Quantum Physics For Beginners, Into the Light: The 4 Bizarre Discoveries You Must Know To Master Quantum Mechanics Fast, Revealed Step-By-Step (In Plain English)

Review of John Stoddard’s book “Quantum Physics for Beginners, Into the Light” This book is a great starting point for those interested in modern physics. It does not require knowledge of the mathematics of quantum mechanics, yet it has enough launch points to entice the reader to learn more. Too often people are discouraged from studying quantum mechanics or any physics because of the complicated equations involved. Mr. Stoddard eases the reader into the subject; he makes the subject relevant and fascinating. I wish I had a book like this when I was in high school. This book is not just for high schoolers it is or can be of benefit to adults who want to learn more about the subject matter, but do not have the time to dive in fully; detailed study of quantum mechanics requires a major investment of time and effort. Mr. Stoddard adds personal touches and humor yielding a book that is easy and fun to read. A book like this is important for modern society. Despite the presence of the internet there is a lot of misinformation about science. I monitored “quantum” groups on Facebook and discovered that even people interested in the subject have many wrong perceptions of what quantum mechanics is all about. Each of the chapters discuss very relevant subjects. I particularly like Figure 8 in Chapter 6 (page 54). Here the hydrogen atom is presented more accurately than the typical “picture” of an atom. The nucleus is small compared to the electron wave which makes up the bulk of the atom's volume. This in contrast to the totally wrong picture of the atom which the author shows in a passing argument in Figure 13 of Chapter 10. As it is a cartoon it is acceptable here. The author could expand on Figure 8 and give an analogy of nucleus to atom size. If the outer boundary of the electron wave in a hydrogen atom were the size of a football (soccer) field, 120 meters, the nucleus would be 0.11 millimeters in diameter, the size of a grain of sand. The idea of wave-particle duality is mentioned in 11 instances in the book. This is acceptable since this is what is taught in introductory undergraduate courses. However, there is not a single higher-level textbook that mentions this duality, at least not in the 10 quantum books in my library. Why? There are no equations in quantum theory that make this distinction. All quantum entities have a wavefunction, the wavefunction may change with time and when the quantum entity (QE) encounters another QE, but there is no disappearance of the wavefunction. When “collapse of wavefunction” is used it does not mean total extinction of the wavefunction, it means that the wavefunction has been transformed. The problem is here is the implicit understanding, or actually a misunderstanding, of what the word particle means in quantum mechanics. In general usage a particle is a small spec of something, such a grain of sand, a piece of dust; it is something with definite and hard dimensions. A wave in general usage implies something spread out; some think of wave as extending to near infinity. But in QM waves exist in packets or confined volumes. This is the case for the electron waves making up an atom. In QM a particle is not a hard ball, it is another word for a quantum entity. Quantum particles are either indivisible elementary or made up of a few elementary particles; they are not hard spheres. The photoelectric effect has nothing to do with particles, as was though in the first two decades of the 20th century. Yes, photons are discrete, that is what quantum means. The discrete means indivisible and of a specific energy. One photo can remove only one electron from a surface. This is in accord with the quantum nature of the surface where electrons are held in place with a specific amount of energy; and only a photon with that energy or greater can remove the photon. The invocation of Schrodinger’s cat is a mistake in any introductory text. The cat was partially due to his frustration with the concept of superposition of states and his dislike of cats. In the cat example he demonstrated the apparent absurdity of superposition. The example was correct, until one opens the cage one does not know if the cat is dead or alive. The whole cat story has mean spirited nature to it. Despite being a genius and making a major contribution to science Schrodinger had many personal faults, cruelty to cats being a minor one. Had he been alive in the current century he would have been in prison and on Megan’s list. Nonetheless, Mr. Stoddard does a good job in describing the cat story. The Many Worlds Interpretation is an odd one. It is the reinterpretation of Hugh Everett’s Universal Wave Function theory. Everett never stated that reality continuously splits into actual universes. Everett said that there is one universal wavefunction that describes all possibilities, but not most possibilities have a zero probability. Reading his thesis there is no mention of multiple universes, unless I missed something. It was Bryce DeWitt who introduced the multi-universe theory basing it on Everett’s work. There are many logical problems with the infinite number of splits allegedly possible, such as conservation of energy. Had I had the willingness and fortitude to write a book like this one, I would have selected different topics. Several of the chapters have little to do with quantum mechanics. They are very interesting and important to discuss but do fit well under the umbrella “Quantum Physics…”. Chapter 11 talks about general relativity, which has not been integrated into QM. Chapters 14 and 15 are more about Cosmology, i.e. big stuff, not little stuff like QM. Chapters 16 to 21 talk about nuclear energy and bombs. Very well written, and important to know, but somewhat off topic. Yes, QM is used to explain fission, but that is a very dense topic which is outside the scope of a book like this. I would change the title of Chapter 17 to “The Miraculous Phenomenon that Seems to Break the Laws of Physics.” Quantum tunneling is part of the law of physics not a departure, or some metaphysical process. The author does clarify the point, but why a misleading title. Chapter 13 talks about string theory. This is something that very very few people, and very few PhDs in physics really understand. Some of those claim that it is a theory without any supporting evidence. Some will claim that it is just a super complicated curve fit to theoretical data. Sort of like fitting a multi-dimensional Fourier transform to theoretical predictions of the Standard Model. And Fourier transforms yield “vibrations.” Still worth talking about. What would I include? My bias comes from my education and practice as a chemical physicist. I would have included chemistry. Virtually our world is chemistry. Our very lives are chemistry. Chemistry is all quantum mechanical. Chemical bonds can only be explained in quantum language. The title has the words ``…Into the Light”. It would have been great to include the topics of how light interacts with matter. Color is all around us, it would be great to give a hint as to what quantum phenomena account for colors. To me this is more important and more interesting than some of the book’s topics. I would mention MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) which deals with the intrinsic property of subatomic particles of spin. Chapter 23 covers lasers, which is clearly a quantum topic. It would have been nice to give a hint about light interaction with mater. There are so many uses of the latter. As for self-driving cars, not all autonomous vehicle approaches use LIDAR, Tesla is one example. There are a few other companies that are focusing on multi-camera systems without the clumsy LIDAR. LIDAR is used for other purposes, such as atmospheric probing for specific compounds in the air, such as pollutants, greenhouse gasses, and ozone content. Despite my comments I still strongly recommend this book to the general public. Everyone should know something about the topics covered. Thank you John Stoddard.

Explanations of historical developments helpful and filled some of my lacunae as a dedicated & enthusiastic amateur astronomer (with a Masters in Theology). As a non-mathematician, I would have appreciated a fuller narrative explanation of the historical formulas. Overall , great insightful read! —Jerry K, Chicago

Stoddard's walk through the strange halls of Quantum Physics is an enticing journey. Quantum physics is replete with contradictions to our routine experience. "In to the Light" uses these anomalies to pique the reader's curiosity and draw him into the complex web of light and quantum physics. If, as a child, you ever walked through a carnival hall of mirrors and were astonished by how the ordinary suddenly became magical, this is the wonder Stoddard feeds as he examines the twists in quantum physics. Since 1900 Quantum physics has been plagued with trying to solve apparent contradictions. Newton laid the classical framework of physics sticks and stones in 1687, which worked for bats and balls, moons and stars. The 1800s captured electro-magnetic waves with only minor gaps appearing as smaller and smaller phenomenon were examined. The 1900s were the 'break your bones' phase, where common sense had to be broken, to understand the ever more complicated explanations of how things worked that became quantum physics. For the very small (sub-atomic) and very far (galactic) the classical rules of physics had to be stretched. Stoddard holds the stretch to animate the tension in the development and make the complexity of quantum physics palpable. Physics is both a compendium of equations which stand in their own realm of mathematic consistency and use, and also their application for explaining or engineering the real world. The pared down math in the book presents the complexity of the major facets, but the real strength is in the everyday impacts of the details. Why sunburns burn as the radiation penetrates or doesn't. Why time runs slower at the bottom of a mine compared to the top of a mountain. Why light is sometimes a straight hard particle ray, sometimes shimmers at the edge of an opening like a wave. Well over half the book is devoted to these nuances of reality, how we can experience them and how they shaped the history of physics. The book is well organized, both historically and with stepwise spoonful’s of derivations and facts. Either for the beginner as an easily digestible introduction or for the dedicated student as an extra page of practical background and historical trivia, Stoddard is a worthwhile investment.

Thank you for writing this book. I go back and forth in it just to reconsider the areas that I have difficulty with. Prior to your book I read all the books, I could get my hands on concerning the subject. Wandered off into singularity and AI, and over to Zuboff’s Surveillance Capitalism; it’s been an interesting summer. I graduated in the early 70s, an electrical engineer when no professor would touch this. I’ve read these guys biographies: Hilbert, Einstein, Schrödinger, Feynman , Bohr, Teller, Oppenheimer, von Neumann, Gödel, Dirac. In no particular order, And finally a wonderful book that puts all these players in context with history and as a “community“; the exceptional “Too Big for One Mind”. I still didn’t “get it”; so to your book. Here is what I see. Planck’s Constant (h), “the math trick” is defined but an additional note about it in the glossary would help and as it is common to most of the equations in the equations list; I was temped to work through some of the equations just in units only, to stay in the physical world. Any way the ‘h’ is like the hot melt glue that holds this house of cards together. Neils Bohr gaslights everybody who doesn’t kick Maxwell to the curb on page 32. You can’t deselect laws of physics that are inconvenient, to your Nobel nomination. Except Bohr. You in this case is metaphor for the professors of Physics. Just for show n tell purposes. If you apply QFT to The Universe; you get infinite probabilistic variables that at anytime can be anything you want, to make the math work. And if a sequence of logic doesn’t fit your needs just find the space-time you need to get your logic to line up. No worries, if your Quantum explanation doesn’t work in this reality there are plenty others where it could. Whatever it takes to keep your name in front of the Nobel Nomination committee and the grant money flowing to your university, and you out of the undergraduate cafeteria. Does time stop at the speed of light? Once C is exceeded does mass condense to a point? At the speed of light does everything become everywhere all at once? Do then all the probabilistic variables become magically constants or functions at wherever they were in whatever state? It could be awhile before I get to The aH’ha event horizon. We’ll thanks for your attention, Christopher Walker Sacramento

I thoroughly enjoyed "Quantum Physics for Beginners, Into the Light...". One does not have to be "an Einstein" with several degrees to understand its subject matter. My education ends with a high school diploma yet I was able to read and comprehend at least 99% of its content. My 13 year-old grandson also had no difficulties understanding the couple of chapters he read. I am even thinking that his own copy of this book will be his next birthday gift. Who knows? Maybe this will ignite his future career path. I have picked up books on quantum physics before hoping to learn more about the subject. In those instances I was pummeled with an almost endless sea of mathematical equations, ad nauseam, that numbed my mind and halted my reading progress in its tracks. That is not the case with this book. There are a total of twelve equations in easy-to-understand math to help illustrate various explanations. There was quite a bit of content in this book of which I was unfamiliar. There were also things of which I had a passing knowledge that this book expanded. To the author's credit, the writing style of text flows quite well: it took me a total of 5.5 hours to read with no fatigue at all. It was definitely not a chore to read like some books. All-in-all I would say that those 5.5 hours were a very worthwhile investment of my time. My gratitude to the author!

A good explanation of many quantum ideas, albeit rather elementary and not much depth. Great read for those just wanting to understanding the definition of quantum terms.

I've tried to understand things "Quantum" for a while. I'm an old hippie, living in da deep northwoods, a retired librarian, eternal seeker to the questions of life. I can tell you how to build a chicken coop, best strategy for barn storage etc. But my innate curiosity always pushes me to try to learn something new. I ran across this book and am I ever so glad that I did. I had started to learn about Quantum Tunneling, the weight of a photon and then the math fuzzed up my brain and figured I would try again later. In this book the author lays out in plain, readable and understandable language the meaning and the "what if's" of Quantum Theory. Now I feel like I can go back to those 7 lb. collegiate tomes with all the math and try again. It's a book that gives you a sense of wonder and leaves you with a lot of questions of "why hasn't anyone else written something like this?"

I am quantum physics illiterate; yet I am fascinated by its mystery. Stoddard has helped me understand the mysteries of quantum history and its theories in a succinct and engaging way.

Great book. Lovely short chapters written in simple English (no math or equations) All chapters are independent from each other and can be read in pretty much any order. Highly recommend this author. Really good style!

Who would have thought that quantum physics could be entertaining? This book is very well researched and describes the history of the understanding of a very complex scientific theory. I am a chemistry teacher but quantum physics has always been in the too hard basket… until now. Humour, good science, hard to put down.

This book is great for a clear intro to quantum physics. I appreciated that it acknowledged the mysterious and profound conclusions of quantum physics without filling in the gaps with personal opinions.

Fascinating… I have to read each chapter several times, but it’s worth it…

Nice beginner level physics concepts. Good read. The best book my son (11 yo) has ever read he says.