The Quantum Story

A History in 40 Moments

By: Jim Baggott

Narrated by: Mike Pollock

Length: 15 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's summary

Utterly beautiful. Profoundly disconcerting. Quantum theory is quite simply the most successful account of the physical universe ever devised. Its concepts underpin much of the 21st-century technology that we now take for granted. But at the same time it has completely undermined our ability to make sense of the world at its most fundamental level. Niels Bohr claimed that anybody who is not shocked by the theory has not understood it. The American physicist Richard Feynman went further: he claimed that nobody understands it.

The Quantum Story begins in 1900, tracing a century of game-changing science. Popular science writer Jim Baggott first shows how, over the space of three decades, Einstein, Bohr, Heisenberg, and others formulated and refined the theory--and opened the floodgates. Indeed, since then, a torrent of ideas has flowed from the world's leading physicists, as they explore and apply the theory's bizarre implications. To take us from the story's beginning to the present day, Baggott organizes his narrative around 40 turning-point moments of discovery. Many of these are inextricably bound up with the characters involved--their rivalries and their collaborations, their arguments and, not least, their excitement as they sense that they are redefining what reality means. Through the mix of story and science, we experience their breathtaking leaps of theory and experiment, as they uncover such undreamed of and mind-boggling phenomenon as black holes, multiple universes, quantum entanglement, the Higgs boson, and much more.

Brisk, clear, and compelling, The Quantum Story is science writing at its best. A compelling look at the 100-year history of quantum theory, it illuminates the idea as it reveals how generations of physicists have grappled with this monster ever since.

©2011 Jim Baggott (P)2011 Audible, Inc.

Not for a Lay Reader

Would you try another book from Jim Baggott and/or Mike Pollock?

No. I expected this to be a book for a well-educated lay reader. But a lay reader could not hope to understand the content, especially in an audio format.

What could Jim Baggott have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

This was ill-suited for an audiobook. There is much too much math here to listen to.

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

The performance was workmanlike. Not much good or bad to say about it.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Frustration. It's very tedious to listen to long equations being read out loud. And there are a lot of long equations in this book.

Any additional comments?

The narrative was stripped of the stories that make it fascinating and we were left with the math. A person who can understand this level of math likely already knows it. For the rest of us, there will be few who can hold these new quantitative concepts in their heads as the equations are read out loud. If you think you can and somehow you've managed to get this far in life without already knowing the book's content, then go for it. For the rest, there are many books that are much better with theory and anecdote out there. I cannot recommend this book in the audio format.

BORING!!!

Obviously, anyone who reads a book about the history of quantum physics has got to realize that, at some points, they're going to be handing on by the skin of their teeth in terms of comprehension.

That said, it then becomes the author's duty to help the reader piece together what's being conveyed, and here Baggott fails miserably, leaving the reader to endless repeat to themselves, "Why do I care about that?"

TOO ABRUSE FOR LISTENING

What disappointed you about The Quantum Story?

LISTENING TO A SERIES OF EQUATIONS, AND COMPLEX EXPERIMENTAL SETUPS IS NOT MY IDEA OF A BOOK THAT LENDS ITSELF TO AN AUDIO FORMAT.

What could Jim Baggott have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

JIM BAGGOT HAS WRITTEN EXCELLENT BOOKS IN THE PAST IN PRINTED FORM. HOWEVER, THIS MATERIAL AS PRESENTED IN AN AUDIO FORMAT IS NOT IN MY OPINION UNDERSTANDABLE IN ITS ENTIRETY.

What didn’t you like about Mike Pollock’s performance?

Polllok, the reader did as well as he could with this kind of material. He is not part of the problem.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

I AM SURE IT MAKES GOOD READING IN PRINTED FORMAT.

Any additional comments?

I AM A PHYCISIST AND CANNOT IMAGINE HOW A LAYMAN READER WOULD GET ANYTHING CLEAR OUT OF THIS BOOK IN AN AUDIO FORMAT IF I FOUND IT DIFFICULT OR IMPOSSIBLE TO UNDERSTAND WITHOUT PRINTED VISUAL AND REFERENCE MATERIAL.

In a Word, BORING

This is actually the first Audible book that I did not finish. I did try, but just couldn't. I don't know how this book got such a high rating. It does not translate well to an audio book as the equations and discussion need to be visualized to be appreciated. I was highly disappointed as this part of physics is most likely highly interesting and otherwise mathematically beautiful. The book also portrays some of our most intelligent and respected scientists of the last hundred years (or abouts) as a bunch of egotisitc, pedantic arguers only wanting to outdue each other by proving or disproving each other's theories. I am sure that, in reality, there was much discovery and excitement over time that really occurred, but the flow of the book makes it appear differently. Additionally, the author's use of direct quotes from letters and correspondence was annoying and disrupted the flow of the material.

Not good in Audio & not good enough otherwise

This really does not work in audio, and even in written format it is neither a good history nor a good scientific introduction. The best part of this book is the epilog which I found quite interesting. The history and biography aspects of the book are quite weak, with only a sentence to two to sum up the personalities of many quite fascinating characters. The scientific explanations are also weak as they try to keep it simple, yet throw in terms that are necessary to understand the concept. It includes a long list of hadrons which is significantly less interesting than it sounds. Nothing in this book was bad, but only the epilog was great.