Thursday, 20 November 2008
Quantum - reviewed at 26.org.uk
'If you need an improving book for the autumn, with which to impress your friends and family, look no further. Manjit Kumar, who is trained as both a philosopher and a physicist, is eminently qualified to bring off this ambitious attempt to bring the story of the discovery of quantum physics to life for the layperson. He mixes up biography, narrative history and lucid explanation of the science involved to create a highly readable account of one of the most important but impenetrable topics of twentieth century thinking.'
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Greatly enjoyed the book, but I am somewhat puzzled as to why there is no mention of the Stern Gerlach experiment. I appreciate that the book concentrates more on theory and theorists rather than experiment, but none the less I would have thought it deserves mention in the context of Goudsmit and Uhlenbeck's contribution.
ReplyDeleteHi Jim
ReplyDeleteI'm delighted that you enjoyed the book. I did include the the Stern-Gerlach experiment in the original draft of Quantum. Alas, constraints of publishing a book of managable size and price meant that I had to make certain cuts that I would rather not have. Once time and resources permit me to organize a properly functioning website I'll put up material that did not appear in the published book.