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Times Higher Education Supplement (UK)
"Experts will relish these paradigm-shifting concepts...physicists will find it a joy. For them the title is well chosen."
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Bestselling author and physicist Stephen Hawking now guides the lay-reader through the fascinating world of quantum physics. Quantum physics - or quantum mechanics as it is also called - completely shattered Newtonian laws and challenged scientists to think differently about matter and subatomic particles. With Hawking's insightful commentary, readers are led through the most important papers on quantum physics, including the scholarship of Niels Bohr, Max Planck, Werner Heisenberg, Max Born, Erwin Schrodinger, J. Robert Oppenheimer, and Richard Feynman.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
You want to know more about the original publications of the inventors of quantum mechanics and read their own words? Then this large volume is very good value. Though what you get out of it will depend strongly on your technical background in physics and what you expect from your reading.
The selection of papers was presumably made by Stephen Hawking. If so, it is rather odd in that a number of key papers are missing. In particular Bohr's famous paper 'On the Quantum Theory of Line-Spectra' is replaced by a much later review article. No doubt this makes for easier reading but it is not in the spirit of the book as advertised. Again, the key paper by Born Heisenberg and Jordan 'On Quantum Mehanics' is not there, probably for the same reason. As usual in US/UK physics de Broglie's contribution is absent. Amazingly there are 2 long papers by David Bohm on his hidden variables interpretation of quantum mechanics (39 pp!) which has had zero influence on current physics.
The introduction by Hawking is a (very) brief history of the subject which seems to be present mainly to justify his name on the cover. It does not discuss the contents in detail. It also looks as if Hawking was not involved in the brief commentaries heading each chapter: these are attributed to Joel Allred. They will not help you to understand the papers. (If you want to know what can be done to explain the papers and their history in detail, look at '100 Years of Planck's Quantum' by Duck and Sudarshan or 'Sources of Quantum Mechanics' by van der Waerden.)
A largish proportion of this volume is taken up by review artcles and even a couple of chapters from a popular book by Gamow; hardly 'the most astounding papers ...' promised on the dust jacket. Even so, it does cover a large range - up to work by Feynman, Schwinger et al.
The book has a clear typeface, all papers have been translated and reset (expect typos) and it is nicely bound. So if you know some physics already - about degree level - it represents unbeatable value at Amazon's price. Get it for the price of a couple of drinks.
100 Years of Planck's Quantum
Sources of Quantum Mechanics (Dover Books on Physics)
The selection of papers was presumably made by Stephen Hawking. If so, it is rather odd in that a number of key papers are missing. In particular Bohr's famous paper 'On the Quantum Theory of Line-Spectra' is replaced by a much later review article. No doubt this makes for easier reading but it is not in the spirit of the book as advertised. Again, the key paper by Born Heisenberg and Jordan 'On Quantum Mehanics' is not there, probably for the same reason. As usual in US/UK physics de Broglie's contribution is absent. Amazingly there are 2 long papers by David Bohm on his hidden variables interpretation of quantum mechanics (39 pp!) which has had zero influence on current physics.
The introduction by Hawking is a (very) brief history of the subject which seems to be present mainly to justify his name on the cover. It does not discuss the contents in detail. It also looks as if Hawking was not involved in the brief commentaries heading each chapter: these are attributed to Joel Allred. They will not help you to understand the papers. (If you want to know what can be done to explain the papers and their history in detail, look at '100 Years of Planck's Quantum' by Duck and Sudarshan or 'Sources of Quantum Mechanics' by van der Waerden.)
A largish proportion of this volume is taken up by review artcles and even a couple of chapters from a popular book by Gamow; hardly 'the most astounding papers ...' promised on the dust jacket. Even so, it does cover a large range - up to work by Feynman, Schwinger et al.
The book has a clear typeface, all papers have been translated and reset (expect typos) and it is nicely bound. So if you know some physics already - about degree level - it represents unbeatable value at Amazon's price. Get it for the price of a couple of drinks.
100 Years of Planck's Quantum
Sources of Quantum Mechanics (Dover Books on Physics)
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Ordered this for a relation who loves maths and physics - amazed by the size of the book :-)
Some of the chapters have the maths so might be offputting to those allergic to mathematical notation, but a real joy to those who understand such stuff.
Some of the chapters have the maths so might be offputting to those allergic to mathematical notation, but a real joy to those who understand such stuff.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is a technical book and only for those who have a physics degree. Do not think it will be accessable in the same way as a Brief History of Time. What Hawking has done here is to assemble all the original papers on Quantum Theory from the very start to almost the present day. If you are use to reading scientific papers then this will be for you.
The real strength of the book is in the choice of which papers to include and this is where Hawking's expertise comes in. Here you have between the pages of a single volume every important paper that was written by the original discoverers of Quantum Theory; Planck, Einstein, Bohr, Heisenberg, Schrodinger, de Broglie, Feynman, Dirac, Pauli, etc. He includes them all... and even includes the seminal papers of David Bohm from 1952 and John Bells papers on hidden variables which though not considered mainstream are central to undertanding what is behind Quantum Theory. A keyresource book for anyone who wants to study this area seriously and who is not afraid of equations. If you want to really understand Quantum Theory you really need to understand the orginal ideas and thoughts from the people who actually came up with the ideas themselves. This is the only book to do that for you.
Dr Phil
The real strength of the book is in the choice of which papers to include and this is where Hawking's expertise comes in. Here you have between the pages of a single volume every important paper that was written by the original discoverers of Quantum Theory; Planck, Einstein, Bohr, Heisenberg, Schrodinger, de Broglie, Feynman, Dirac, Pauli, etc. He includes them all... and even includes the seminal papers of David Bohm from 1952 and John Bells papers on hidden variables which though not considered mainstream are central to undertanding what is behind Quantum Theory. A keyresource book for anyone who wants to study this area seriously and who is not afraid of equations. If you want to really understand Quantum Theory you really need to understand the orginal ideas and thoughts from the people who actually came up with the ideas themselves. This is the only book to do that for you.
Dr Phil
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