Quantum

Einstein, Bohr, and the Great Debate about the Nature of Reality

By: Manjit Kumar

Narrated by: Ray Porter

Quantum theory is weird. As Niels Bohr said, if you aren’t shocked by quantum theory, you don’t really understand it. For most people, quantum theory is synonymous with mysterious, impenetrable science. And in fact for many years it was equally baffling for scientists themselves.

In this tour de force of science history, Manjit Kumar gives a dramatic and superbly written account of this fundamental scientific revolution, focusing on the central conflict between Einstein and Bohr over the nature of reality and the soul of science. This revelatory book takes a close look at the golden age of physics, the brilliant young minds at its core, and how an idea ignited the greatest intellectual debate of the 20th century.

Manjit Kumar was the founding editor of Prometheus, an arts-and-sciences journal. He has written and reviewed for various publications, including the Guardian, and is a consulting science editor at Wired UK. He lives in London.

©2008 Manjit Kumar (P)2010 Blackstone Audio

Critic reviews

“Lively…A wide-ranging account, written for readers who are curious about the theory but want to sidestep its mathematical complexities….Fascinating.” ( The New York Times Book Review)

“With vigor and elegance, Kumar…recounts this meaty, dense, exciting story, filled with vivid characters and sharp insights. With physics undergoing another revolution today, Kumar reminds us of a time when science turned the universe upside down.” ( Publishers Weekly)

Excellent survey of early history of quantum th.

If you study quantum mechanics as an undergraduate, you will generally get a nicely packaged product with all the rough edges trimmed off, maybe a paragraph or two about the history of the subject, and almost no treatment of the philosophical underpinnings of the theory or its philosophical implications. This book would make an excellent companion to a physics course in quantum mechanics, though I think it can also be enjoyed by a general reader. It is an excellent survey of the history of the subject touching on work by Planck, Einstein, Bohr, Born, Pauli, Dirac, Heisenberg, de Broglie, and Schrodinger. Short biographies are given for each of the key players, but the real plot is the evolution of quantum theory, as it is patched and re-patched, driven into ever deeper water by experiment after experiment.

Wonderful

I had owned the Kindle version for a while, without really having the time, when I decided to buy the audio book. Best use of my credits since I signed up for Audible, as 3 days later, I had listened to every syllable, and was spurred to learn more about the subject.

If you like reading about physics and are curious about Quantum theory or the state and evolution of the science of physics during that time, I believe you'd be hard pressed to find a better listen. I know because after finishing this, I bought Uncertainty by David Lindley, and The Age of Entanglement by Louisa Gilder and they are still sitting in my Library unfinished after 2 months.

I know too little to give a worthy analysis of the scientific content. Suffice it to say, my ignorance was certainly diminished. What I can say however, is that the writer exposed the science and ideas with a masterful touch, and as far as I could ascertain, managed to communicate the gist of the concepts, and the historical context from which they arose.

Last, but certainly not least, the narrator is excellent, at least to my ears. His voice, tone, inflection and delivery were the right combination of pleasing, expressive, and effacing. if that makes any sense.

A wonderful book.

History of the quantum evolution

An excellent demonstration of how the concepts of quantum theories built one upon the other and person upon person over time.

If you only read one book on the topic...

This is the one. Emerson said, “All history is biography.” Maybe all knowledge is biography; this book provides a thorough introduction to Quantum Mechanics by documenting the interactions between those involved. I bought this several years ago and listened to it several times.

Great explanation of the history of discovery in physics

Detailed and well written. I am a layman with no formal education in the matter of physics, just a passion and curiosity for it. However, with Wikipedia in hand I think I was able to understand most of the concepts. This book has giving me a deeper understanding of physics because it walked me through how previous discoveries led to latter ones.