Bananaworld: Quantum Mechanics for Primates (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780198718536)

What on earth do bananas have to do with quantum mechanics? From a modern perspective, quantum mechanics is about strangely counterintuitive correlations between separated systems, which can be exploited in feats like quantum teleportation, unbreakable cryptographic schemes, and computers with enormously enhanced computing power. Schro?dinger coined the term "entanglement" to describe these bizarre correlations. Bananaworld -- an imaginary island with "entangled" bananas -- brings to life the fascinating discoveries of the new field of quantum information without the mathematical machinery of quantum mechanics. The connection with quantum correlations is fully explained in sections written for the non-physicist reader with a serious interest in understanding the mysteries of the quantum world. The result is a subversive but entertaining book that is accessible and interesting to a wide range of readers, with the novel thesis that quantum mechanics is about the structure of information. What we have discovered is that the possibilities for representing, manipulating, and communicating information are very different than we thought.

Author: Jeffrey Bub
ISBN-10: 0198718535
ISBN-13: 9780198718536
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Language: English
Published: 04/15/2016
Pages: 288
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.50lbs
Size: 9.40h x 6.90w x 0.90d

Review Citation(s):
Choice 09/01/2016