Quantum Theory Cannot Hurt You (Unabridged) [Audio Download]

I bought this book at a book signing event in Waterstones whilst waiting around for Ben Goldacre to show up to sign his book Bad Science. Marcus Chown was also in attendance and I chatted a while with him about this book amongst other things.

I have read several books on physics and quantum theory by authors such as Brian Green, John Gribbin and Stephen Hawking and was familiar with quantum theory; familiar in the sense that I have a vague understanding of the topic and find it thoroughly interesting but decidedly bonkers.

Given my existing "knowledge", I wasn't sure if this book would be for me, but I bought it anyway, and now, having found a few spare hours dotted through the Christmas holiday, I am very glad indeed that I did.

The book is split into two parts; i) Small Things and ii) Big Things. Small things discusses the strange world of quantum theory, wave-particle duality, interference, superposition, quantum tunnelling and the like, whilst part two focusses, in general, on Einstein's theories of relativity.

Given the book's title, I was surprised at the amount of space given over to relativity. (That little bit of prior "knowledge" meant I figured the author intended to bring us full circle and explain why General/Special relativity break down when describing the very small in black holes or at the Big Bang - which he does.) However, the Big stuff sits nicely alongside the Small and in the final chapter prepares readers for the even stranger world that string theorists inhabit.

The book progresses at an nice, even pace with plenty of examples and illustrations, which, given the topic, end up being a little contrived and exaggerated. But this is not a problem; what is being discussed is just as crazy as anything the author dreams up to help illustrate the science!

For me, the individual sections were a little brief, but for the reader that is coming fresh to the topic I doubt this will be the case. Instead, "Quantum Theory Cannot Hurt You" is a thoroughly interesting introduction to this fascinating area of science.

And, true to his word, the book didn't hurt one little bit.

I've come across quantum mechanics before a couple of times, and it has always been a big puzzle. However, since it seems to keep coming up all the time, I've always wished I knew more - and having read this book I do! This book is very user-friendly. It tells you about quantum mechanics in ways anyone can understand and makes it interesting and appealing. Quantum Mechanics doesn't seem like anything else - not like 'old' physics at all. It is weird and astonishing, for instance time is variable, light bends, photons can be in two places, and sometimes one photon can 'tell' what a partner is doing. I don't think I shall ever really understand quantum mechanics but through reading this book I know it won't hurt me, and I feel happy with what I do know...and when I see TV programmes like Einstein and Eddington I know what they're talking about which makes me feel extremely clever. I now feel brave enough to try Richard Feynman. Quantum Theory is an excellent read and I highly recommend it.

This is a first-rate book. If you're looking for an account of the current state of Quantum Mechanics and Relativity which is accessible to a non-scientist and takes you from the basics through to most recent developments, this is for you. It is easy to read, but doesn't fudge issues or patronise and has real intellectual weight beneath a thoroughly good-humoured surface. Marcus Chown has been one of our best scientific writers in journals like New Scientist for many years and has already written several really good books. This is well up to standard and I recommend it without reservation. A cracker.