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)

Essential for me, you?

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

I plan to listen to this book many times. Personally, I find Quantum Mech to be so different from my experience of life I find like to review the material as many times as necessary to increase my grasp.
Audiobooks are very different from print where re-reading can be very difficult. If you listen you can really focus your attention

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

I do not know of another Science book that deals with the topic in this interpersonal, subjective fashion and this is the absolute core of the intersection of Physics and Philosophy.
I may try Amir Aczel's book as well

Have you listened to any of Walter Dixon’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Walter Dixon is absolutely brilliant at this type of material and he is a preferred reader from my point of view. The implications of the theories arising in the development of Quantum Mechanics are so revolutionary they have the potential of overturning the outlook of our species as to what we see as the "real" World.
Right at the top may be the evolution of Quantum Computing

Any additional comments?

Quantum Mechanics can be expressed to a degree in language but the use is often unusual. Since terms like "complementarity" among many others are introduced during conversations between the originators as they developed their ideas over the years it is much easier to comprehend the sense in which these terms are utilized.
So much relies on the student achieving a suitable perspective from which to view the dimensions of reality described in such a fashion.
Then more technical approaches are somewhat easier to understand.

worth a look

Gilder chose an interesting way to relate material that is often unrelatable. Many famous physicists are known for asserting that no one understands quantum physics. My favorite Feynman quote is, "There was a time when the newspapers said that only twelve men understood the theory of relativity. I do not believe there ever was such a time. There might have been a time when only one man did, because he was the only guy who caught on, before he wrote his paper. But after people read the paper a lot of people understood the theory of relativity in some way or other, certainly more than twelve. On the other hand, I think I can safely say that nobody understands quantum mechanics."

Considering this, Gilder did a truly fantastic job of walking the reader through the history of the entanglement. Told using evidence such as memoirs, correspondence, and notes, this book reads almost like historical fiction. And this story was beautifully told. I am still waiting for a book that makes it perfectly clear. But so is everyone else......

Entrancing!

This is truly a treat for someone like me who is just now learning the mysteries of the quantum field theories, and mechanics of it all. You see this book adds color and depth to the history of some of the most amazing discoveries ever. The drama that was related to this new field of science's beginings is so inspiring. I would hope that people would read this and be motivated toward this subject, because it seems that mankind in whole is becoming to social and superficial to care about the nature of particles.
I loved this book! thank you Louisa Gilder!

Too much personal information1

I probably misinterpreted the information about the book, but I still disliked it. I didn't expect a biography, in short choppy sections of all of these people. I was hoping for a description of the evolution of quantum theory. I suppose one could say that this was in the book, but it was interrupted too often by the personal stories.

Too much gossip

Sections of this book read more like a gossip magazine than a book on physics

Terrible. Simply terrible.

Absolutely the worst work on physics I have ever encountered. Please do not waste your time or money on this.

storytelling is not this book's strong point

I'm not a physicist, but I get the sense that even if I did have the deeper understanding of physics, I'd bet that this book would still leave my head spinning. The problem, for me, was that the author really never wove a strong story throughout the progression of the interesting discoveries within the field of quantum physics. The book jumps around throughout history in a dizzying fashion and fails to center strongly on it's central figures, continuously deviating to the mundane details of each new physics scholar as they enter the spotlight throughout the years. The result is a disjointed telling of the story of "the quanta" and an extremely hard read since the book itself suffers so severely from a lack of focus. I would not recommend this title to anyone... I will say that the narrator Walter Dixon makes a valiant effort in telling this oddly woven tale, but alas, even his smooth and steady voice cannot save this gigantic run on sentence / A.D.D. ridden excuse for a book.