The Age of Entanglement

When Quantum Physics was Reborn

By: Louisa Gilder

Narrated by: Walter Dixon

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)

More history than explanation of quantum mechanisms

A very thorough history, almost moment by moment account of key figures in quantum mechanics, but, what it gains in story it loses in explanation. Light on laying out how quantum mechanics works. Depends on what you want out of it.

Extremely interesting history of quantum physics

Where does The Age of Entanglement rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Great book! However, it's not for beginners. You need a background in quantum physics before listening. I have a particular interest in Bell's Theorem and entanglement, and that's the focus of this book. I listened to it with half an ear most of the time because I was also cooking or doing housework. However, I listened to it about 3 1/2 times through to fill in the sections I missed when I was distracted. The narrator does an excellent job. And learning about Bell's Theorem by hearing the conversations among physicists and excerpts of their letters brings the subject to life. And it was a real pleasure to get a better appreciation for the historic characters who played key roles in the development of quantum physics. Like I said, a great book!

It gets too much into details

Very extensive book, it is a biography of every physicist, telling his life and work, and the interaction between them. It is very interesting, but I found it a little too long.

A Trek Through The History of Quantum Physics

Listening to how the ideas developed really gives you an insight into the personalities of the familiar characters in the world of Quantum Physicists and an appreciation that some of today's accepted dogma was highly controversial at the time it was proposed and split the community into believers and non-believers.

I really enjoyed the narration but I'm going to have to re-listen at least one more time as the gentle tones of the reader lulled me into sleep several times on my train commute and bedtime read.

Recommended.

Using historical development for understanding

A good historical survey of the early pioneers in quantum physics to "spooky action at a distance". I enjoyed this book but I had previously just read "Quantum" by Manjit Kumar who covers the early story slightly better. Later I ended up reading "How the Hippies Saved Physics" which covers the entanglement part better. The book is a good read especially if you haven't read the other two books.