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11corvus11's review against another edition
DNF. It's not that it's completely inaccessible. It's not super layman friendly but with enough focus I can grasp what they're talking about. But I'm not going to spend a bunch of time with a book that claims to be about biology but is built on ignorant anthropocentrism. For instance, claiming the human brain is the most exceptional in the world and is stronger than all others. They opened the book talking about robins being able to use the magnetic field of the planet to migrate vast distances among other things that humans cannot do. They also suggest that humans are the only ones with self-awareness and this is pretty well accepted to be false even by very cautious scientists.
It's not good science to assume every animal other than humans is some Cartesian robot. I'm being hard on them but also take this with a grain of salt. I was only 10% in when enough distortions caused me to give up. But, perhaps it's a writing flaw that they correct later.
It's not good science to assume every animal other than humans is some Cartesian robot. I'm being hard on them but also take this with a grain of salt. I was only 10% in when enough distortions caused me to give up. But, perhaps it's a writing flaw that they correct later.
annabrewer972's review against another edition
4.0
Very approachable and engaging, with lovely stories thrown in.
davidsteinsaltz's review against another edition
4.0
Somewhere between breathless promotion and obsessive technicality, the authors make a convincing case that there is an interesting realm of quantum machinery in cells, though their attempts to present this as something magical fell flat for me. It's interesting technical detail, for those who care about these things -- and I'm one of them -- but it's hard to see why someone who never cared about the mechanism of proton pumping in mitochondria should care about whether it involves quantum tunnelling.
geeisforgrace's review against another edition
5.0
While this was a bit over my head at times, I really, really enjoyed this book. It covered a massive scope but somehow was still very accessible to the lay reader like myself. It would appeal to anyone with an interest (but no background in!) science/quantum biology, as well as someone with a more in depth knowledge of physics and quantum mechanics. I listened to the audiobook which was very well done, and hope to reread parts in a book. I enjoyed this and highly recommend it, both for the topic and as a great example of “science writing.” One of the best books I’ve read this year.
leemac027's review against another edition
4.0
Authors McFadden and Al-Khalili have obviously spent a lot of time working out how to make quantum mechanics accessible and interesting to a broader audience. There is still quite a lot of scientific theories and facts in the book, however their entertaining writing style and anecdotes, especially about how robin's navigate, make the book quite readable.
The authors have a scientific and academic background and their passion for the topic comes through when dealing with topics (aside from the robins) such as how do humans smell a rose, unravelling the mystery around how genes copy themselves, how our mind works and how life began.
You don't need a scientific mind to enjoy this book, but it does help to have a little science behind you as it can be a bit of a daunting read.
The authors have a scientific and academic background and their passion for the topic comes through when dealing with topics (aside from the robins) such as how do humans smell a rose, unravelling the mystery around how genes copy themselves, how our mind works and how life began.
You don't need a scientific mind to enjoy this book, but it does help to have a little science behind you as it can be a bit of a daunting read.
chaoticbibliophile's review against another edition
I had to return it to the library and once I finally got it back I had moved on 😅 But I might give it another go at some other time!
kimthezombie's review against another edition
challenging
slow-paced
4.0
Complicated but compelling. If you are looking to get into quantum mechanics and already have a strong science background this is a good place to start