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What Is Real?

The Unfinished Quest for the Meaning of Quantum Physics

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What Is Real?

By: Adam Becker
Narrated by: Greg Tremblay
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About this listen

The untold story of the heretical thinkers who challenged the establishment to rethink quantum physics and the nature of reality.

Every physicist agrees quantum mechanics is among humanity's finest scientific achievements. But ask what it means, and the result will be a brawl. For a century, most physicists have followed Niels Bohr's Copenhagen interpretation and dismissed questions about the reality underlying quantum physics as meaningless. A mishmash of solipsism and poor reasoning, Copenhagen endured, as Bohr's students vigorously protected his legacy, and the physics community favoured practical experiments over philosophical arguments. As a result, questioning the status quo long meant professional ruin. And yet, from the 1920s to today, physicists like John Bell, David Bohm, and Hugh Everett persisted in seeking the true meaning of quantum mechanics.

What Is Real? is the gripping story of this battle of ideas and the courageous scientists who dared to stand up for truth.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio on our Desktop Site.

©2018 Adam Becker (P)2018 Blackstone Audio, Inc Physics Science String Theory Black Hole Thought-Provoking

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Essential reading for anyone interested in physic. Well though out and interestring book on quantum theory

Essential reading for anyone interested in physic.

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I'm not normally driven to review anything but this book is stunning in content and story and brilliantly read.

superb book and extremely well read.

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Not easy digested, but never expected to comprehend it, really. A good history of QP in most respects.

Quite hard going, (for me).

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Quite a detailed history book about all around of quantum physics. Not much exactly about "what is real". Still, very good, learnt a few interesting facts and I have enjoyed it.

Great book about a history of everything round QP

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This is a history of the search for the foundations of quantum mechanics. It gives an insight into the development of ideas and the personalities that influenced the development work.
The appendix is a view of the double slit experiment as interpreted by some of the current theories.
It's a brilliant story, well read.

A fascinating story.

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Really Easy to listen to and enjoyable. I liked the almost biographical element to the book. Took a quite dry subject added some big characters, their backgrounds and breakthroughs and threw it all together. Very enjoyable and did explain the basics of quantum mechanics and the arguments that still rage to this day. Some of the quips made me laugh out loud and the ashes thing still makes me smile. One thing for the narrator... My family are from Ireland and your Belfast accent sounded like a mild Liverpool one to me. I understand a Belfast accent maybe hard for American listeners to understand bit other than that the delivery was excellent.

A lighthearted look at the quantum politics

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I was aware of the physics involved before listening to this splendid audio book, having something of a background in it, but what I wasn't aware of was the history of the personalities of all the scientists involved and how their individual contributions sometimes complemented (pun intended) and sometimes interfered with (another pun intended) one another.
A thoroughly engrossing, detailed and enjoyable telling of a most important story.

A marvelloius story, well-told.

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A fascinating account of the science, history, philosophy and politics of the foundations of quantum mechanics from its inception to the present. Always interesting, sometime eye-opening. Becker does not get into the mathematics but nonetheless does a good job of explaining some difficult concepts such as Bell's inequality.

A fascinating account

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The narrator really should know how to pronounce "Sagan" as in Carl Sagan and "Principia" for isaac newton's "principia mathematica". i'm enjoying the book though!

Pronunciation is Wrong

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I am just approaching the subject of quantum physics and I am interested in the philosophy of science. I found that this was a great book to start with, as it gives a historical perspective of the development of quantum physics theories, without ever being overwhelming in terms of details or math. It also gives interesting perspectives on the links between science and philosophy. I would recommend it to people like me, who are not experts but are interested and curious about the general meaning and implications of quantum physics and its historic developments.
One valuable contribution of this book, in its chronological account of the quantum physics discoveries and theories and the personalities involved, and contrary to common wisdom, is to show how inefficient science development can be at times, with valuable theories being summarily dismissed, misunderstood or completely ignored for decades.
The book is really very enjoyable to read/listen, I strongly recommend it.

Excellent

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