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Navigating: Quantum Physics
160 pages, Paperback
Published May 8, 2025
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June 1, 2026
So this uses a series of questions starting with "Why can't we see around corners?" (i.e. wave-particle duality of light) through to "Do quantum computers deserve the hype?" to understand the basics of quantum physics and its applications.
I don't doubt the excellent credentials of both author and illustrator, and the content is fine, but I struggled with the book’s layout. It's split into chapters - for example, Chapter 1 is Quantum Preludes, with a double-page chapter heading showing a diagram like a concept map with the key concepts to be covered; so for Quantum Preludes - light, waves, heat, black bodies, UV, photoelectric effect, atoms, etc. - appear on the map. Then you get a double-page intro that explains what the chapter will cover, reiterates the key concepts, and provides a brief sentence for each. Then there's a more detailed double-page mind map of topics, including ones not on the first map. Then you get to the actual chapter content: a series of (lay-person's?) questions, each consisting of a page of text and a page showing a big stylised graphic of something that's mentioned in the text with a summary text explaining it again. I found things referenced too many times before being explained in context. The key concepts usually don't appear in the questions, are lost in the text, and don't always appear in the graphics. Which is fine if you're reading through the whole thing (which I did), but less helpful if you're trying to remind yourself of a definition referenced later in the book (which I kept wanting to do, as my memory is shot). I ended up using the index more than the maps. The maps would have been a useful summary if they'd been at the end of each chapter, reviewing what I'd learnt from the chapter content.
As I said, the actual content is fine, particularly if you want a light intro without the maths. My problem was just the layout. Oddly, I didn't find the same layout an issue when I read another book in the 'Navigating...' series, about AI. Quantum physics is such a mind-boggling subject, though, so maybe I needed more depth, less repetition, and less minimalist graphics. Interestingly, the author has written another intro book (Quantum Physics in Minutes), which might work better for me.
Many thanks to the publisher for a reading copy.
I don't doubt the excellent credentials of both author and illustrator, and the content is fine, but I struggled with the book’s layout. It's split into chapters - for example, Chapter 1 is Quantum Preludes, with a double-page chapter heading showing a diagram like a concept map with the key concepts to be covered; so for Quantum Preludes - light, waves, heat, black bodies, UV, photoelectric effect, atoms, etc. - appear on the map. Then you get a double-page intro that explains what the chapter will cover, reiterates the key concepts, and provides a brief sentence for each. Then there's a more detailed double-page mind map of topics, including ones not on the first map. Then you get to the actual chapter content: a series of (lay-person's?) questions, each consisting of a page of text and a page showing a big stylised graphic of something that's mentioned in the text with a summary text explaining it again. I found things referenced too many times before being explained in context. The key concepts usually don't appear in the questions, are lost in the text, and don't always appear in the graphics. Which is fine if you're reading through the whole thing (which I did), but less helpful if you're trying to remind yourself of a definition referenced later in the book (which I kept wanting to do, as my memory is shot). I ended up using the index more than the maps. The maps would have been a useful summary if they'd been at the end of each chapter, reviewing what I'd learnt from the chapter content.
As I said, the actual content is fine, particularly if you want a light intro without the maths. My problem was just the layout. Oddly, I didn't find the same layout an issue when I read another book in the 'Navigating...' series, about AI. Quantum physics is such a mind-boggling subject, though, so maybe I needed more depth, less repetition, and less minimalist graphics. Interestingly, the author has written another intro book (Quantum Physics in Minutes), which might work better for me.
Many thanks to the publisher for a reading copy.
Displaying 1 of 1 review