Decoding Reality

The Universe as Quantum Information

By: Vlatko Vedral

Narrated by: Jay Russell

Length: 9 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's summary

For a physicist, all the world is information. The universe and its workings are the ebb and flow of information. We are all transient patterns of information, passing on the recipe for our basic forms to future generations using a four-letter digital code called DNA.

In this engaging and mind-stretching account, Vlatko Vedral considers some of the deepest questions about the universe and considers the implications of interpreting it in terms of information. He explains the nature of information, the idea of entropy, and the roots of this thinking in thermodynamics.

He also describes the bizarre effects of quantum behaviour - effects such as "entanglement", which Einstein called "spooky action at a distance", and explores cutting-edge work on harnessing quantum effects in hyperfast quantum computers, and how recent evidence suggests that the weirdness of the quantum world, once thought limited to the tiniest scales, may reach into the macro world.

Vedral finishes by considering the answer to the ultimate question: where did all of the information in the universe come from? The answers he considers are exhilarating, drawing upon the work of distinguished physicist John Wheeler. The ideas challenge our concept of the nature of particles, of time, of determinism, and of reality itself.

©2010 Vlatko Vedral (P)2010 Audible, Inc.

Excellent on all counts.

The author takes a very complicated subject and makes it understandable. He tells you what he's going to tell you, says it and then tells you what he said. He really does connect the dots between information and quantum theory. As he says, "information is physical" and explains what he means by that.

Magical HomeRun!

Thought provoking stance of information on information with attention to detail every step of the way. This book, in its entirety, hits home on the points and sums up information easy to understand by relating modern and past examples of physics. 3 Thumbs Up!

written for the every day person

Vedral set out to write a book for the non-scientist and did an amazing job of making complex concepts simple. However, I feel to some degree the concepts were, at times, made too simple. The scientifically minded non-physicist need only read the epilogue to understand Vedral's entire argument. He has published over 200 academic papers. I was hoping this book would, in addition to introducing the history and current understanding of information theory, give more of a summary of his own work. Such a summary could really help a scientifically minded non-physics get a better understanding of his entire body of work without having to sift through all of his papers. I would like the book to have been twice as long so that it could have addressed things in a deeper, less simplistic, way.

Vedral's simplistic approach did have it's advantages. And, not matter how simple or complex the approach, Vedral's concepts are among my favorites of any scientist. Vedral provides extremely accessible introductions to Shannon's information theory, Botlzmann's entropy, Maxwell's Demon, the holographic principle, quantum computing (which was particularly excellent and simplified for the interested reader), and more.

Above all, Vedral helps the reader see the universe in an entirely different way, as pure information. Unlike other authors who get caught up in philosophical arguments that frustrate a great number of readers, Vedral's perspective is always quite solid and easy to follow. For this reason alone, anyone interested in information theory should make this a must read.

As an aside, Michael Brooks provided a vary short summary of Vedral's work and information theory in general in his book At the Edge of Uncertainty. It is an even more condensed summary than Vedral's book. But, it is worth reading if you have an interest in the field.

Free-ranging, creative, connecting many dots

I don't think the author establishes his thesis here, but it is a fun ride. He ranges in and out of biology, financial markets, and other areas with the common thread based on (a nimbly but simplistically-explained version of) Claude Shannon's information theory. I think sometimes he overestimates his knowledge and his (few) formulas' applications (his confident proclamations about finance being an example). But, there is virtue in this ease and simplicity, in that it allows a very loose and imaginative walk, connecting disciplines and ideas, in ways I had been searching for, and a listenable way. So, I will continue to make disciplined studies in these fields, while feeling richer from his imaginative whirlwind tour. Some thinkers serve us best by drilling unerringly into the technicalities and presenting rigorous proofs; others, like this, have a lighter step that poses possibilities to us.

Excellent Content but Poor Delivery

The content of this book is presented in a manner that I believe would be friendly to people without a serious background in physics - I only took a minor in physics in college with no formal coursework in quantum mechanics, so I think I can make that judgment properly - and the notion of quantum information theory is something that relates to everyone's "everyday" life. However, the narration is annoying in a way that's hard to quantify - almost too conversational at points that should be more serious, something just "not right" for the subject matter. Still worth the listen in my opinion though - I've listened to the whole thing twice in fact..

Valuable

I greatly enjoyed this book. I was intrigued and convinced by his conclusion that the universe is essentially informational. However, he does very poorly in trying to prove that this information comes from nothing. It seemed that he was trying awfully hard to avoid divine implication. I'm not sure why science writers can do so well with the intricacies of quantum mechanics and be such poor philosophers.

Great book worth listening twice

I really liked the book it grew on me . it's not very technical however that's fine for an audio book

Thesis unmet; however, worth listening to.

I appreciated the extrapolation of quantum information. However, I believe the thesis was unfulfilled by the book.

Highly underrated

This book helped me make connections between concepts in physics that no other book has even come close to matching. For example, the connection between the curvature of space and entropy, mass and energy, black holes and holography, etc. And these connections are all made without the need of equations; just very well-written and narrated thought experiments.

OK but rambly

There are parts of this book I liked quite a lot, but other parts were weak and other sections did not tie together. I think the author is kind-of on the right track but has quite a ways to go to get to compelling. For a brief introduction to information theory it is quite nice, but this does not tie information theory to reality.