlKhalili
Quantum, Jim AlKhalili
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Quantum
A Guide For The Perplexed

Author: Jim Al-Khalili

Narrator: Hugh Kermode

Unabridged: 7 hr 51 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 04/28/2016


Synopsis

From Schrodinger's cat to Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, this book untangles the weirdness of the quantum world.

Quantum mechanics underpins modern science and provides us with a blueprint for reality itself. And yet it has been said that if you're not shocked by it, you don't understand it. But is quantum physics really so unknowable? Is reality really so strange? And just how can cats be half-alive and half-dead at the same time?

Our journey into the quantum begins with nature's own conjuring trick, in which we discover that atoms -- contrary to the rules of everyday experience -- can exist in two locations at once. To understand this we travel back to the dawn of the twentieth century and witness the birth of quantum theory, which over the next one hundred years was to overthrow so many of our deeply held notions about the nature of our universe. Scientists and philosophers have been left grappling with its implications every since.

Read by Hugh Kermode

(p) 2016 Orion Publishing Group

About Jim Al-Khalili

Dr Jim al-Khalili is a theoretical physicist and senior lecturer in the Department of Physics at the University of Surrey. He has twice been nominated for the Royal Society's Michael Faraday Award for the Public Understanding of Science and is the Institute of Physics Schools and Colleges lecturer. He is the author of BLACK HOLES, WORMHOLES AND TIME MACHINES and has appeared on Radio 4's LEADING EDGE and the BBC's TOMORROW'S WORLD and HORIZON programmes.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Vasilii on April 29, 2025

I don’t know if Jim Al-Khalili is a good physicist, but he’s definitely a bad author. How he decided to publish this book is beyond me—throughout 90% of the time reading, I felt like I was reading a 2014 Facebook post. His attempts at humor were, to put it mildly, bad and completely unnecessary. Ther......more

Goodreads review by Anita on February 25, 2016

This book made my brain hurt. Seriously. I simultaneously realized how smart and creative theoretical physicists really are, and my little brain pales in comparison. I really couldn't rate this book in all fairness because I'm way too conflicted about it. The author had a wonderful voice, and the boo......more

Goodreads review by John on September 27, 2012

"Quantum Physics"... the term causes many people to either roll their eyes in an expression of pointlessness, or to just fall asleep for lack of seeing any applicable use, or to drift into apathy from an assumption that the subject is far beyond their ability to grasp. That is unfortunately because......more

Goodreads review by Jim on January 13, 2016

after discussion of the double slit experiment, the author talks about the birth of quantum physics and who should be credited with what. interesting.... Al-Khalili argues that the tradition wave-particle view being the main feature of quantum physics is limited (and has somewhat poisoned the water i......more

Goodreads review by Reni on July 09, 2024

i will just leave this here 🪼......more


Quotes

A superb introduction . . . Al-Khalili succeeds in making the quantum world understandable. Well, almost GUARDIAN

Al-Khalili is the ideal guide through [the] mysteries of modern science NEW SCIENTIST, praise for Paradox

A master of making the complex simple INDEPENDENT, praise for Paradox

Al-Khalili is a superb guide to the fundamental principles of quantum theory MAIL ON SUNDAY, praise for The World According to Physics