Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #23649 in Books
• Published on: 1987-03
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

Customer Reviews

An introduction to quantum physics, or for those who have been there before, a valuable alternative approach.
The front cover of "Quantum Reality" has the subtext "Beyond the new Physics, an Excursion into Metaphysics and The Meaning of Reality", a label that might tend to frighten one off. That would be a great pity, because anyone interested in physics and popular science will find this book very rewarding.

Being interested in popular science myself, I have read quite a number of books over the years dealing with the general evolution of scientific knowledge. Some of these books have been more accessible than others, some more specific in content, some very enjoyable and others not so. Many of these books have dealt to some degree with quantum mechanics. Quantum mechanics, or quantum physics, deals with the world of the very small, the atomic and sub-atomic world. Strange, counter intuitive, illogical things appear to happen there. That world is too small to observe directly, so it can be explored only through the experimental observation of its effects, and through theory and mathematics. The experimental and mathematical verification of basic quantum theory is staggeringly convincing. But nobody, absolutely nobody, knows what reality it describes, or how it works. The famous and brilliant physicist Richard Feynman once said "I think that it is safe to say that no one understands quantum mechanics".

All this might seem a little discouraging to the potential reader. But if you have an interest in the subject, however slight, I recommend this book highly. Nick Herbert has produced a fine work which treats the subject in a non-sensationalist and comprehensible manner - inasmuch as quantum physics can ever be comprehensible. You don't have to have any math to enjoy it, just an open and inquiring mind. The book can be an introduction to the subject or, for those who have been there before, a valuable alternative approach. As another famous scientist once said (his name escapes me) "The world is not only stranger than we think it is; it's stranger than we CAN think it is". All very intriguing, stimulating and enjoyable stuff.

The Reality Crisis and the relevance of Bell's Theorem.
This book by Nick Herbert comes as a breath of fresh air amidst a myriad of similar books which usually do not stick to the meat of the matter but wander off into eastern mysticism and new age philosophies. Mr. Herbert's treatment of the strange and equally controversial world of quantum physics is very direct and pointed and he is quite successful in putting across his analysis, insights and thoughts to the general reader.

"Quantum Reality" as the title suggests explains the various interpretations of quantum reality underlying the quantum facts. There are in fact eight of them. Majority of physicists swear allegiance to the "Copenhagen Interpretation" formalized by Bohr and Heisenberg. This interpretation denies any deep reality underlying our physical reality and imparts special status to the observer or the measuring device which is said to "create" certain attributes like position, momentum, spin orientation etc. of a quantum entity (photon, electron etc.) during the act of measurement. Before measurement, i.e. an unmeasured quantum entity is said to be "less real" than our everyday reality and resides in a ghostly realm of mere possibilities and tendencies (a state between an idea of an event and the actual event) - it's attributes like position and direction of motion, NON-EXISTANT. Bohr said that there is no quantum world, only abstract quantum description and according to Heisenberg - the very foundation of our everyday world is no more substantial than a promise!

The well known Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen paradox which seemed to suggest a superluminal communication(non-local world) between a pair of phase-entangled photons(or in contradiction accept Einstein's "elements of reality"(local world) which he said was somehow missing from quantum theory and thus the theory being incomplete) gave rise to the Bell's interconnectedness theorem which in one decisive stroke resolved the crisis brewing between the "neorealist"(object based reality) and the "copenhagenist"(quantum entities are not "things"). Bell's Theorem stated that any local-based reality is impossible, hence our reality has to be NON-LOCAL (it has since been experimentally proven). This statement came as a bombshell as this was in conflict to our concept of local based physical reality. Non-locality simply means that any action-at-a-distance is without a medium, is instantaneous (superluminal) and doesn't diminish with distance.

This book is a serious attempt by Mr. Herbert in explaining to the enthusiast as well as the general reader the finer point about quantum physics and about the quantum lifestyle enjoyed by its inhabitants. In the words of a reviewer on the back cover - "even a neophyte gets the feeling he is "almosting it".

A fun romp through quantum physics
This book just flew by. It is loads of fun. That is absolutely not to imply that it is simplistic however. It is mainly concerned with the garnder implications of quantum theory, and every once in a while, one needs to indulge those urges to ask the crazy questions about this crazy theory.