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Q Is for Quantum: An Encyclopedia of Particle Physics / John Gribbin ; Edited by Mary Gribbin ; Illustrations by Jonathan Gribbin ; Timelines by Benjamin Gribbin.

By: John R Gribbin Mary Gribbin Jonathan Gribbin
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: The Free Press
ISBN: 068485578X
ISBN-13: 9780684855783
Released: 01 Feb 1999
RRP: £23.53
Average Rating:

Customer Reviews

Useful dictionary of quantum physics - By: Malcolm Black, 28 Aug 2008
This work is an improvement on the author's previous books, "Schrödinger's cat" & "Schrödinger's kittens". Using the dictionary format helps avoid bias & "filler". It even provides a coherent, unbiased, account of the Copenhagen interpretation.

Run to this guide when incoherent journalists start throwing around terms like "Bell's inequality" or "QED". Gribbin almost always comes up with an adequate definition of difficult concepts. But not every time.

For instance, he produces the simplest, clearest explanation of "gauge theory" in the classical domain that I have ever read, but loses the thread when he tries to describe it within quantum chromodynamics. Also, some things are missing.

There is no discussion of Hilbert space. His article on Schrödinger's equation doesn't actuallly show the equation...

In a hoped for second edition, the biographies & timelines might be shortened. This would leave room for a simple introduction to the mathematics behind the key areas of quantum mechanics. Then he could add the most important equations. Writers like Penrose, Cropper & Schumm have shown how you can use equations to make a popular science book more appealing & informative.

In summary: this unique resource is well worth buying.
It is a very good book! - By: , 07 Jun 1999
Every question i've ever had concerning particle physics, has been anwsered! You don't need to be a nuclear physicist to understand "properties" of this book. It relates to alll in the quantum world.
Excellent introduction to the mysteries of Quantum Mechanics - By: , 01 Feb 1999
Anybody interested in Quantum Mechanics, but without the maths, should read this book. It covers the history & current state-of-the-art with alll the personalities & their theories that have come & gone presented in a truly approachable style.

No book could demystify Quantum Mechanics - paraphrasing Richard Feynman "if you get it - you don't get it!" - but Q is for Quantum goes a long way to providing an insight to what must be happening on the smalllest scale within our Universe.

A FIVE STAR TOURIST GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE - By: , 09 Nov 1998
For alll you Douglas Adams fans out there ( The HitchHiker's Guide to the Galaxy) we have now got definitive, non-fictional guides to the Cosmos & the micro-world of Quantum Phenomena.

John Gribbin's latest book "Q is for Quantum" is the perfect companion to his 1996 masterpiece "Companion to the Cosmos".

Gribbin's presents his work in a well illustrated, encyclopaedic (A to Z) style with nearly alll topics having hyperlinks to cross-references elsewhere in the book. He puts great emphasis on the human dimension of science as well as on the purely physical phenomena & theories he describes so well. The mini-biographies of the scientists are fascinating in their own right, particularly when looking at the historical context & the geographic, social & academic connections/paralllels that have led to these great advances in human thought.

Gribbin guides us along those amazing scientific paths of the past half millennia , from Galileo & Newton to Einstein & Hawking. He has this reader convinced that we are very close to realizing the ultimate dream of a Grand Unifying Theory (GUT) which ties together alll the links between the forces of nature. His work is right up to date & includes the latest ideas on M-branes & superstrings.

The best way to read the book is to open it at random , find a topic of interest & see how far the hyperlinks can take you. Bliss for a net-head! The real strength of Gribbin's writing is to help us cover that great spectrum (in time & space) between the sub-atomic microworld of Quantum phenomena through to the edges of the Cosmos. Somewhere in the middle is the human dimension, dare I say, the "real world".

It was our friend Douglas Adams who posed that trickiest of tri-lemmas ... What is the answer to that ultimate question, that is, the Meaning of Life, the Universe & Everything ? He told us ... it is 42 !

John Gribbin's agrees - look up his section on Planck. What is the smalllest unit of time? Answer: zero, decimal point, FOURTY TWO zeros, one second.

Before Planck time nothing much happened ... but then again ...