Unlike the title, this book actually tries to cover two (not one) major ideas in 20th Century Physics, Quantum Theory (which deals with the absolutely tiny) and Relativity (talking about pretty darn massive). The cover is littered with fun (and counterintuitive facts) about the consequences of these theories, when made analogous to the world at our scale.

Quantum Zoo is a science book aimed towards the layperson, which means, it doesn't contain equations, tries not to use too much jargon or go into much detail. Although I have enjoyed other books in this niche, particularly the ones about the biological sciences, something about this one struck me as missing. I get the impression that I'm supposed to understand what is going on, but at the same time, things haven't been explained to me properly.

However, the problem may not lie with the writer or the book. Modern physics is challenging precisely because it is so counterintuitive. When dealing with things on the scale of the very tiny or the very massive, a lot of our usual commonsense rules do not apply.

My experience in school has taught me that to be able to really understand a worldview, you need to have been given the opportunity to apply it and think through various scenarios while using it. This is well, not always possible to pull off in a 150 page book.

Just to give you a heads up, Chown, covers a range of topics such as the probabilistic nature of things Quantum, the Uncertainty Principle, Entanglement, E=mc^2, Space-Time Contraction and Dilation and so forth. I won't pretend to have understood these clearly. There's a chapter called E=mc^2 and the Weight of Sunshine. I thought that was quite poetic :)

Nonetheless, I think Quantum Zoo gives a reasonable overview of these two revolutions in Physics and serves as a good starting point for someone curious. Plus, it's small and very readable. Recommended, if that's what you're looking for.

Reading this on Facebook? Check out the rest of the blog here

Post a Comment