Six Impossible Things: The Mysteries Of The Subatomic World – Forbes

This book shows how our understanding of quantum physics is mostly, but not entirely, correct

Cover: Six Impossible Things by John Gribbin(Credit: Icon Books Ltd, 2019).

Quantum physics is so bizarre that even physicists dont understand it. According to the rules of quantum physics, a cat can be alive and dead at the same time, an electron can be in two places simultaneously, and a subatomic particle can also be a wave. But nobody has ever been able to provide a rational explanation for how these contradictory and seemingly impossible things can be true. Basically, the subatomic world is so strange that even Einstein could only shrug and describe it as spooky action at a distance.

Undaunted, British science writer and astrophysicist John Gribbin wrote a small book, Six Impossible Things (Icon Books; 2019: Amazon US / Amazon UK) that succinctly summarizes six of the foremost hypotheses that seek to explain the mysteries of the subatomic world. This slim hardcover is an elegant and accessible attempt to explain quantum physics to the nonspecialist, and is one of the six books included on the shortlist for the Royal Society Insight Investment popular Science Book Prize for 2019.

Six of the books ten chapters correspond to each of the six most popular explanations that may underlie quantum physics weirdness: All of them are crazy, and some are more crazy than others, Dr. Gribbin notes early in his book, but in this world crazy does not necessarily mean wrong, and being more crazy does not necessarily mean more wrong (p. xvii). The six impossible things include the Copenhagen Interpretation, the Pilot Wave Interpretation, the Many Worlds Interpretation, the Decoherence Interpretation, the Ensemble Non-Interpretation (also known as the Statistical Interpretation), and the Timeless Transactional Interpretation.

The chapters are quite short (as is the book itself), and include black-and-white diagrams and images of the main proponents of each hypothesis along with a condensed and readable description of that hypothesis. Professor Gribbins coherent summary of each hypothesis makes these incredibly complex ideas, puzzled over by physics leading minds since the late 1920s, into something that may be vaguely comprehensible to most readers, even if these ideas remain firmly embedded in the realm of the fantastic for physicists as well as for mere mortals.

Beside the fact that simply reading this book gave me incredible dreams, I was most tantalized during my waking hours by Dr. Gribbins too brief description of quantum computing, a fascinating technological advancement that cannot come too soon, in my opinion. But more interesting even than quantum computing (and its concomitant cybersecurity) is coming to a firm understanding about the reason that it works and that remains elusive.

The book lacks maths, so if you are skittish about mathematics, or lack a maths background, you will breathe a sigh of relief to discover that this book is still quite comprehensible well, as intelligible as quantum physics can be made.

If quantum physics still leaves you breathless, Professor Gribbin also summarizes each of these six impossible interpretations in a neat, and amusing, single sentence. Highly recommended for students of the sciences and fans of science fiction, as well as for anyone who is curious to understand the strange world of quantum physics.

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Six Impossible Things: The Mysteries Of The Subatomic World - Forbes