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Quantum Physics: Illusion or Reality?

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The concept of Quantum Physics led Einstein to state that "God does not play dice". The difficulty he, and others, had with Quantum Physics was the great conceptual leap it requires taking from conventional ways of thinking about the physical world. Alastair Rae's introductory exploration into this area has been hailed as a "masterpiece of clarity" and is an engaging guide to the theories offered. This revised edition contains a new chapter covering theories developed during the past decade. Alastair Rae has been a Lecturer, a Senior Lecturer, then Reader in Quantum Physics in the School of Physics and Astronomy at University of Birmingham from 1967-2003. His publications include the First Edition of Quantum Physics, (Cambridge, 1994) and Quantum Mechanics (Institute of Physics, 2002), now in its Fourth Edition. First Edition Pb (1994): 0-521-46716-0

170 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1985

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Alastair I.M. Rae

10 books9 followers

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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
21 reviews17 followers
August 2, 2016
كتجربة أولى في قراءة كتاب كامل مختص بهذا الموضوع - ولا أظنها ستكون الأخيرة - فأرجو أن ينتفع القاريء بالنصائح التالية :
لغير المتخصصين : ان كان الكتاب عندك مملا في فصوله الأربعة الأولى فدعه الآن ولا تضيع وقتك ، فليس هذا الكتاب لأجلك .. وإن كان غير ذلك ، فاقرأ بتأنٍ وأعد قراءة كل ما لم تفهمه مراتٍ عدة ، ولا بأس أن تصطحب معك مراجعة سريعة لفيزياء الثانوية ، وبعضا من حساب المثلثات سيفيد كثيرا مع اطلاع مبدئي على القضايا المتعلقة بميكانيكا الكم في شكل مقالات مبسطة ، ولا تنس أن تصطحب معك أقراصاً للصداع فقلما سيغادرك :) ....وأعدك بوجبة فلسفية وعلمية دسمة وممتعة للغاية

- للمتخصصين - ولست للحكم عليهم بأهل- : يمكن أن تجد الفصول الأولى مبسطة أكثر من اللازم وربما حتى سطحية ، فيمكن تجاوزها أو قراءتها سريعا ، فالكاتب يستهدفك أنت فيما يلي من فصول الكتاب، إذ يقول : "يزعج هذا النوع من الاسئلة - حول القضايا المتعلقة بفسلفة الكم - الكثيرين من دارسي الفيزياء ، ولكن معظمهم يعتادون على هذه المشكلات الفكرية باعتبار أن هذه هي الطبيعة وحسب ! ثم يستخدمون أفكار فيزياء الكوانتم في دراستهم أو بحثهم بدون أن يشغلوا أنفسهم حول حقيقتها من عدمها .." ، هو ببساطة لا يريد ان تتوقف عند مبدأ shut up and calculate !! وانما تتجاوزه وتسير مع كل قضية من قضاياه بمزيد من التأمل :

لماذا لا نكتفي بالملاحظة والقياس ومن ثم الاستنتاج وحسب ؟ ... لأن الكاتب يخبرك بكل وضوح ان مشكلتنا الرئيسية مع الكوانتم هي في الملاحظة والقياس بحد ذاتهما !!! وبالتالي فان النتائج قد تكون -مع قدراتها التفسسيرية وتطبيقاتها القارة بالفعل والواعدة منها - مضللة او على الاقل محيرة في بنيانها المنطقي وهو الذي رفضه عقول كبار أمثال أينشتاين ترى الواقع المادي أكثر ثباتا من أن يحكم بهذا القدر من اللاحتمية ..
...........
- الله لا يلعب بالنرد
- لا تخبر الله بما عليه أن يفعله
حوار "شبه واقعي " بين بور وأينشتاين
..........
الشق المزدوج ... استقطاب أزواج الفوتونات ... تجارب أسبيه ... قطة شرودنجر : الأمثلة التي اعتاد المرء سماعها حين يجبه بميكانيكا الكم ، يرسلك الكاتب مع كل تجربة وكذلك تجارب ونظريات وأوراق علمية أكثر في تؤدة وبساطة كي ترى بنفسك المشاكل النظرية والعملية في كل منها ثم ينطلق بك سريعا الى المشاكل الفلسفية ثم ... لا يجيبك على أي منها ! -في الواقع هو يدعك لاختيار أو قل لاختبار إجابتك بنفسك ..فلا أحد يمتلك الحقيقة العلمية والتفسير الأكمل للواقع في هذه الموضوعات تحديدا - ابتعادا عن الابتذال الذي تستخدم به تلك العبارة - ولكن هو يختار اجابته في النهاية بموضوعية ويدعوك لفعل المثل ....

أهم ما نجح فيه الكاتب برأيي -والفضل في ذلك يمكن أن يعود إلى ميكانيكا الكم نفسها ثم إلى تبسيطه إياها - هو أن يحملك على مساءلة البديهيات ، كيف تبدأ من فرضياتك الأساسية وتناقش كل جزء منها ومن تجربتك التي تثبت تلك الفرضية أو تنفيها بشكل مجرد وموضوعي تماما ، فمثلا : نحن نقوم بتجربة ما على جسيم ما فنقيس شيئا قمنا بملاحظته ثم نسجل النتائج ، وبعدها نعيد التجربة وهكذا ... في أي خطوة من هذه الخطوات يحدث الخلل وتبدا ميكانيكا الكم تتبع قوانين عالمها الخاص "الغريب "الذي يستقل عن عالم الفيزياء الكلاسيكية الذي نعرفه جميعاً ؟!..

هل الخلل في فرضياتنا ... هل ما نفترضه خطأ من الأصل ؟ هل التجربة سليمة وتضع كل احتمالات الخطأ في الحسبان ؟ هل قمنا حقا بقياس ما نريد أن نقيسه أم كان شيئا آخر أو لا شيء على الإطلاق ؟! هل ملاحظتنا للشيء المقاس بحد ذاته واقعية ام هي محض اوهام من عقولنا ؟هل نلاحظ شيئا يحدث في عالمنا وحسب ام ان عوالما اخر رصدت شيئا ما يناقض ما رصدناه نحن ؟ هل أجهزة القياس صالحة للقياس من الأساس ام انها تعجز عن قياس وتسجيل ما نحاول معرفته ؟هل تسجيل النتائج يتم بالشكل الصحيح أم أننا نخطيء حتى في تسجيل النتائج ونبني نماذج إحصائية على نهج خاطيء ؟ هل فعلا نعزل تجربتنا عن عوامل التخطئة - والتي نفترض ثباتها او حتى نهمل وجودها - أم أنا في واقع الأمرلا نستطيع ذلك أبداً ؟!الآن بت تعرف فيم تفيد أقراص آلام الصداع تلك :)

- الترجمة معقولة إلى حد بعيد لولا بعد الاخطاء النذرة في القيم والحسابات ، لكن أهملت الى حد ما فكرة نقل المصطلح الى العربية ووضع المقابل اللغوي له بلغته الام كي يسهل على القارئ مراجعته في حينه ، او عمل مرجع مخصص لتلك الكلمات في نهاية كل فصل او نهاية الكتاب ككل ، ولكن يحمد له تعليقاته التوضيحية في طرح الكاتب واستخدامه لبعض المصطلحات التي استخدمها استخداما " خاصاً " ، والمراجع خففت من وطأة تلك المشكلات

في النهاية تجد الكتاب يسوقك سوقاً إلى جملة هايزنبرج الشهيرة : " لو أنك عرفت ميكانيكا الكم ولم تجدها مدهشة تماما ، فتأكد أنك لم تفهم منها شيئاً ! " ، فإذا أردت أن تندهش تماما .. اقرأ كتابك :) ...

Profile Image for Amr Khaled.
15 reviews6 followers
November 8, 2018
If you are concerned about learning quantum mechanics , i think this isn't the book you should read but if you have a background about the quantum world and you want to understand some of its concepts as a non-specialist , this will be the perfect book !

The author begins by explaining the bizarreness of the quantum world in the first four chapters and i see he did his best to simplify the complexity of QM by using diagrams -except for bell's theorem part which i had to look for it on the internet-and repeating what does the results of a certain experiment mean.

At the end of the fourth chapter , when he explains Schrodinger's cat thought experiment , here begins the part i gave the book 5 stars for , The measurement problem that led to the different interpretations of QM "Copenhagen's - Multiverse - GRW - Thermodynamic irreversibility - Consistent histories".
From the fifth chapter , the book becomes a beautiful combination of physics and philosophy by explaining each interpretation from the scientific point of view and what does this imply on our understanding of reality.

Profile Image for Myat Thura Aung.
85 reviews18 followers
December 15, 2019
Intended for the general audience, this book is , arguably, the best of its kind for helping us navigate through the conceptual problematics of quantum theory. Skipping the oft-repeated and long-winded historical account of quantum physics, it goes straight to the gist of the matter, presenting a satisfactory and succinct account in just 170 pages. Most importantly, this is quite an intellectually honest work which ,while trying to be as objective as possible, gives a fair share of illuminating discussions to various interpretations of and approaches to quantum physics, some of which are more or less ignored or glossed over in the popular literature. It just so happens that I am also reading a technical undergraduate textbook on quantum mechanics by the same author and I am happy to say that it is one of the most accessible and concise introductory text that I have ever encountered.
Profile Image for Nick.
125 reviews9 followers
December 9, 2012
I wasn't exactly expecting to read about quantum physics much this year, but a discussion with my girlfriend that exhibited gaps in our understanding of physics prompted her to get me this book as a gift, so I was inspired to read it. It's not surprising that we have gaps in our understanding, as I haven't taken any physics since high school, and I think she hasn't needed any of the physics she took in college. But still.

This is not a math-y physics book. There are a few scattered equations, and even something like a proof, but it's really more of a philosophical discussion. The first few chapters discuss some interesting properties of light - in particular the wave/particle duality, and polarization. Experiments relating to these properties are described, and use to set up the central issue the rest of the book discusses, which is the "measurement problem". Unfortunately, as I started reading this book and thinking about the experiments, that was exactly the problem I was hoping to come to better terms with, and I was sorta surprised that it doesn't seem to have a good answer (yet?).

Basically the question goes: what constitutes a measurement? Measuring quantum properties is analogous to making a draw from a probability distribution. Until a measurement is made, we can only assign probabilities to the outcome, unlike in the classical realm. But who does the measuring? Is there something about our consciousness that's required to say a measurement has been made? What about Schrodinger's cat? Is it conscious enough? Whatever that means.

Very frustrating. After setting up the issue, the author spends the remaining chapters discussing ways people have attempted to address the question. Many viewpoints are discussed, and each is given a pretty fair treatment, pointing out both positive and negative aspects of the argument.

I kept reading in hopes that we'd get to the one without negatives, but it never came. Freaking real world, being all messy and stuff.

Anyway, there's still lots I don't understand, even at the more mechanical level of all this, instead of the philosophical (metaphysical?). Gotta read more...

It was sorta of entertaining to be a "trained mathematician" reading this book, especially the first few chapters that were actually more on the technical side. Definitions are scarce (I'm not blaming the author, I think we maybe don't even have the definitions). After the description of the wave/particle duality, the author talks about a beam of light... well what the hell's that? Is that actually a whole bunch of isolated protons, or is it something else, something more wavey? I don't know. Maybe I just didn't read closely enough or think hard enough about it. That's usually my problem.
15 reviews
December 18, 2010
Describes in a clear manner the different conceptual problems within the field of quantum theory, including its revolutionary implications for our understanding of the physical world. Chapters discussing the theory of consciousness-based quantum measurement as well as the 'many-worlds' approach, make for particularly interesting reading. One or two chapters would likely become difficult reading for non-physicists, but given the subject's complexity it is on the whole well explained.
560 reviews3 followers
May 7, 2022
This is a fascinating book with interesting conclusions. I wonder whether the conclusions have now been eclipsed given its age but...

It does have the issue that it is too technical for a light read but not technical enough for those really interested. Thankfully I'm in the (probably small) middle ground!
3 reviews
August 14, 2012
I'm surprised that so many people found this book easy to understand. Apart from the section on Bell's theorem I thought this book was badly written and very confusing. And I'm a quantum physicist. I'm sure there must be better popular books in quantum mechanics out there.
Profile Image for David Hildebrand.
20 reviews40 followers
August 3, 2016
Relatively concise, could have been a couple ideas shorter. It falls into the abyss of talking about quantum mechanics without much to hang your hat on. It does what it intends (meander around the large paradoxes and describe some approaches) and is relatively forgettable.
Profile Image for Abdel-Rahman Allouche.
49 reviews4 followers
April 16, 2020
يسعى الكاتب في الكتاب إلى توضيح معقولية الكوانتم وإزالة هذا الغموض والتشويق (المفتعل في كثير من الأحيان) حول النظرية..

يستعرض الكاتب تاريخ (تفسيرات ) الكوانتم .. من تفسير كوبنهاغن وبور إلى bohm واينشتاين.. والأكوان الموازية .. وصولا إلى تفسير التواريخ المتسقة...
يحاول من هذا السرد أن يبين أن الكوانتم ليست كما يشاع عنها من الانعكاسية وتعلقها بوعي الراصد .. وغير ذلك من الأمور الغامضة فيها ..

السرد في الكتاب جيد..

يعيبه فقط اعتماده على مثال واحد (تراكب الاستقطاب V/H) من أول الكتاب إلى آخره..

الكتاب لا أظنه يصلح لغير المتخصصين بالفزيااء..أو المطلعين على الكوانتم من قبل..
لا تقرأه كأول كتا في الموضوع..
Profile Image for Jesse Davis.
7 reviews
July 25, 2024
The first half of the book outlines why quantum physics is a reputable scientific theory. Perhaps because of how much it has come to the forefront of physics today, I felt this very slow and bogged down with experimental details. The lengthy equation explanations were also bland. I found the later half of the book more interesting as it covered the implications of a quantum worldview to macroscopic ideas.
Profile Image for نواف.
12 reviews5 followers
July 3, 2022
فيه نوع من التخصصية في بعض فصوله
632 reviews3 followers
August 2, 2024
Found this book a bit bureaucratic in its views on quantum. Some discussions or rather useful though.
Profile Image for Mostafa El-Barody.
17 reviews1 follower
September 13, 2025
ما قدرتش افهم شرح التجارب مما ادي في النهاية اني مفهمش الكتاب كله
Profile Image for Gary Patella.
Author 1 book5 followers
September 25, 2012
If he ended the book two chapters earlier, this would've actually been 4 stars.

Alastair Rae did an excellent job describing many of the perplexing quantum phenomena. Rather than focusing only on the common bewildering experiments (e.g. the double slit), he describes many experiments involving the polarization of photons. The results of the described experiments are truly fascinating. I really enjoyed reading it.

Unfortunately, as we come to the end of the book, he cannot leave well enough alone. Rather than leaving us with the mystery of the quantum world, he decides to describe some of the "possible" explanations for the previously described phenomena. This is where the book takes a turn from scientific experimentation to outright made-up stories. Multiple universes, other dimensions, and all of this other science fiction is suddenly viewed as a viable explanation at the end. Sadly, the book that held my attention throughout did not end on a high note.
Profile Image for Joshua.
109 reviews25 followers
Read
June 26, 2007
Companion book to one of my favorite classes ever, with one of my favorite prof's, if you think you know quantum mechanics, and you haven't studied it, it's a must read, get informed, learn the real science, not the pseudo new age stuff, this is the real deal right here, and you'll wonder why it needs to be distorted by some so called scientits, because it's fascinating unaltered
Profile Image for Natalie S..
144 reviews20 followers
April 20, 2012
You know how the random blank pages at the end of every book? Readers of Quantum Physics: Illusion or Reality? normally tear them out to use for "Goodbye, cruel world" notes.

That said, if you ever want to learn about quantum physics (you don't), this book is kind of helpful sort of sometimes.
Profile Image for Abdulmohsen Alghareeb.
178 reviews34 followers
August 8, 2016
بدا لي و لوهلة أنني أخيرا سأقرأ كتابا علميا عن الكوانتم باللغة العربية لكنني تفاجأت بكتاب شديد الملل و كثير التفاصيل الغير مهمة. توقعت كذلك أنني سأقرأ شيئا للمبتدئين في هذا الفرع من العلوم لكن ذلك غير صحيح، فيجب على الشخص أن يمتلك بعض المعلومات مسبقا عن الكوانتم و بعض مصطلحاتها.
Profile Image for dead letter office.
823 reviews42 followers
March 28, 2008
if you want to know what's so weird about quantum mechanics, and you can tolerate some basic algebra, this book will lay it out for you.
Profile Image for Aina.
111 reviews3 followers
December 13, 2010
Wonderful coverage of key experiments in history of quantum physics.
Profile Image for Jan Graf von der Pahlen.
11 reviews
July 29, 2012
Simply the best and most through explanation of the vital concepts of quantum physics I have come across yet.
Profile Image for John Rasmussen.
183 reviews2 followers
July 6, 2012
A great explanation for a very complex subject. Wonderful explanation without calculus.
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