Okay, so this is probably the most difficult review I've done, in part because I don't actually understand quantum physics, but also because this book took me months to read.
The Quantum Universe: Everything that Can Happen Does Happen to use its full title - but which we shall shorten to The Quantum Universe for the sake of simplicity - is a book by Brian Cox of BBC fame, and Jeff Forshaw of the University of Manchester, and it serves as both a history of quantum theory and a beginner's guide to quantum physics. And that's all I can really say about it.
Don't get me wrong, it's a good book and it's very interesting. But for a simple introduction to such a topic it's still too heavy to understand without an in-depth understanding of physics or at least A-level mathematics. And since I dropped maths at GCSE, it left me very confused indeed.
The premise of the book is good: I like the idea of teaching the science of quantum physics to the masses. And the explanations and history of the science are very interesting, it's hard to find fault with the writing of the book when each chapter draws you in at the beginning and makes you want to read on at the end. The problem I have is that, in between, it just gets so dense so quickly and you don't have the energy to read on once you've reached the end of the chapter, and it's hard to pick up all the information when you're beginning to feel like you just devoured the literary equivalent of an entire Tudor-style banquet by yourself.
This is why it took me months to finish reading it; it's a book you've gotta take in portions. If you're well-versed in science already you'll likely get more out of it, and it's fairly simple to actually skip over a lot of the proper science-ing - I fairly breezed past most of the equations without a second glance, the maths is really there for the hardcore enthusiast or the student - but there's still a lot to get through in each chapter and the imagery starts getting difficult to follow once you've left it for a week or two and can't remember how their method of using clocks to find the atom exactly works.
The Quantum Universe boggles the mind a little. It's fun to read, for the most part, and it covers an interesting subject and covers it well, but it's not a book to take lightly. The subject of quantum physics is a difficult one to simplify and it's an admirable effort, but I feel as though, unless you're actually studying the subject, you're not going to get much out of it besides a vague sense of understanding and some maths equations you'll never use again.
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