Rating: 
Summary: A Handy Reference
Review: * I've been poking around in quantum physics lately, and have run
across the popular books on the subject by John Gribbin. I've had
mixed feelings about his work: he seems very knowledgeable and writes
well from a prose standpoint, but I keep getting the feeling that he
doesn't have a strong handle on connecting to the reader. Granted,
there's no topic harder to communicate than quantum physics, but I've
been reading a number of different authors on the topic, and
Gribbin doesn't always seem to be able to get his ideas across as
clearly as some of the others.However, John Gribbin's Q IS FOR QUANTUM (written in collaboration
with his wife Mary) does not really suffer much for this. it's an
encyclopedia of quantum physics, and since by design it's not trying
to provide a unified narrative, the reader never runs into a
roadblock. There are certainly parts of this book that are hard to
understand, possibly because they could have been better written --
for example, I know enough about quantum-mechanical tunneling to be
suspicious of the clarity of the entry on that subject -- but Q IS FOR
QUANTUM provides so much sparkling and useful information that it's
hard to complain. One of the things about learning quantum physics is that it requires
understanding a large unfamiliar context of information, and sometimes
it really helps in tracing through a specific discussion to be able to
to have a reference on some of the terminology and concepts used. Besides, the book is interesting in itself. I did a quick scan
through it to see what it contained, and it not only talks about
quantum physics, many of its entries refer to classical physics, at
least to the extent that quantum physics is based on notions of
classical physics. There are a large number of biographical entries,
some of which are good fun -- for example, the physicist who, when
asked if he could explain his work to the general public, answered
simply: "No." If you're trying to navigate your way through quantum physics, Q IS FOR
QUANTUM is not likely to show you the way in itself. However, it makes a
very handy backup document while reading other books on the subject, and I
can recommend it.
Rating: 
Summary: I am Wild about these Flavors
Review: Actually, I think that is spelled "flavour" on page 327 where the six great varieties are listed. What makes this such a great book is that it doesn't matter much what the actual topics are, so many of the concepts become universal with a proper understanding of the principles involved that this kind of thing begins to seem like a real education. I am in favor of the definition of a charmonium on page 77, "any system in which a charmed quark and an anticharmed quark are held together by the strong interaction, in a sense 'in orbit' around one another." With great comic timing, this stuff could be material for a great routine.
Rating:
Summary: What to do when it's 5 years since your last lecture
Review: Don'tworry about it chatch up in a hurry with Q for Quantum or get updated with the new techinal terms Superstrings Quantum Mechanics or Thermodynamics just to look through what ever what else should i say about this book wait hold bare with me for sec okay hmmmm it's a good reference book no that's not it's very informative to the laymen well just buy if you are gonna read or give it to someone you or they well be reading it again again again again
Rating:
Summary: Quality quanta.
Review: If you read physics popularizations you have noticed (and appreciated) the glossaries that appear in the back of many of these books. If you've wanted a more thorough reference resource for quantum physics terminology -- here it is. Reference texts are not generally going to tempt the reader to start at the beginning and read through the entire volume, but this one will. Gribbin, familiar to many readers of physics books, writes clearly and covers all of the significant developments, personalities, and ideas of particle physics over the past century. An excellent resource, from `Absolute zero' to `Z particles.'
Rating:
Summary: An excellent reference book
Review: In the past few months, I have become very interested in Quantum Mechanics. My math background is zilch. I started with Brian Greene's "The Elegant Universe", found I needed more background to understand it, went to "The Fabric of the Universe", still needed something simpler and ended up with John Gribbin's "In Search of Schrodinger's Cat". I am now reading "Schrodinger's Kittens". Somewhere along the line I purchased "Q is for Quantum". I have found it immensely helpful in explaining concepts or terms that I was confused about, plus explaining new concepts. If I don't understand something I have read in any of the other books, I go to "Q is for Quantum". John Gribbin's explanations are clear and easy to understand. I would highly recommend this book for anyone who is interested in Quantum Mechanics. I am not sure how useful it would be for a "real" physicist with all the math needed to understand Quantum Mechanics, but for this layperson, it is a terrifically helpful book. It is truely an encyclopedia.
Rating:
Summary: Fundamental Mysteries
Review: John Gribbin's "Schrödinger's Kittens" was a revelation for
the casual reader with an interest in particle physics. In "Q is
for Quantum" these amazing insights are presented in short,
succinct, manageable 'quanta'. Many of these statements and models
baffle, and read like the pronouncements of a first-century Gnostic on
how the universe and the fabric of reality are ordered. The difference
is that all these statements are buttressed by experiments and
mathematical models. Moreover, they are often ratified to a staggering
degree of accuracy. How can we believe that reality is radically
altered by our observation of it? Even to the extent that our
observations of distant quasars today affect the way the light
emerged from them 10 billion years ago? How can particles be at two
places at once? How does every charged particle on the other side of
the Andromeda galaxy (2 million light years away) instantaneously
"know" if we poke an electron here on earth (see the entry
on "transactional interpretation")? I would suggest you read
the introduction to this book, and then the entry on "double-slit
experiment" and, as the author suggests, " ...follow your
nose from there." These shed light, albeit it a dim ray, on the
central mysteries of quantum mechanics.
Rating:
Summary: What a wonderful starting and reference point
Review: Just diving into this book, I find that I am delighted with my purchase. It was just exactly what I had hoped to find; easy to understand definitions of amazing, sometimes complicated things. As you read the definitions, you may find yourself flipping through the entire book, looking up terms that are unfamiliar and used within individual definitions. Everything is well defined so you can get a true understanding of what's being presented. What I've read so far has been clear, concise and totally acessable. Not at all stuffy or "over-your-head". Important discoveries and discoverers are given attention as well, making the information even more complete and the read even more worthwhile. This is one of those books that makes you feel smarter just by owning it!
Rating: 
Summary: An adequate dictionary of quantum terms
Review: This book is actually a dictionary. I own similar works in other fields (eg, medicine, law, economics) that are called dictionaries. I think of an encyclopedia as a book that consists of articles on broader topics that can be referred to as a primary source (ie, a stand-alone work). I think of a dictionary as a book that contains entries (not articles) on specific terms (not topics) that is used as a secondary source (ie, a work that explains something discussed in a primary source). For example, my standard desk dictionary includes the following definition for a kaon: "an unstable meson that occurs in both charged and neutral forms and is about 970 times more massive than an electron" while "Q is for Quantum" includes a definition for kaons that is longer (13 lines) and more detailed, but still very much a dictionary-style entry. In contrast, I would expect that an encyclopedia might refer the reader to a longer article on mesons and include much of the specifics on kaons in a table providing similar information on the other mesons while including a detailed textual explanation of mesons. There is nothing wrong with providing dictionary-style entries, but if buying this book my mail-order, the buyer might be quite surprised to receive a dictionary when expecting an encyclopedia. Another complaint I have is that the entries do not include pronunciation guides. If someone does not know what Gargamelle is, they are not very likely to know how to pronounce it either. The same holds true for many of the personal name entries. The illustrations are not of the caliber I would expect from an encyclopedia and seem almost an afterthought. There is on average about one illustration for every two pages and they are not especially relevant. For example, the caption under an image captured by the Gargamelle bubble chamber reads: "Inside Gargamelle. These seemingly insignificant bubble tracks actually provided the first direct evidence for neutral currents." In another excellent book I read (The Particle Odyssey by Close, Marten, Sutton) such an illustration would have been accompanied by a detailed explanation of the relevant particle tracks. I am not sure who the target audience is for this book. It is not for the person who has no knowledge of quantum physics because the user must know what words to look up. It can be useful for someone who is reading another work on quantum physics when they need to look up a particular term. The entries seem too basic to be of use to a professional in the field of quantum physics, but I can see it being useful for someone who is being exposed to quantum terms as part of their work in another field (eg, a computer programmer who is writing code for a quantum experiment and wants to know what the physicists are talking about). Before buying this book, it might be worthwhile to take a look at a copy in your local library. If you are reading another work on quantum physics and find that you need more detailed descriptions than those provided by your standard desk dictionary, this specialized dictionary might by worth having on hand.
Rating:
Summary: An adequate dictionary of quantum terms
Review: This book is actually a dictionary. I own similar works in other fields (eg, medicine, law, economics) that are called dictionaries. I think of an encyclopedia as a book that consists of articles on broader topics that can be referred to as a primary source (ie, a stand-alone work). I think of a dictionary as a book that contains entries (not articles) on specific terms (not topics) that is used as a secondary source (ie, a work that explains something discussed in a primary source). For example, my standard desk dictionary includes the following definition for a kaon: "an unstable meson that occurs in both charged and neutral forms and is about 970 times more massive than an electron" while "Q is for Quantum" includes a definition for kaons that is longer (13 lines) and more detailed, but still very much a dictionary-style entry. In contrast, I would expect that an encyclopedia might refer the reader to a longer article on mesons and include much of the specifics on kaons in a table providing similar information on the other mesons while including a detailed textual explanation of mesons. There is nothing wrong with providing dictionary-style entries, but if buying this book my mail-order, the buyer might be quite surprised to receive a dictionary when expecting an encyclopedia. Another complaint I have is that the entries do not include pronunciation guides. If someone does not know what Gargamelle is, they are not very likely to know how to pronounce it either. The same holds true for many of the personal name entries. The illustrations are not of the caliber I would expect from an encyclopedia and seem almost an afterthought. There is on average about one illustration for every two pages and they are not especially relevant. For example, the caption under an image captured by the Gargamelle bubble chamber reads: "Inside Gargamelle. These seemingly insignificant bubble tracks actually provided the first direct evidence for neutral currents." In another excellent book I read (The Particle Odyssey by Close, Marten, Sutton) such an illustration would have been accompanied by a detailed explanation of the relevant particle tracks. I am not sure who the target audience is for this book. It is not for the person who has no knowledge of quantum physics because the user must know what words to look up. It can be useful for someone who is reading another work on quantum physics when they need to look up a particular term. The entries seem too basic to be of use to a professional in the field of quantum physics, but I can see it being useful for someone who is being exposed to quantum terms as part of their work in another field (eg, a computer programmer who is writing code for a quantum experiment and wants to know what the physicists are talking about). Before buying this book, it might be worthwhile to take a look at a copy in your local library. If you are reading another work on quantum physics and find that you need more detailed descriptions than those provided by your standard desk dictionary, this specialized dictionary might by worth having on hand.
Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable overview for all interested in modern physics
Review: This book is very readable and enjoyable to dip into.It is in no way a technical treatise, more a detailed glossary (topics are presented from A to Z ),yet a great deal of work has gone into making it such a comprehensive overview.It is a handy quick-reference guide to conceptually challenging subject matter.No knowledge of higher mathematics is required to understand most of the material in this book yet most topics and people concerned with the development of modern physics are covered.I particularly liked the appendix at the back which is in the form of a timeline of notable events,discoveries and dates of birth of contributing physicists.As a teacher of physics in the 16-19 age range I would recommend it (and have done so on several occasions)as a background reference to all students intending to study physics at degree level. The interested layperson will also find it stimulating and accessible.Well worth the money.Buy it.
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