82 of 84 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A glimpse of the future, 6 Aug 2006
This review is from: The God Effect: Quantum Entanglement, Science's Strangest Phenomenon (Hardcover)
This is an absolutely fascinating book.
I cannot claim to be a scientist, but have always been interested in science. I suspect that I am not alone amongst amateurs in having some pretty muddled ideas and this is certainly so in the case of quantum physics. Without any sense that I was reading a text book, The God Effect helped me a little along the way to understanding some of the weird and wonderful happenings that occur at this miniature level of the physical world.
Brian Clegg never sets out to tell us what the future will look like; he does not pretend to be able to read a crystal ball. Rather, he tells us how one particularly strange phenomenon, quantum entanglement, is already being applied technologically and explores some of the possible future applications. To me, still struggling with the pace of change in the last twenty years, the future looks fantastical. This is a book I will keep just so that I can read it again in a few years time to see how far things have moved on.
I would not say that this book is suitable for everyone. In a few parts of the book, I struggled with concepts that were beyond my level of physics or mathematics (GCSE level). This is good: I was challenged, though never to the extent that I felt either overpowered or ignorant. I suggest that if you want to enjoy and learn from the book you will need a very (and I mean very) rudimentary knowledge of some physics at the atomic level and a real interest in science. I have a shrewd suspicion that those with far more knowledge than the likes of me will get even more out of it.
The book is written in plain English, with a lovely sense of humour and an easy, flowing style. In my experience, this is quite rare amongst science writers. Simple diagrams illustrate various concepts very helpfully. Brief historical anecdotes punctuate the narrative, setting the background for scientific ideas and arguements. All in all, it is well written and a pleasure to read.
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2.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting book - I wished it was more focused, 24 Nov 2011
A good exposition of the entanglement problems. My personal feeling was that I often got tired with it as I am very keen to understand this amazing phenomenon but often found myself into detours. I liked the bit on quantum computers and I understood why a qubic has so much more power than the bit based computers. All in all an interesting cover of the main contributors in this field.
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7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Silly and pointless...., 28 Aug 2011
The author uses an old trick. Write a decent introductory chapter and follow with pages of filler. The title is a misnomer, obviously. The whole entanglement/spooky action at a distance is an interesting subject but it's not one the author explains. At best 'entanglement' is an extrapolation: a 'what if' thought experiment based on theoretical physics - based on uncertainty and probability. Rather than investigate this, and casting aside limitations like the speed of light, the author accepts 'spooky action' as fact and proceeds to imagine applications like military and time travel that could exploit unfettered instantaneous communication across light years. All rather silly and futile.
So, this is a one chapter book and it's not a great chapter. It's an okay chapter: probably!
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