What Is Real?, Adam Becker
What Is Real?, Adam Becker
6 Rating(s)
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What Is Real?
The Unfinished Quest for the Meaning of Quantum Physics

Author: Adam Becker

Narrator: Greg Tremblay

Unabridged: 11 hr 45 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 03/20/2018

Synopsis

The untold story of the heretical thinkers who dared to question the nature of our quantum universeEvery physicist agrees quantum mechanics is among humanity’s finest scientific achievements. But ask what it means, and the result will be a brawl. For a century, most physicists have followed Niels Bohr’s Copenhagen interpretation and dismissed questions about the reality underlying quantum physics as meaningless. A mishmash of solipsism and poor reasoning, Copenhagen endured, as Bohr’s students vigorously protected his legacy and the physics community favored practical experiments over philosophical arguments. As a result, questioning the status quo long meant professional ruin. And yet, from the 1920s to today, physicists like John Bell, David Bohm, and Hugh Everett persisted in seeking the true meaning of quantum mechanics.What Is Real? is the gripping story of this battle of ideas and the courageous scientists who dared to stand up for truth.

About Adam Becker

Adam Becker is a science writer with a PhD in astrophysics. He has written for the BBC and New Scientist and is a visiting scholar at University of California–Berkeley’s Office for History of Science and Technology.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Manny on July 09, 2018

What is real? This ought to be a question of burning interest to almost everyone, and yet, for some reason, hardly anybody over the age of seventeen seems to take it seriously. If you ask the adults, no one's sure whose responsibility it is. They send you over to talk to the sociologists, who shrug......more

Goodreads review by Prerna on August 26, 2021

An embarassing thing for the physics community to admit is that we don't have a working description of reality. And it isn't just because of insufficient data, technological limits and incomplete theories - of course these problems exist, but in addition we don't seem to know what to make of the dat......more

Goodreads review by David on June 06, 2019

A truly fantastic, lucid overview of the competing theories that purport to explain quantum mechanics. Becker takes an interesting approach that I’ve never read before, which is to put all the different theories into historical context. We learn a great deal about both the philosophical context and......more

Goodreads review by Mario the lone bookwolf on December 19, 2018

Interdisciplinarity between scientists, philosophers and neuroscientists will eventually crack the well-deciphered code of reality. Please note that I have put the original German text to the end of this review. Just if you might be interested. The game of knowledge acquisition has always been played......more

Goodreads review by Charlene on November 09, 2018

If this book were a meal, it would be bursting with such flavor that you could not help going back for seconds. Indeed I read it a second time and chose to listen to Sean Carroll's Mysteries of Modern Physics lectures, from The Great Courses series, as the accompanying glass of wine and dessert beca......more

Quotes

“Fascinating…An excellent, accessible account.” Wall Street Journal

“A thorough, illuminating exploration of the most consequential controversy raging in modern science…one that raises thorny philosophical questions.” New York Times

“Splendid…With deeply detailed research, accompanied by charming anecdotes about the scientists.” Washington Post

“A riveting storyteller, Becker brings to life physicists who have too long remained in the shadow of Bohr and Einstein…. What Is Real? offers an engaging and accessible overview of the debates surrounding the interpretation of quantum mechanics.” Science

“Becker…make[s] a case for the importance of philosophy. That’s a key call, with influential scientists such as Neil deGrasse Tyson dismissing the discipline as a waste of time. What Is Real? is an argument for keeping an open mind.” Nature

“Becker has done a great service in putting this fascinating story together into a single easily digestible volume that is gripping, authoritative, and true….I sincerely hope it gains an extremely wide readership and manages to have a powerful influence.” Quantum Times

“Becker’s book is one of the first attempts we have at telling…who won these debates about the Copenhagen interpretation, who lost them, who pretended otherwise, and how they got away with it…He has clearly done extensive and meticulous historical research.” New York Review of Books

“With his crisp voice, Becker lucidly relates the complicated history of quantum foundations.” Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Awards

  • New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice
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