The Age of Entanglement

When Quantum Physics was Reborn

By: Louisa Gilder

Narrated by: Walter Dixon

Length: 14 hrs and 8 mins

Publisher's summary

A brilliantly original and richly illuminating exploration of entanglement, the seemingly telepathic communication between two separated particles - one of the fundamental concepts of quantum physics.

In 1935, in what would become the most cited of all of his papers, Albert Einstein showed that quantum mechanics predicted such a correlation, which he dubbed "spooky action at a distance."

In that same year, Erwin Schrödinger christened this spooky correlation "entanglement." Yet its existence wasn't firmly established until 1964, in a groundbreaking paper by the Irish physicist John Bell. What happened during those years and what has happened since to refine the understanding of this phenomenon is the fascinating story told here.

We move from a coffee shop in Zurich, where Einstein and Max von Laue discuss the madness of quantum theory, to a bar in Brazil, as David Bohm and Richard Feynman chat over cervejas. We travel to the campuses of American universities - from J. Robert Oppenheimer's Berkeley to the Princeton of Einstein and Bohm to Bell's Stanford sabbatical - and we visit centers of European physics: Copenhagen, home to Bohr's famous institute, and Munich, where Werner Heisenberg and Wolfgang Pauli picnic on cheese and heady discussions of electron orbits.

Drawing on the papers, letters, and memoirs of the 20th century's greatest physicists, Louisa Gilder both humanizes and dramatizes the story by employing their own words in imagined face-to-face dialogues. Here are Bohr and Einstein clashing, and Heisenberg and Pauli deciding which mysteries to pursue. We see Schrödinger and Louis de Broglie pave the way for Bell, whose work here is given a long-overdue revisiting. And with his characteristic matter-of-fact eloquence, Richard Feynman challenges his contemporaries to make something of this entanglement.

In this stunning debut, Gilder has found a wholly original way of bringing to life a tale of physics in progress.

©2008 Louisa Gilder (P)2009 Gildan Media Corp

Critic reviews

"An admirable, unexpected audio book, historically sound and seamlessly constructed, that transports those of us who do not understand quantum mechanics into the lives and thoughts of those who did." (George Dyson, author of Darwin Among the Machines)

Semi-Fiction Semi-Fact

Any additional comments?

The main problem with this book is it mixes real people and real situations with fictional accounts to the degree that one has no sense of what is fact and what isn't. It's like watching a movie to learn about history, what parts were real and what parts were artistic license? I find that my head is now possibly filled with inaccuracies about some of the greatest physicists of the 20th century, and that disturbs me.

Further, the book does go into some detail about quantum theory and other aspects of physics, but these, what I hope are facts, appear randomly and unexpectedly. Picture watching an entertaining movie that sporadically turns into a science lesson on a complicated subject. I found myself completely unprepared to absorb and contemplate the theories that were often delivered at high speed and in complex terms.

Ultimately, I read/listen to books for knowledge, but you can't trust the historical knowledge gained by this book, and the scientific knowledge is difficult to follow due to its sporadic nature. It may be more enjoyable for those who read/listen for entertainment, but who don't mind being hit with the occasional complex science equation.

Great overview -- leading to Bell and later develo

What made the experience of listening to The Age of Entanglement the most enjoyable?

I enjoyed the construct: Imagined (but well researched) conversations between leaders in quantum thought, presented as though you are in the room. Clearly, the intention is not to be literal in the reconstruction of an event -- the discussion being imagined -- but to insert you into the stream of thought at that time.

The book spends quite a bit of time moving from pre-quantum history and discussions, through the early Copenhagen discussions, Einstein/Bohr conflicts and discussions, the EPR paper, and then to Bell. I will listen to the book again -- probably a couple of times -- to make sure I follow where Bell's inequality comes from and how it has been advanced... I suspect the book does a fine job of explaining it, but it will take a listening or two...

The book also presents a great personal look at David Bohm and his somewhat sad departure from the US to Brazil and then the UK...

Any additional comments?

The audio was really good, the reader was great, and it was possible to just sit, enjoy and thinbk.

Marvelous

This is a wonderful book. I've been reading quite a number of books on quantum theory recently. This is close to the very best. It clarifies so much. That's not easy to do with such a complex and difficult subject. I found it so helpful, first of all, that it gave such a complete and comprehensible account of the development of these ideas. It demonstrated so clearly how quantum theory grew from the work of many individual thinker all in dialogue with each other. Beyond that, though, I really appreciated how it was able to explore those ideas in such depth while still managing to keep me on board. I didn't understand everything. Far from it. But I was able to stay with it enough that I felt I got the over-all picture. Finally, I loved the way the book brought in aspects of quantum theory almost entirely overlooked in other books. There was David Bohm, of course, but of special interest is John Bell and the critical role he played in the development of the idea of entanglement. What a fantastic character! That really comes through too. All in all, this book is a treasure. Highly recommended for anyone interested in quantum theory.

Quite nice

This book started at bit slowly and got better as it went. I wonder if the writing started at the middle and the first few chapters were added on later. Perhaps the reports of conversations from direct interviews are just much more compelling than the conversations recreated from letters and notes. I nearly gave up after the first couple of hours, but then it started getting better, and it continued getting better for hour after hour, ending very strong. This is well worth listening to. The tone and level seems great for a general audience and is still interesting for those who already know some of the physics and history.

Informative

I liked this book. It is very detailed as to what had happened. An overall very good story, about the age of quantum physics as it rushed in.

Interesting but story bounces all over the place

Would you try another book from Louisa Gilder and/or Walter Dixon?

Not sure

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

I understand the need to break the book up into time periods, but then maintain the time periods. The book jumps to peoples deaths, then talks about what they are saying in the next chapter. Really makes the book hard to follow especially in audio form.

Was The Age of Entanglement worth the listening time?

Parts of it were worth the time, i found the arguments between bor and einstein very funny.

Interesting addendum to quantum physics

Would you listen to The Age of Entanglement again? Why?

Of course - I have listened allmost all my books at least a couple of times. This is no exception. Plus I think I will understand it much better after listening some other books about quantum physics.

What other book might you compare The Age of Entanglement to and why?

Mitchuku Kaiku: the physics of impossible talks about the same entanglement and maybe in a little bit easier way.

Which scene was your favorite?

Cafeteria debate

Any additional comments?

If you are not familiar with quantum physics this is not the best book to start with:
a) This not the most popularized book about this subject
b) one might appreciate Bell' s work more if one is familiar with EPR paradox....

A nice mix of theory and history.

Entanglement has vexed some of the greatest minds of the 20th century and this is what I loved about this book. Books on physics (other than text books) tend to either be histories focused on an individual or books focus on a subject matter. I really enjoyed how the author unraveled the subject over time through the individuals making the discoveries creating a interesting timeline. It did start a little slow but got very intersting later.

an excellent introduction to Entanglement

What did you love best about The Age of Entanglement?

It showes in Historical sequence,with a very readable narrative the essence of the subject.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Age of Entanglement?

that grandson of Schrodinger is follwing the path to meaning of quantum mechanics without being aware that schrodinger was related to him.

Which character – as performed by Walter Dixon – was your favorite?

Einstein

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Age of entanglement
we have had age of inocence of Edith Wharton,Guilded age, but not anything like age of science.(we have had atomic age with a negative destructive conotation) especially anything that is refered to one its strange phenomenon that is completely counter intuitive.

Any additional comments?

THere are a lot of talks about philosophy that looks like another branch of Literature or in other words ,is nothing more than another aspect of words play ( e,g :Gramatology a la Derrida,Semiotics:a la Umberto Eco,or an ecclectic post modern ,mombo jombo ,that necessarily has nothing to do with objective reality, so the job of philosopher is not to interpret reality on the base of scientific method but interpret according to his take on a text,historical document or what he or she perceive as truth without any reference to scientific evidence.Entanglement and understanding it, is giving a jolt to world of ideas ,similar to Einstein Relativity that totally changed our concept of time and space . Artists in the dawn of 20th century start to utilize different concept of time and space ,that seemed weierd and new, in their works ( Picaso in painting,Joyce in novel ,Schoenberg in music,...etc)I am not aware of anybody in realm literature ,painting and or music that is aware of profound implication that entanglement will have in our future scientific endeavors and how it will revolutionize our communications,vision and over all how we will deal with external world that is independent of our limited perceptional abilities.Michael [e-mail]

Very monotone

My first impression was that this was going to be a very difficult book to listen to due to the narrators lack of inflection. It does start to pick up story wise about half way through the book (1938 for those that have listened), but it will take a good deal of discipline and stamina to get there.