Further Reading

David Lindley’s Uncertainty: Einstein, Heisenberg, Bohr, and the Struggle for the Soul of Science (Doubleday, 2007) provides a very readable introduction to the early history of quantum theory, as well as a detailed account of the debates about the theory and the meaning of the uncertainty principle.

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Louisa Gilder’s The Age of Entanglement: When Quantum Physics Was Reborn (Knopf, 2008) covers some of the same territory as Uncertainty, but with more of an emphasis on entanglement, and goes on to describe Bohm’s non-local hidden variable theory, Bell’s theorem, and the first experimental tests of nonlocality. The book is built around several reconstructed conversations among the important figures in the story, with dialogue pieced together from letters and memoirs.

The Tests of Time: Readings in the Development of Physical Theory, edited by Lisa M. Dolling, Arthur F. Gianelli, and Glenn N. Statile (Princeton University Press, 2003), reproduces many of the classic papers in early quantum theory, including Bohr’s original model of hydrogen; the Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen paper; Bohr’s response to EPR; and John Bell’s famous theorem.

The Theory of Almost Everything: The Standard Model, the Unsung Triumph of Modern Physics by Robert Oerter (Plume, 2006) gives an excellent overview of the state of modern physics, including basic quantum theory, QED, and issues in particle physics that are not discussed in this book.

Richard Feynman’s QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter (Princeton University Press, 2006) is a wonderfully accessible explanation of the details of quantum electrodynamics. His autobiographical books (Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman and What Do You Care What Other People Think?) have less physics, but are great fun.

For more mathematically inclined readers, The Quantum Challenge, Second Edition: Modern Research on the Foundations of Quantum Mechanics by George Greenstein and Arthur G. Zajonc (Jones and Bartlett, 2005) gives an excellent overview of many of the experiments that have demonstrated the strange features of quantum mechanics.

James Gleick’s Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman includes a description of the development of QED, and the rivalry between Feynman and Julian Schwinger.

On an artistic note, Michael Frayn’s play Copenhagen makes powerful use of quantum ideas in exploring the famous falling-out between Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg.

And finally, George Gamow’s “Mr. Tompkins” stories (collected in Mr. Tompkins in Paperback [Cambridge University Press, Canto Imprint, 1993]) are the original whimsical exploration of modern physics, through the daydreams of an unassuming bank clerk. No physics book involving a talking dog could possibly fail to mention them.