What is Real? cover art

What is Real?

The Unfinished Quest for the Meaning of Quantum Physics

 Preview

Get 30 days of Standard free

£5.99/mo after trial. Cancel monthly.
Try for £0.00
More purchase options

What is Real?

By: Adam Becker
Narrated by: Greg Tremblay
Try for £0.00

£5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for £17.94

Buy Now for £17.94

Season's Savings | £0.99/mo for 3 months

£5.99/mo after 3 months - terms apply. Cancel monthly
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.

(P)2018 Blackstone Audio, Inc©2018 Adam Becker Physics Science Black Hole Mathematics Cosmology
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1

Critic reviews

A thorough, illuminating exploration of the most consequential controversy raging in modern science . . . Becker leads us through an impressive account of the rise of competing interpretations, grounding them in the human stories, which are naturally messy and full of contingencies. He makes a convincing case that it's wrong to imagine the Copenhagen interpretation as a single official or even coherent statement
[A] fresh debut . . . Vivid biographical portraits enliven even dense theoretical explanations with wit and bite . . . With his crisp voice, Becker lucidly relates the complicated history of quantum foundations
A useful introduction to the history of quantum theory for scientifically inclined readers
Adam Becker has written an excellent, accessible account of an intricate story.
Becker has done a great service in putting this fascinating story together into a single easily-digestible volume that is gripping, authoritative, and true.
All stars
Most relevant
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.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
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

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Not easy digested, but never expected to comprehend it, really. A good history of QP in most respects.

Quite hard going, (for me).

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
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.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I missed some of the details because of walking around while listening; some things are better in print. All in all it was very well done.

Interesting

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews