In Search Of Schrodinger's Cat: Quantum Physics and Reality (1984)

Just love quantum stuff. I don't understand most of it but little by little some of it sinks in. Particularly like the way the multiverse may or may not be splitting.......

And it's a fantastic education reading about the incredible ideas going on in the minds of people who make the breakthroughs and lay foundations and work out the possibilities..... the same sort of thrill I get knowing Voyager 1 is out there and was made possible by people not unlike me. ( )

A highly readable and exciting account of a topic that I love. ( )

Quantum physics is deeply unsettling. The two competing theories that attempt to explain the Schrodinger's cat paradox of the title seem both (to the average person) equally implausible: the Copenhagen interpretation proposes that, until an observer 'fixes' the results of the experiment by opening the box, the cat is neither alive nor dead, but both; the Many Worlds interpretation proposes that quantum indeterminacy results in alternative worlds where both possible outcomes are respectively fulfilled (one universe contains a live cat, another contains the dead one). It's crazy stuff. And it doesn't stop there - but I'll let you read the book for yourself.

However, whilst physicists may not understand why the sub-atomic world behaves the way it does, quantum theory is a hugely powerful tool that has provided the basis for many of the advances of modern science and technology - nuclear energy, lasers, microwaves, computers, even playing a role in the discovery of DNA. In fact, it wouldn't be too strong a claim to say that our modern world would be unthinkable without it. So, in Gribbin's words, we have a 'Quantum cookbook' with which we can exert an extraordinary power over nature, even if we don't fully understand why the recipes work or what the ingredients are.

This is a difficult subject, and Gribbin does an admirable job of attempting to give a full account of the development of quantum theory in clear historical terms whilst also endeavouring to explain its advances in accessible language. However, given the complexity of the material, there are some sections which will leave the layperson baffled. This is perhaps unavoidable, and it would have been worse if the author had succumbed to the temptation to oversimplify. So, I'll probably read it again at some point, and hope that more of it sinks in. Well worth a read, though, and probably - even though it's getting on a bit now - still the classic introduction to the subject.

Gareth Southwell is a philosopher, writer and illustrator.

A very good read. One of the better books I've read on the subject. Recommended. ( )

A good introduction to quantum theory and the key players involved in its development. I first read this book in college when it was first published in 1984. After this second reading in 2019, I still don't understand quantum physics.

(If you don't get the following joke, this is the book to read!)

Heisenberg and Schrödinger get pulled over for speeding. The cop asks Heisenberg "Do you know how fast you were going?" Heisenberg replies, "No, but we know exactly where we are!"

The officer looks at him confused and says "you were going 108 miles per hour!" Heisenberg throws his arms up and cries, "Great! Now we're lost!"

The officer looks over the car and asks Schrödinger if the two men have anything in the trunk. "A cat," Schrödinger replies. The cop opens the trunk and yells "Hey! This cat is dead." Schrödinger angrily replies, "Well he is now."

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