I couldn't read very much of this before my e-arc timed out on me. What I did read was interesting though.

Beyond Weird
by Philip Ball

Are You Team Ontic or Team Epistemic?

If you boil it all down, suggests Ball, the distinction between ontic and epistemic viewpoints is the "Big Divide" for interpretations of quantum mechanics. For him, "[i]t is where you must reveal your true colours". Is everything comprised of "real" and "physical" things, (Ontic), or is everything only ever to be understood, or to even "exist", solely as an observed or measured "outcome", (Epistemic). The early epistemic approach was summarized by Niels Bohr, "It is wrong to think that the task of physics is to find out how nature is. Physics concerns what we can say about nature."

Ball falls emphatically on the epistemic side as well, and the balance of this book, in one form or another, from one perspective or another, with one argument or another, is devoted to making his case. Consequently, this is less of a primer on quantum mechanics and much more a subtle polemic. That's fine, but one might not want an entire book of that sort of argument, or one might at least prefer a more even-handed approach. It did seem that every topic and every discussion, was tilted toward the epistemic approach. The effect was that we touched upon a great number of fascinating and current topics, but always with an undercurrent of spin.

In any event, for me, once we got to questions about what is language, what is knowledge, what is reality, what does "is" mean, and can there be such a thing as "causality", we had pretty much gotten to the outer limits of my interest and, to be fair, understanding. I admit that toward the end there was some skimming involved.

(Please note that I received a free ecopy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)

BEYOND WEIRD by Philip Ball is a very recent work about "Why Everything You Thought You Knew about Quantum Physics Is Different." Although it is positioned as being very accessible, I found it a bit difficult for our students. Addressing his readers, Ball notes "you can see that I'm already struggling to find a language that works for talking about these things... you'll have to get used to it. ... When words come too easily, it's because we haven't delved deeply enough." And admittedly I may have not given this book enough attention, but as Ball says, "the equations aren't why quantum mechanics is perceived to be so hard. It's the ideas. We just can't get our heads around them. Neither could Richard Feynman." Thank you for the preview copy.

This is simply the best book in the interpretation of quantum mechanics I've ever read. And I've read many, from popular science books to physics textbooks. Ball has a take-down of the many worlds interpretation, for which he has little patience, but that isn't the main focus of the book. He starts with the Copenhagen interpretation, but criticizes it as insufficient and unsatisfying, mostly because it states that we are simply not allowed to ask certain questions.

He offers a different, more comprehensive set of answers to the big questions: why isn't the macro world like the quantum world? what is a measurement and how does it affect the system? It's essentially a well-written, well-reasoned examination of the questions that Shroedinger's cat bring up. There's also extensive discussion of quantum entanglement.

And then after most of this is a very good discussion of quantum computing: the status of research, what might be possible, why it might be possible.

I imagine that you'd have to be intrinsically interested in quantum mechanics to stick with a book on a topic that's this complicated, but as long as you have the curiosity, I strongly recommend curling up with this one to ponder the nature of reality.

I got a copy to review from Net Galley.

Quantum mechanics is Beyond Weird, which is why this book’s easy to understand explanations, with minimal math, is such a great read.

The first mention of quantum occurred in 1900 during prosaic research on emitted heat. This accidental discovery was to change physics and also our understanding of the universe.

Quanta is neither wave nor particle and can be both inside and outside a box like Schrodinger’s cat. Does the inability to understand something logically make it untrue? Of course not. However, does it smell like the ancients use of ether to force their math to work? Maybe...

If you have any interest in science, the inability of scientists to explain the weird behavior of quantum mechanics is fascinating. If you have ever wanted to be Galileo discovering the Earth circles the Sun, there is an obvious task for you to take on. I suspect that the elusive Unified Field Theory will also be found by an amateur who has no fixed ideas of how physics should work. Or perhaps someone who enjoys science mysteries that are Beyond Weird. 4 stars!

Thanks to the University of Chicago Press and NetGalley for an advance copy.

I am not gifted mathematically. It confounds me. Always has. Always will. However, that doesn't diminish my fascination with some theories. Which annoys me to no end! I don't understand quantum physics on a level that smarty pants folk do...;-) but from just my own little perspective it makes sense to me. I actually sometimes use it as a mind game "when I'm bored." It's probable possibilities are astounding to me. I remember when I first heard about the string theory, and I thought "well, let's check this out." Took me about 6 month's to decide it was B.S. Ah, but the quantum thing...It's possibilities are mind boggling, "to me anyway." This book is definitely readable. By that, I mean it's readable for those of us who aren't scientists, or mathematically inclined. See, I'm not religious, but I like to think that there's "something." This works well for me. My thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for letting me read and review this fairly awesome book! I greatly enjoyed it.