Quantum Physics: What Everyone Needs to Know®

Because quantum theory is fundamentally unintuitive, it is difficult to teach. In this book, Raymer gives an overview of the issues, then builds the observations of the field step by step. Even a lay reader whose math skills are inadequate for the primary literature can follow the implications of these observations, explained clearly one at a time with clear writing and meaningful examples.And what strange implications! Certainly it's well known that the integrity of reality is not what we thought once we get to the the quantum realm, but how to understand that? Not only do you gradually appreciate the remarkable evidence of quantum mechanics after completing each chapter in sequence, but you see the implications for both our general understanding of the world, and for the technologies that are rapidly developing from this field. Quantum computing, for example, is based on the very strange notion of superposed states, but after the descriptions in this book you begin to appreciate the power that could be realized from this approach once basic problems are solved. This is indeed stuff that everyone needs to know.I particularly appreciated the summary of unanswered questions and challenges that Raymer provides at the end of the book. Certainly I am not alone in the frustration of seeing clear and replicable evidence but no intuitive reality that can account for that reality in a coherent world view. No wonder there is room for bizarre interpretations of many worlds and other such things by experts in the field.At this point I remain frustrated not to have an intuition that grasps the quantum realm. But after this enjoyable book, I no longer have just the buzz worlds and generalizations; I appreciate the consistent and systematic observations that point to this strange substrate of our reality.

This book is VERY readable for anyone interested in quantum physics:• Chapters are divided into multiple sections with descriptive headings, which makes it very easy to just read a tablespoon of text at a time – an advantage for this topic.• The content is delivered in a very digestible manner. Complex ideas are presented in a conversational manner supplemented with simple yet informative examples and illustrations.• The index at the end is quite good.• The paperback book paper is very accommodating for adding margin notes – not glossy.

I won't pretend that I understood all of this, despite Dr. Raymer's best efforts to explain things to a layman, but I know more about quantum physics than I used to.

This book is an interesting list of several results of general relativity and the quantum theory. Particularly the author explicates with attention the Bell experiment. This fact is related to other questions, as entanglement. But it is important that, if we are able to measure the Bell effect, we risk to tell something of different by the Einstein theory. This text is however coherent with this system, also when the author tries to introduce important arguments, as the quantum computer.

I had watched a few videos on Quantum Physics and wanted to learn more. This book written for people like me that do not have a formal background in physics is a wonderful addition to my library. It explains a lot that I did not fully understand in a way that is understandable. If you are interested in Quantum Physics as a layman and want to learn more than I recommend this book.

In high school I received a short (mainly historical) exposure to quantum theory. I had also read popular science books that intrigued me - I wanted to know more. But when I was studying quantum theory at university, it all came in piecemeal. Wave mechanics in one course, some atomic physics in another, the mathematical formalism in yet another - field theory, quantum optics and quantum many-body physics capping it all off. Despite lots of exposure, it took me many years to put the big picture of quantum theory together and become comfortable with how all the pieces fit at the conceptual level. It would have been *so* much easier if this excellent book by Mike Raymer had been available to help me prepare for university study. It strikes a nice balance of being non-trivial without being overly technical. It is written by someone who has worked with pushing the frontier of experimental quantum physics as well as investigating foundational aspects of "quantum weirdness", and this means explanations for most things cover both the concrete "how is it done?" as well as the abstract "what does it tell us?". I am normally extremely critical of books on quantum physics for non experts (including my own) but I found little in this one that I would criticize. Perhaps the connection between the "possibility waves" and "state arrows" could have been made earlier in chapter 6?

As an educator and quantum mechanician for 30 some years, I have struggled when suggesting the best book to describe quantum physics deeply without the pain of math. Some are too simple, analogies of dubious value. Some are decent, and then comes the sentence from hell that should be a chapter. Professor Raymer has set the standard in my opinion for a well written and correct description of quantum physics. He captures the excitement of recent events, and does not just go on a death march through history. It is the truth, no more, and no less. No needless hyperbole or wild speculation, but an honest appraisal of what Quantum Physics is, and what it is not.

Not really written for "everyone". Some background knowledge is needed to fully understand.