Quantum Mechanics and Experience by David Z. Albert (PDF)

Description

The more science tells us about the world, the stranger it looks. Ever since physics first penetrated the atom, early in this century, what it found there has stood as a radical and unanswered challenge to many of our most cherished conceptions of nature. It has literally been called into question since then whether or not there are always objective matters of fact about the whereabouts of subatomic particles, or about the locations of tables and chairs, or even about the very contents of our thoughts. A new kind of uncertainty has become a principle of science.This book is an original and provocative investigation of that challenge, as well as a novel attempt at writing about science in a style that is simultaneously elementary and deep. It is a lucid and self-contained introduction to the foundations of quantum mechanics, accessible to anyone with a high school mathematics education, and at the same time a rigorous discussion of the most important recent advances in our understanding of that subject, some of which are due to the author himself.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐The author’s notation is more difficult to follow than what is in my QM textbooks. And, his continual precision of language drives me up a wall. How many times does it have to be repeated that the subject of a sentence, “when it obtains”, is valid? Plus similar redundant grammatical structures to no end. Argh! I can’t follow his logic because of the confusion of qualifiers. At the very end he promises a plain language restatement of his crowning reasoning, but never delivers. At least not that I can pick out. I still recommend this as a read though, because of his conclusions, which may be very deep. If I can only figure them out. I’m going to reread after a sufficient break and mental reset.

⭐Not an easy read. A lot of very detailed very intricate examples. But How could it be otherwise given the subject matter. A thorough study of the so called quantum measurement problem which will leave your head spinning. It’s almost a hundred years since quantum mechanics was put together. And though it definitely works how to interpret it is still basically not known. As the author points out so laboriously no attempt at an interpretation really quite works when you look at in detail. Which is all very puzzling. My only criticisms of the book are 1. The format. Which at least in the ebook version is cramped and messy. And 2. A tendency to get lost in the branches and lose all sight of the forest. A little more context and history would I’m sure have been more illuminating. Still. Roll your sleeves up, set aside some time and plod through the examples. It’s probably worth it.

⭐Really an overly verbose – and ultimately failed – attempt to simplify a fairly conceptually difficult topic. I really could not follow many of the author’s “thought experiments” because they tended to obfuscate rather than clarify. The author may be a heck of a philosopher, but he is far from an effective author.

⭐I knew nothing about Quantum Mechanics, and I felt like the book demystified a lot for me. I loved the philosophical approach in argumentation of each QM interpretation.I will be honest, I often got lost in the notation BUT not in the chapter where it was introduced… only in succeeding chapters where it was presented for the service of argumentation. If anything, I wish there was an additional chapter handling the notation, because there were a few moments where the jumps will go above the head of a layperson like myself.

⭐This is a fantastic book, which introduces the reasons for why Quantum Mechanical Interpretations are necessary for fully understanding Quantum Physics. That being said, I rate it 5 stars. Though…I implore Dr. Albert to publish an updated edition of this book. A lot has changed in the realm of the Philosophy of Science with regards to QM interpretations since this book has been published, and Dr. Albert has contributed greatly to these changes.Much of these changes that have occurred since the publication of this book deal with the Everett (or Many-Worlds) interpretation of QM. See

⭐as a good book on the subject. And that is my point. The aforementioned book *is* good, and I’d highly recommend it, but it is not a good introduction to the subject in the context of QM interpretations, in general. “Quantum Mechanics and Experience” is a great introduction to the issues of QM interpretations, and should be updated to include a more uptodate analysis of the Everett Interpretation.

⭐The first chapters are the most intuitive introduction to Quantum Mechanics (QM) I have ever seen.Doors are opened just in the right order to make you discover its foundations step by step.Mathematics are limited to what you need and no more, which allows the reader to focus on what it means in terms of our understanding of the universe.The main concepts elaborated since QM’s birth in the 1920’s to make it “understandable” are fairly described with, for some of them, the evidence behind their rejection nowadays.The importance of defining without ambiguity what “measuring” a quantity means is highlighted and is becoming the thread of the next chapters.So, the amazing thing with this book is that it brings you to the edge of today’s knowledge, leaving you with the impression that you are starting to see the shapes of the future “truth” through the fog.

⭐On the plus side, chapter 1 is fairly well written. The diagrams are helpful.I started running into issues with chapter 2, however.While I’m not sure whether it’s missing in the print edition, on the kindle edition, Planck’s constant doesn’t show up. For example, equation (2.24) is meant to have the symbol for Planck’s constant in the equation. But, the “i” is by itself on the right hand-side. The text that explains the formula says “… where is a number, a physical constant..” again leaving out the symbol for Planck’s constant between “where” and “is”.Also on the kindle, as another reviewer has mentioned, the way much of the math is laid out with fixed sized images, and does not zoom with the rest of the text.With respect to chapter 2, the author gives a review of the parts of linear algebra that are important to the subject of discussion. He tries to provide, it seems, the minimal amount of linear algebra a person would need. All of that is appreciated. However, if the reader does not already have a background with linear algebra, the explanations are likely insufficient.I found the text-based vector notation annoying to parse, especially when used in the images whether the math does not zoom. No doubt it’s a great format for pure-text writing. But, anyway, it makes the text harder to read.

⭐Simple language but enough basic matrix math to help you move along. However, this book will not make you an expert in QM

⭐This is a great text, it contains maths but not to any frightening or esoteric level. All highly understandable and explained in just sufficient detail. Lets face it quantum physics is not intuitive and any text is going to have to be studied in detail, this is no exception I did not find it an ‘easy read’ But the style is so descriptive that after the appropriate amount of work the concepts start to spring out and you get the, ‘ah I see now…’ moments. A truly great book.

⭐A lucid explication of the physical and philosophical problems of measurement in quantum mechanics. Does a good job at laying out the mathematical features of the hilbert space formalism while remaining accesible to non physicists and highlighting the necesity of a philosophical aproch to non philosophers.

⭐very happy

⭐本の題名はQuantum Mechanics and Experienceである。しかし年（80代である）のせいか後者をExperimentと早合点して購入した。本が届いて包装を開いて驚いたが後の祭りである。内容は文系の人の好きな【？】量子論における観測の話で、私にとっては魑魅魍魎の世界に等しい。禅で悟りを開いた人ならば容易に理解できるかもしれないと思っている。

⭐

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