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smiles_at_dogs's review against another edition
4.0
Fair warning: I rated this book without understanding some of what I read. But I found him to be fairly accessible, even though this topic is well beyond anything I've ever studied, and didn't suffer from not understanding portions. The topic builds on itself, but not in a way that prevents you from reading the end if you skipped a few paragraphs in the middle.
gothwin's review against another edition
4.0
Probably more of a 3.5/5.
The first 2/3 of this book is very well written and gives the reader a backgound in classical computers (Turing, Colossus etc.) and the basics of quantum mechanics (readers should check out [book:In Search of Schrödinger's Cat: Quantum Physics and Reality|513367] by [author:John Gribbin|1418] for an excellent introduction on that subject).
Only the last 1/3 of this book is dedicated to quantum computing. I felt this part fell short of Gribbin's usual high quality writing. Ok quantum computing is hard to explain, but I felt too many aspects were glossed over and some had me re-reading several times and scratching my head (disclaimer: I have studied quantum mechanics up to Masters level, albeit 20 years or so ago). There was a lot of space dedicated to how one might build a quantum computer, but personally I'd have liked to have seen a lot more on what you can do with them and how the algorithms work. I felt a lot more detail could have been given to the maths of quantum computing.
Overall a good read, but I finished it wanting more.
The first 2/3 of this book is very well written and gives the reader a backgound in classical computers (Turing, Colossus etc.) and the basics of quantum mechanics (readers should check out [book:In Search of Schrödinger's Cat: Quantum Physics and Reality|513367] by [author:John Gribbin|1418] for an excellent introduction on that subject).
Only the last 1/3 of this book is dedicated to quantum computing. I felt this part fell short of Gribbin's usual high quality writing. Ok quantum computing is hard to explain, but I felt too many aspects were glossed over and some had me re-reading several times and scratching my head (disclaimer: I have studied quantum mechanics up to Masters level, albeit 20 years or so ago). There was a lot of space dedicated to how one might build a quantum computer, but personally I'd have liked to have seen a lot more on what you can do with them and how the algorithms work. I felt a lot more detail could have been given to the maths of quantum computing.
Overall a good read, but I finished it wanting more.
stephang18's review
3.0
Useful introduction to Quantum Computing. Author must be a professor because he tells you what he's going to say, then says it, then tells you what he said. Also spends a lot of time irrelevantly talking about himself. Who cares where he went to school or lives?
casreadman's review
5.0
Highly recommended for anyone who wants to know more about quantum computers. No previous knowledge of conventional computers or quantum physics required to start. That all gets explained in the book. ;)
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