“Quantum Theory Cannot Hurt You. A guide to the universe” by Marcus Chown.
It’s a book that puts quantum theory and Einstein’s theory of relativity into easy, readable language. What I’d most like to write is that I find it interesting and informative, able now to discuss quantum theory as easily as I can the latest episode of House.
Shamefully I have to admit I’m only getting about 50% of the content. I have no idea what ‘interference’ is with regards to the atom or how a quantum computer could work or why light is made up of waves and particles. Please don’t ask me any of these questions, I can’t answer them.
This is not the first science book I’ve read. I very much enjoyed “The Universe in a Nutshell” by Stephen Hawking and “A Short History of Nearly Everything” by Bill Bryson was a hoot. Hawking even dedicated a chapter to ‘String Theory’ and I’m pretty sure I got that.
It’s because quantum theory is beyond comprehension and most of the time sounds like scientists are just grabbing answers out of thin air. For example…an experiment produces identical events and they are indistinguishable “just as long as nobody looks”.
Thankfully I’m not the only one who feels the same way. Israel’s first president, Chaim Weizmann was on a sea voyage with Einstein in 1921 and said: “Einstein explained his theory to me every day and, on my arrival, I was fully convinced that he understood it!”