Quantum Mechanics & Experience (Paper) [Paperback] Albert, David Z

Super chill quantum dynamics that are out of this world. Sit back and relax and let your philosophy shine. Hard? Yes of course, so just enjoy!

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.

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