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A review by generalheff
In Search of Schrödinger's Cat by John Gribbin
4.0
Appropriately for its titular enigmatic feline, it is surprisingly difficult to say precisely what kind of book In Search of Schrödinger’s Cat is. It is an unresolvable mixture of science history, quantum pedagogical advocacy and quasi-mysticism. What any particular reader gets out of it rather depends on how they look at the book (yes I’m stretching a very tortuous quantum-style observer metaphor here).
For those with a thorough grounding in quantum physics it will be an elucidating walk through the tortuous early days of the subject. The descriptions of the stops and starts, of the tentative first quantum revolution under Einstein and Planck, to the full-blown madness of the second quantum revolution, is brilliantly crafted scientific history. A good understanding of the field is likely needed to follow this story in full but if you want a brief, non-mathematical history of the quantum this is certainly the book for you.
If you happen, like me, to have spent much time with academic quantum physicists you will probably be most drawn to the gauntlet the author throws down to people who “even without understanding why the recipes work … are able to cook … effectively with quanta”. Gribbin powerfully argues against still-current trends in how quantum mechanics is taught and thought about.
He is, above all else, resistant to the focus on Schrodinger’s wave equation, with its more visualisable features, than alternatives like Paul Dirac’s abstract formalism. I, like most physics’ graduates, was introduced to quantum physics with precisely the wave approach Gribbin is arguing against. In this author’s telling, such approaches to teaching quantum mechanics are deeply unhelpful, shielding students from the true strangeness of quantum phenomena.
The book’s final, dissonant element is its appeal for new ways to think about quantum physics. The author acknowledges that the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics dominates precisely because it works. Yet Gribbin stresses his hope that new frameworks might encompass this interpretation but within a broader view of the field that irons out some of ‘god playing dice’ elements that so unsettled Einstein.
The author even has such a new framework on hand in Hugh Everett’s many-worlds hypothesis. The final line in the book on Schrodinger’s cat is to put it into a many-worlds framework and claim that, even if we open the box and find a dead cat, a living cat will have sprung into existence in a new world (an unreachable branch off of ours). These ideas are used to ‘solve’ problems in cosmology and classic paradoxes in time travel. If this all sounds rather mystical that is precisely because it is. For someone with a grounding in physics I was interested to see such arguments put forward in so much depth, though I worry that others might mistake some of this as hard science rather than the philosophy it really is.
Is this, in the end, a history book, teacher’s guide or orphic text? It is, in a true quantum manner, all of these and none of them. Much will depend on the observer. I found an erudite history with engaging challenges to the way I was taught quantum physics, but one that veered a little to the metaphysical in its final pages. Others will not care about the author’s vendetta against poor Schrodinger’s equation but will find much to chew over for their philosophical musings. Perhaps most people will simply find it in an intractable read, presupposing as it does a decent grasp of quantum physics. It will not be all things to all people but is a stimulating read for the right kind of reader.
For those with a thorough grounding in quantum physics it will be an elucidating walk through the tortuous early days of the subject. The descriptions of the stops and starts, of the tentative first quantum revolution under Einstein and Planck, to the full-blown madness of the second quantum revolution, is brilliantly crafted scientific history. A good understanding of the field is likely needed to follow this story in full but if you want a brief, non-mathematical history of the quantum this is certainly the book for you.
If you happen, like me, to have spent much time with academic quantum physicists you will probably be most drawn to the gauntlet the author throws down to people who “even without understanding why the recipes work … are able to cook … effectively with quanta”. Gribbin powerfully argues against still-current trends in how quantum mechanics is taught and thought about.
He is, above all else, resistant to the focus on Schrodinger’s wave equation, with its more visualisable features, than alternatives like Paul Dirac’s abstract formalism. I, like most physics’ graduates, was introduced to quantum physics with precisely the wave approach Gribbin is arguing against. In this author’s telling, such approaches to teaching quantum mechanics are deeply unhelpful, shielding students from the true strangeness of quantum phenomena.
The book’s final, dissonant element is its appeal for new ways to think about quantum physics. The author acknowledges that the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics dominates precisely because it works. Yet Gribbin stresses his hope that new frameworks might encompass this interpretation but within a broader view of the field that irons out some of ‘god playing dice’ elements that so unsettled Einstein.
The author even has such a new framework on hand in Hugh Everett’s many-worlds hypothesis. The final line in the book on Schrodinger’s cat is to put it into a many-worlds framework and claim that, even if we open the box and find a dead cat, a living cat will have sprung into existence in a new world (an unreachable branch off of ours). These ideas are used to ‘solve’ problems in cosmology and classic paradoxes in time travel. If this all sounds rather mystical that is precisely because it is. For someone with a grounding in physics I was interested to see such arguments put forward in so much depth, though I worry that others might mistake some of this as hard science rather than the philosophy it really is.
Is this, in the end, a history book, teacher’s guide or orphic text? It is, in a true quantum manner, all of these and none of them. Much will depend on the observer. I found an erudite history with engaging challenges to the way I was taught quantum physics, but one that veered a little to the metaphysical in its final pages. Others will not care about the author’s vendetta against poor Schrodinger’s equation but will find much to chew over for their philosophical musings. Perhaps most people will simply find it in an intractable read, presupposing as it does a decent grasp of quantum physics. It will not be all things to all people but is a stimulating read for the right kind of reader.