På sporet af Schrödingers kat

John Gribbon is my favorite "science writer". He is able to take a topic like quantum physics and make it not only understandable but interesting as well. I highly recommend both this book and the sequel, Schrodinger's Kittens and the Search for Reality.

A now dated, but still useful guide to the bizare world of quantum mechanics, and how the world of the unbelivavbly small effects everyday life.

Gribbin has been very busy popularising science in the last decade or so, and this is one of his landmark books. Frankly, though, I'm as baffled now as I ever was about quantum mechanics, and I have a physics degree to help. Not a good degree, though - perhaps the problem is mine.

This is the second John Gribbin book I have read, but not the last one, I am sure.

Another Gribbin book (Science: A History 1534-2001) convinced me that his style is very enjoyable. His scientific thinking, good sense of selecting and explaining interesting subjects is very well integrated by his

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fine humor and vivid story telling. You can find no boring parts you might got familiar in school. Based on what I have already read from him, he seems to choose the time based story telling approach instead of giving the knowledge at once - this makes the whole much more exciting.

Atom, light, electron: I have never thought they could be so amusing. You know, school have hidden this secret world from me. Or just didn't know the right way to tell it. The whole book is a fascinating and shocking travel to the world of the smaller and smaller things. In the office it was a constant subject, I always kept my collegues up-to-date regarding what I have read. And what also counts: I am a sceptic and agnostig man, lacking mystic feelings. Now I got it.

I myself made notes during reading, because otherwise I cannot remember the details. Of course, it is also good just to relax and enjoy.

In the last chapter, he becomes subjective, and votes for a theory that I could not believe. However, in the second part of this book (Schrödinger's Kittens and the Search for Reality) he practically votes for another one. That is also hard to believe - but this is typical for the whole subject. So might even be true.

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This is the book that first made me want to study science, it's very well written and the sheer weirdness of quantum physics made me want to find out more. I've since bought another 97 books about science.

Fascinating, and kinda terrifying, and hey! I understood some physics! That alone is one heck of an accomplishment.

A good non-mathematical introduction to quantum mechanics.

Why did I buy this book? There is a great problem with explaining something technical to the layman: so much trust is involved. This book is packed with nonsense; at least, that is the way that it seems to me. We are told of sub atomic particles which react differently depending upon whether they

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are observed or no. How does anybody know? Part of the experiment is not to look!

We are then told about this infamous hypothetical cat. It is in a box so we don't know whether it is alive, or dead; therefore it is in a third state of being both alive and dead. NO IT IS NOT!!!! It is either alive or dead - we just do not know which.

I have invented a new mathematics. When adding two numbers together, an extra plus one must be included: so, 2 + 2 = 5.and, 2 +2 +2 = 8. Ah, I hear you say, what about multiplication? Simple, (the multiplier - 1) is added. 2 x 3 = 8 (2 x 3 + (3-1)). If one is unable to use practical research, my maths is as accurate as the orthodox variety. There is something interesting too: 2 x 3 is not the same as 3 x 2 (check it out, if you do not believe me). This has such a resonance with Quantum Physics where, we are asked to believe the improbable to fit a clever man's theory.

Why do I suspect that someone (FAR cleverer than me!) will blow 'new physics out of the water?

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For those of you that are into Quantum Physics... this is an excellent into to concepts. The very act of measuring something can change it's reality. You get it all in one package- history, discoveries, speculations and realities. Is the cat in the box alive, dead or perhaps something else? Read

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the book to find out! John Gribbin took difficult concepts and put the explanations into easy to understand terms.

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In the search for Schrodinger's Cat Gribben shows us the fantastic whimsical world of the Quantum. Walking Dead Cats notwithstanding, it is a fascinating journey into that world that even a layman like me can understand. And it opens the door to link the known and seen physical world to the unseen

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world and our interactions with the unseen by just looking at it!
For anybody with a Theological background (like me) it gives entrance to a wormhole tunnel between the two seemingly incompatible genres of knowledge.

Having a Folio Society version adds icing to the cake with its beautifully crafted design. It is a pleasure to hold in the hand, feel the cover and pages, and peruse the beauty of the content. Well worth having a copy!

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A very good read. One of the better books I've read on the subject. Recommended.

Just love quantum stuff. I don't understand most of it but little by little some of it sinks in. Particularly like the way the multiverse may or may not be splitting.......

And it's a fantastic education reading about the incredible ideas going on in the minds of people who make the breakthroughs

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and lay foundations and work out the possibilities..... the same sort of thrill I get knowing Voyager 1 is out there and was made possible by people not unlike me.

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I thought I had a grasp of the basics but this book was fantastic. I particularly enjoyed the time travel and parallel worlds chapter. Great reference book.

Not bad but not the overview of my quantum dreams.

Another book that makes a good stab at explaining the complexities of quantum science.