• The Age of Entanglement

  • When Quantum Physics was Reborn
  • By: Louisa Gilder
  • Narrated by: Walter Dixon
  • Length: 14 hrs and 8 mins
  • 4.1 out of 5 stars (314 ratings)

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The Age of Entanglement  By  cover art

The Age of Entanglement

By: Louisa Gilder
Narrated by: Walter Dixon
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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)

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Quite nice

This book started at bit slowly and got better as it went. I wonder if the writing started at the middle and the first few chapters were added on later. Perhaps the reports of conversations from direct interviews are just much more compelling than the conversations recreated from letters and notes. I nearly gave up after the first couple of hours, but then it started getting better, and it continued getting better for hour after hour, ending very strong. This is well worth listening to. The tone and level seems great for a general audience and is still interesting for those who already know some of the physics and history.

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23 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

A nice mix of theory and history.

Entanglement has vexed some of the greatest minds of the 20th century and this is what I loved about this book. Books on physics (other than text books) tend to either be histories focused on an individual or books focus on a subject matter. I really enjoyed how the author unraveled the subject over time through the individuals making the discoveries creating a interesting timeline. It did start a little slow but got very intersting later.

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15 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

A Tangle of Creative Insight

Louisa Gilder has written a book on the story of the discovery in physics that we live in a mysteriously entangled world... . The idea that has profound implications in all fields of study but importantly... including that taboo realm to 20th century science: the mind/spirit/material question that has enthralled humanity for millennia.

The author does not delve into the implications and throws some tonal cold water here and there on the idea... but still for me it was always part of the narrative.

In fact her book is about how very interesting personalities gradually over decades, faced the implications of the extra light speed "Entanglement" of particles that seemed to be inferred in the equations of Quantum Physics and how as time went on... John Bell and others described and suggested experiments to confirm what physics, by the authors story seemed to be willfully ignoring. He was met with resistance by some who didn't like the implications and intrigue by younger experimental physicists.

But this book is as much about the personalities behind the storied history of physics in the 20th century. Their interactions and creative competition, egos and interpersonal rivalries, playful even deeply affectionate regard are very well crafted.
Although their is some creative license that the author admits first thing to pull together from extensive reading of personal letters etc. how conversations very likely would have developed when no one was there but these second sources give a detailed if not completely quoted outline of what was indeed said.

In fact this is the strong point of the book... her familiarity with the issues at hand... that is the physics and the personalities involved and their often peculiar interactions on the historical stage... drawn together with conversations that may or may not have happened as written. One senses that her efforts are close to the truth and that she has little decernable prejudice, funny and wise, even touching.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Semi-Fiction Semi-Fact

Any additional comments?

The main problem with this book is it mixes real people and real situations with fictional accounts to the degree that one has no sense of what is fact and what isn't. It's like watching a movie to learn about history, what parts were real and what parts were artistic license? I find that my head is now possibly filled with inaccuracies about some of the greatest physicists of the 20th century, and that disturbs me.

Further, the book does go into some detail about quantum theory and other aspects of physics, but these, what I hope are facts, appear randomly and unexpectedly. Picture watching an entertaining movie that sporadically turns into a science lesson on a complicated subject. I found myself completely unprepared to absorb and contemplate the theories that were often delivered at high speed and in complex terms.

Ultimately, I read/listen to books for knowledge, but you can't trust the historical knowledge gained by this book, and the scientific knowledge is difficult to follow due to its sporadic nature. It may be more enjoyable for those who read/listen for entertainment, but who don't mind being hit with the occasional complex science equation.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Insightful and fulfilling

I only get to listen to an audio book whilst walking the dog. I found the book so fascinating and insightful that I was finding reasons to walk the dog more often. I enjoy leaning about quantum physics,but am not a history person. However the text was so cleverly written that I became captivated with the conversational style and getting a sense of who these personalities were. If you are into quantum physics, then you have to listen to this book to appreciate the historical struggle to make it accessible to us all. The narrator, Walter Dixon, does a great job of reading this title. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • B.
  • 01-16-11

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.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Informative

I liked this book. It is very detailed as to what had happened. An overall very good story, about the age of quantum physics as it rushed in.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

an excellent introduction to Entanglement

What did you love best about The Age of Entanglement?

It showes in Historical sequence,with a very readable narrative the essence of the subject.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Age of Entanglement?

that grandson of Schrodinger is follwing the path to meaning of quantum mechanics without being aware that schrodinger was related to him.

Which character – as performed by Walter Dixon – was your favorite?

Einstein

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Age of entanglement
we have had age of inocence of Edith Wharton,Guilded age, but not anything like age of science.(we have had atomic age with a negative destructive conotation) especially anything that is refered to one its strange phenomenon that is completely counter intuitive.

Any additional comments?

THere are a lot of talks about philosophy that looks like another branch of Literature or in other words ,is nothing more than another aspect of words play ( e,g :Gramatology a la Derrida,Semiotics:a la Umberto Eco,or an ecclectic post modern ,mombo jombo ,that necessarily has nothing to do with objective reality, so the job of philosopher is not to interpret reality on the base of scientific method but interpret according to his take on a text,historical document or what he or she perceive as truth without any reference to scientific evidence.Entanglement and understanding it, is giving a jolt to world of ideas ,similar to Einstein Relativity that totally changed our concept of time and space . Artists in the dawn of 20th century start to utilize different concept of time and space ,that seemed weierd and new, in their works ( Picaso in painting,Joyce in novel ,Schoenberg in music,...etc)I am not aware of anybody in realm literature ,painting and or music that is aware of profound implication that entanglement will have in our future scientific endeavors and how it will revolutionize our communications,vision and over all how we will deal with external world that is independent of our limited perceptional abilities.Michael Benhurimbenhu@aol.com

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Interesting but story bounces all over the place

Would you try another book from Louisa Gilder and/or Walter Dixon?

Not sure

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

I understand the need to break the book up into time periods, but then maintain the time periods. The book jumps to peoples deaths, then talks about what they are saying in the next chapter. Really makes the book hard to follow especially in audio form.

Was The Age of Entanglement worth the listening time?

Parts of it were worth the time, i found the arguments between bor and einstein very funny.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Very monotone

My first impression was that this was going to be a very difficult book to listen to due to the narrators lack of inflection. It does start to pick up story wise about half way through the book (1938 for those that have listened), but it will take a good deal of discipline and stamina to get there.

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2 people found this helpful