Quantum Mechanics and Experience

One of the best sellers I have ever encountered on Amazon. "No bull, just fact." (Marion Morrison)Book in good condition - well packed - nice note on and inside package. Love connections with sellers like these folks. They have great hearts.

The subject matter is dumbed down sufficiently for laymen to understand.

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.

If you want a book that explains quantum mathematics without condescending to the reader and are not afraid of a little math, this is the book for you. Virtually all books on QM unfortunately go to one extreme or the other -- either avoiding any mathematical formulas altogether, so that you can't possibly understand the theory and simply have to take what the author says on faith, or overdoing the math and becoming far too technical. Albert, a philosopher, is brilliant at selecting just the minimal amount of math that you need to know to understand what's going on; he simplifies where possible but does not oversimplify. He also explains things very clearly in words. Some may be put off by the colloquialisms of his language (he loves to say things like "cook up" and "cool," and perhaps he overuses italics for emphasis. But these are extremely minor flaws. It is simply mystifying why there are so many negative reviews of this excellent work. To be sure, it is not an easy read and demands quite a bit of the reader. But if you want to have a grasp of the real nature of QM, you have to make the effort, and Albert is as good a guide as you will find.

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  Many Worlds?: Everett, Quantum Theory, & Reality  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.

Albert goes to great lengths to present all the mathematics that is needed to reveal the problems in interpreting quantum mechanics. I think he does a great job. The idea that one can understand the problems of interpretation without the math is simply silly. I cannot be done. If you want to find out why physicists might possibly believe in the many worlds interpretation of QM, read this book. The many worlds interpretation is bizarre and unbelievable, but the problem in defining a "measurement" without become subjective and anthropomorphic seems impossible.I will probably read this book a couple of more times, as well as reading some of the papers in the bibliography (I read a few and found them enlightening, although rather difficult for a non-physicist.

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。