Any good quantum physics books?

[Journia]

I've been interested in Quantum physics, and I've been looking into its origins on youtube.

I was wondering if any of you astute people in here can recommend a good book to start reading up on the subject with.

Since I'm just beginning, but I have an deep interest in it, I want something that will tell me about it without confusing me (ie. explaining one ting without the other parts which are totally necessary to understanding it.)

So can anyone put in any input?

 

[PurpleStyle]

This is a tough one. I've read some peer-reviewed articles (you'd have to subscribe to different websites to view those; and they all cost money) on the subject, but unfortunately even when one is familiar with the subject, it is confusing. :stickout The best suggestion I can give off the top of my head is to scrounge the internet for stuff written by Michio Kaku. However, he is mainly interested in string theory. I do not support string theory, fyi. :stickout

Of course, I have to ask: have you studied up on classical physics? If not, Isaac Newton is a good person to start with.

I apologize if that doesn't help a great deal, my strengths lie in astrophysics/cosmology, and particle physics. If those were what you were after, I could have pointed you toward a goldmine of easy-to-understand literature/videos.

 

[scavenger]

Well, I always found the movie/documentary "What the Bleep do we know" a very good introduction to quantum physics. I only saw it after I had already read a lot about the subject from various sources, but the movie really boils it down to the basics. From there it does address several related topics, such as the role of the observer and it's implications on the shaping of reality itself.

As for books... I don't know... there's probably a "Quantum Physics for Dummies" book, but I haven't read such a thing yet, so I can't say for sure.

 

[Adalon1]

There is the very popular book "The God Particle" by the Nobel Prize Laureate, Leon Ledermen which is a humorous, layperson's introduction to atomic physics. No real knowledge of math or physics is required - he goes over it all and he makes it all accessible. It is a little bit old - 90s stuff - but still, all the basics are there. Highly recommended. This guy is like the Carl Sagan for particle physics it seems.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_God_Particle

 

[MistressValerie1]

I recently downloaded a free introductory general physics text at http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/File:Fhsstphysics.pdf but I'm not sure if that covers what you are looking for.

 

[tallbuckeye]

search the Goog for video using the term 'Richard Feynman on Quantum Mechanics'... best to hear about it from one of the guys who put it all together. Or check the related videos which turn up on that search.

 

[N/A]

I second the recommendation for Richard Feynman. Years ago, his undergraduate course was collected as the three-volume "Feynman lectures on physics", which includes the classical mechanics background that makes quantum mechanics more understandable.

 

[sabaki]

I third the recommendation for Feynman. Go right to volume 3 of his Lectures on Physics. If you have a college library nearby, I'd try that. The first few chapters can basically be understood without math. But to get very far in QM you need math.

If you really want to try to understand, skip any "popular science" explanations. They're almost all crap.

Ironically, although you want to understand its origins, you have to go pretty far into QM or classical mechanics before you understand enough to see where these things came from. Before you get to that point, everyone presents the equations as if they were just invented out of nowhere.

With respct to PurpleStyle, Newton is fun to read, but math was very... different back then. It may confuse you. Modern physics text have things put together a little better, and they prepare you for modern physics better 😛

Also, Feynman wasn't one of the people to put QM together. He did QED, which is a whole other ball game. He just had an exceptional clarity of thought, so was a good teacher.

 

[Journia]

If you have a college library nearby, I'd try that.

Believe me, my college library has very little that is stimulating to scientific thought. Sadly.

 

[N/A]

One of my wingnut fellow employees is suspicious of Quantum Mechanics, equating it to Evolution as an affront to his sensibilities. I told him he would have to stop using solid-state electronic gear, then, since it would come to a screeching halt without quantum effects.

 

[PurpleStyle]

Well, I always found the movie/documentary "What the Bleep do we know" a very good introduction to quantum physics.

I disagree. "Ramtha" the "35,000 year old spirit warrior from Atlantis" is in that. That alone should tell you something is wrong. It's tripe. I would go by the wikipedia definition of it, calling it "quantum mysticism". That's a nice way of saying it's full of shit. 🙂

 

[Slaver123]

"Just Six Numbers" by Martin Rees is an absolutely AWESOME book. Not primarily about Quantum physics, it's about the six numbers that pretty much run the universe (like the Gravitational Constant, etc) and how life would be impossible if they were different.

I also like what I've read and heard from Michio Kaku

 

[TheChameleon]

In Search of Shrodinger's Cat.

 

[FeatherDaemon1]

The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene is a good one.