Product Description
What is Quantum Mechanics? A Physics Adventure comprehensively traces the historical development of quantum mechanics, treating a complex subject in a light-hearted, user-friendly manner. It not only introduces the reader to the concepts of quantum mechanics, but also tells the story behind the theories. It is easy to understand for beginners because it was written by people going through the learning process themselves. Yet, even the seasoned scientist will enjoy the controversy and drama as the development of physics unfolds in the book.

Dr. Yoichiro Nambu, 2008 Nobel Prize Winner in Physics, served as a senior adviser to the student authors at the Transnational College of LEX on their journey of discovery.

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.0 based on 23 reviews)

An Adventure into Physics that will not disappoint

This book, one of the first from the "Transnational College of Lex" is a tour de force in its gentle approach to complex topics. It gives an intuitive introduction to the complex, often bizarre and contradictory ideas of quantum physics.

But more importantly, it explains them in simple to understand language and does not try to finesse the mathematics. And here is where the real bonus of the Lex Series comes in: The always complex mathematics is introduced in the same gentle way: Not by taking shortcuts, or faking the reader out, but by producing examples that illustrate what the "often hard to understand" mathematical equations do, and then repeating this process further along as the reader gains facility and comfort with the math.

When the reader completes this book, he does not feel that he has been "conned" into think that he has learned about Quantum Mechanics when in fact he has not -- as is the case with the "so-called" Demystified series of books, that I have also reviewed: With the Lex series, the reader either knows that he has grasped the ideas, or how far away he is from doing so.

I have communicated directly with the writers at Lex, urging them to do a similar book on relativity. So far, and much to my dismay, that is not on their future menu of possibilities. However, I encourage those who have an interest in understanding the difficult concepts in Quantum physics to review this book first. You will not be disappointed.

Easily five stars!
March 04, 2008

Hello Kitty meets Schrodinger's cat

This is admittedly a strange format for a quantum mechanics book. However, if you do skip over the cartoons you do find a lot of mathematical steps and insights more conventional books do not bother pointing out. Many students learn the mathematical underpinnings of QM as a bunch of symbol manipulating tricks. This book delves into the math and provides the rationale for much of those hitherto mysterious steps.

I give the book four stars as the authors' usage of cartoons is often annoying and juvenile. Those who worked on the books could have used this unusual format to target a mature audience if the cartoon characters did indeed provide insightful commentary - which they often did not.
October 17, 2006

What is Quqntum Mechanics

This is an amazing book for all, specifically, physics students. Every body would have pleasure of reading this book and could gain enough detail knowledge of Quantum Mechanics, a subject which scared expert and non-expert equally. One of the beauti of this book is that you do not have to have vast knowledge of mathematics to read and understand this book.
March 30, 2006

Challenge yourself!! Try this masterpiece!

For the really intelligent layman, this is far and away the best book on Quantum Mechanics. Most of the math is algebra or just a bit beyond, so don't be too afraid; the reward is a real understanding of how and why quantum mechanics developed and why it's so important. This -- along with all other Lexx Books -- is an absolute masterpiece of explanation and is worth every hour of your time. Pay NO attention to reviews whining about the presentation as those portions of the book are less than one percent of the entire work. An excellent, excellent book... for the fairly bright!!
July 05, 2005

The best Hello, Kitty quantum mechanics primer around...

Found this in a Barnes & Noble aisle while I was looking for something else and bought it on a whim. Haven't been able to put it down since, even though it does read like Hello, Kitty and the cast of Speed Racer teaching Heisenberg and Schrodinger to 9 year olds (with clapping cartoon bunnies and hippos). After 12 years of reading beautifully written no-math overviews like Dancing Wu-Li Masters, I feel like I'm just now getting to see the actual insights, instead of hearing about them from the smart people who understand them.

All in all, I'd say it's like a fat chick or a moped-- great ride, as long as no one sees you. Bring on the bunnies and hippos.
March 16, 2005

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