Six Impossible Things

The Mystery of the Quantum World

De: John Gribbin

Narrado por: Matthew Waterson

Rules of the quantum world seem to say that a cat can be both alive and dead at the same time and a particle can be in two places at once. And that particle is also a wave; everything in the quantum world can described in terms of waves - or entirely in terms of particles. These interpretations were all established by the end of the 1920s, by Erwin Schrödinger, Werner Heisenberg, Paul Dirac, and others. But no one has yet come up with a common sense explanation of what is going on. In this concise and engaging book, astrophysicist John Gribbin offers an overview of six of the leading interpretations of quantum mechanics.

Gribbin calls his account "agnostic", explaining that none of these interpretations is any better - or any worse - than any of the others. Gribbin presents the Copenhagen Interpretation, promoted by Niels Bohr and named by Heisenberg; the Pilot-Wave Interpretation, developed by Louis de Broglie; the Many Worlds Interpretation (termed "excess baggage" by Gribbin); the Decoherence Interpretation ("incoherent"); the Ensemble "Non-Interpretation"; and the Timeless Transactional Interpretation (which theorized waves going both forward and backward in time). All of these interpretations are crazy, Gribbin warns, and some are more crazy than others - but in the quantum world, being more crazy does not necessarily mean more wrong.

©2019 John Gribbin (P)2019 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Short and sweet

Very good summary of a difficult topic. Helps with getting a grip on the absurdities of quantum physics.

A great summary of competing ideas

Gribbin does a fantastic job paraphrasing six competing ideas that describe the quantum world. Be warned that this book takes listening to a few times to really soak it all in. Great listen.

A simple explanation of quantum mechanics

This is a simple, short explanation of quantum physics and mechanics. I enjoyed hearing The Who, How, and why in quantum. I thought his theory of Schrödinger’s kittens helped improve my understanding of quantum principles.

Captures difficult concepts with tongue in cheek

I'm just starting my journey to try to grasp what all the hoopla is about. This helps me to find my starting point.

I didn't know all these different theories of quantum physics existed!

This book was so short, yet so sweet! Although I'm experienced in this field, the info was delivered very gently and more than being technical, this book drives imagination.

Fascinating but hard to grasp

This reading gave me a lot to think about. I enjoyed the narrator’s delivery. I’m off to read more about this subject.

Excellent overview.

Well ordered, friendly list. Helped my understanding of some concepts, and introduced me to a few new ones. I enjoyed negative time. I have a sneaking suspicion negative mass might exist somewhere.