
Beyond Weird
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Narrated by:
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Jonathan Cowley
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By:
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Philip Ball
About this listen
"Anyone who is not shocked by quantum theory has not understood it."
Since Niels Bohr said this many years ago, quantum mechanics has only been getting more shocking. We now realize that it's not really telling us that "weird" things happen out of sight, on the tiniest level, in the atomic world: Rather, everything is quantum. But if quantum mechanics is correct, what seems obvious and right in our everyday world is built on foundations that don't seem obvious or right at all - or even possible.
An exhilarating tour of the contemporary quantum landscape, Beyond Weird is a book about what quantum physics really means - and what it doesn't. Science writer Philip Ball offers an up-to-date, accessible account of the quest to come to grips with the most fundamental theory of physical reality, and to explain how its counterintuitive principles underpin the world we experience.
©2018 Philip Ball (P)2018 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
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Quantum physics is notable for its brazen defiance of common sense. (Think of Schrödinger's Cat, famously both dead and alive.) An especially rigorous form of quantum contradiction occurs in experiments with entangled particles. Our common assumption is that objects have properties whether or not anyone is observing them, and the measurement of one can't affect the other. Quantum entanglement rejects this assumption, offering impeccable reasoning and irrefutable evidence of the opposite. Is quantum entanglement mystical, or just mystifying?
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gappy and devoid of rigor
- By Anonymous User on 05-03-20
By: Jed Brody
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Just Six Numbers
- The Deep Forces That Shape the Universe
- By: Martin J. Rees
- Narrated by: John Curless
- Length: 6 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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There are deep connections between stars and atoms, between the cosmos and the microworld. Just six numbers, imprinted in the "Big Bang", determine the essential features of our entire physical world. Moreover, cosmic evolution is astonishingly sensitive to the values of these numbers. If any one of them were "untuned", there could be no stars and no life. This realization offers a radically new perspective on our universe, our place in it, and the nature of physical laws.
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Old Fine-Tuning Book
- By Michael on 12-16-18
By: Martin J. Rees
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Surfaces and Essences
- Analogy as the Fuel and Fire of Thinking
- By: Douglas Hofstadter, Emmanuel Sander
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 33 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Analogy is the core of all thinking. This is the simple but unorthodox premise that Pulitzer Prize-winning author Douglas Hofstadter and French psychologist Emmanuel Sander defend in their new work. Hofstadter has been grappling with the mysteries of human thought for over 30 years. Now, with his trademark wit and special talent for making complex ideas vivid, he has partnered with Sander to put forth a highly novel perspective on cognition.
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An analogy to describe this 33-hour book
- By George C. on 11-08-19
By: Douglas Hofstadter, and others
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Oxygen
- The Molecule That Made the World
- By: Nick Lane
- Narrated by: Nigel Patterson
- Length: 16 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Oxygen takes the listener on an enthralling journey, as gripping as a thriller, as it unravels the unexpected ways in which oxygen spurred the evolution of life and death.
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A Story About Pretty Much Everything
- By ZebraBear on 09-09-20
By: Nick Lane
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Journey to the Edge of Reason
- The Life of Kurt Gödel
- By: Stephen Budiansky
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 8 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Nearly a hundred years after its publication, Kurt Gödel's famous proof that every mathematical system must contain propositions that are true - yet never provable - continues to unsettle mathematics, philosophy, and computer science. Yet unlike Einstein, with whom he formed a warm and abiding friendship, Gödel has long escaped all but the most casual scrutiny of his life.
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Interesting story of a great mathematician
- By James Orlin on 04-28-22
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Light Falls
- Space, Time, and an Obsession of Einstein
- By: Brian Greene
- Narrated by: Brian Greene, Paul Rudd, Peter Ganim, and others
- Length: 2 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Best-selling author, superstar physicist, and cofounder of the World Science Festival Brian Greene (The Elegant Universe, The Fabric of the Cosmos) and an ensemble cast led by award-winning actor Paul Rudd (Ant-Man) perform this dramatic story tracing Albert Einstein's discovery of the general theory of relativity.
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An enjoyable deviation from standard Non-Fiction
- By Heath on 10-25-16
By: Brian Greene
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The Complete (Short) Guide to Absolutely Everything
- Adventures in Math and Science
- By: Adam Rutherford, Hannah Fry
- Narrated by: Hannah Fry, Adam Rutherford
- Length: 7 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Geneticist Adam Rutherford and mathematician Hannah Fry guide listeners through time and space, through our bodies and brains, showing how emotions shape our view of reality, how our minds tell us lies, and why a mostly bald and curious ape decided to begin poking at the fabric of the universe.
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Humour and understandability.
- By Chris B on 09-08-24
By: Adam Rutherford, and others
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Warped Passages
- Unraveling the Mysteries of the Universe's Hidden Dimensions
- By: Lisa Randall
- Narrated by: Donna Postel
- Length: 17 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Warped Passages is an altogether exhilarating journey that tracks the arc of discovery from early 20th-century physics to the razor's edge of modern scientific theory. One of the world's leading theoretical physicists, Lisa Randall provides astonishing scientific possibilities that, until recently, were restricted to the realm of science fiction. Unraveling the twisted threads of the most current debates on relativity, quantum mechanics, and gravity, she explores some of the most fundamental questions posed by Nature.
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Physics textbook without the math
- By Victor on 05-13-18
By: Lisa Randall
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Hidden in Plain Sight: The Simple Link Between Relativity and Quantum Mechanics
- Hidden in Plain Sight, Book 1
- By: Andrew Thomas
- Narrated by: Tom Zingarelli
- Length: 4 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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You never knew that theoretical physics could be so simple! In this exciting and significant audiobook, Andrew Thomas reveals how all unifications in physics have been based on incredibly simple ideas.
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Beware “Science” Titles Baring “Book 1”
- By Michael on 07-16-15
By: Andrew Thomas
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Kinds of Minds
- Toward an Understanding of Consciousness
- By: Daniel C. Dennett
- Narrated by: Daniel Henning
- Length: 6 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Combining ideas from philosophy, artificial intelligence, and neurobiology, Daniel Dennett leads the listener on a fascinating journey of inquiry, exploring such intriguing possibilities as: Can any of us really know what is going on in someone else's mind? What distinguishes the human mind from the minds of animals, especially those capable of complex behavior? If such animals, for instance, were magically given the power of language, would their communities evolve an intelligence as subtly discriminating as ours?
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Life on a Young Planet
- The First Three Billion Years of Evolution on Earth
- By: Andrew H. Knoll
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 9 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Australopithecines, dinosaurs, trilobites - such fossils conjure up images of lost worlds filled with vanished organisms. But in the full history of life, ancient animals, even the trilobites, form only the half-billion-year tip of a nearly four-billion-year iceberg. Andrew Knoll explores the deep history of life from its origins on a young planet to the incredible Cambrian explosion, presenting a compelling new explanation for the emergence of biological novelty.
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The Earliest Life
- By Arden on 02-16-20
By: Andrew H. Knoll
What listeners say about Beyond Weird
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- Amazon Customer
- 12-08-24
Excellent
Terrific book and fascinating topic. Quantum mechanics is endlessly interesting, with seemingly no end of things to think about, even after reading a fair amount about it. Ball does a great job explaining Niehl Bohr's Copenhagen interpretation in a way that takes it seriously and not simply as "shut up and calculate." He himself focuses on an information based interpretation. He also addresses a number of misconceptions of well known principles that I found helpful to my own thinking.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Jay Cordova
- 09-25-24
Good talk of the quantum problems
Great to hear a current day assessment of the quantum questions. No new suggested solutions like many worlds, thank goodness, but probably the best explanation I’ve heard of the questions that might lead to more insight, and mainly an excellent book that tries to avoid blowing off things as “weirdness”, with questions not to be asked as Bohr insisted until his death. I’m on my third listen.
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- Michael
- 07-07-19
Does not practice what is preached
The author starts by explaining the title is not to imply quantum physics is more than weird, but instead we should see beyond the apparent weirdness to an underlying simplicity. Great! He also points out quantum theory demands that we do not apply it to trajectories or paths and even discussing particles except in relation to a measurement should be avoided. Great again! Unfortunately, the author then proceeds to discuss paths and particle pointing out again and again the weirdness this discussion leads to. He even seems to equate the word “quantum” with “weirdness”. The author continues this until the last few pages, when he returns to the point of the title, that we really do need to see and speak beyond weirdness. It seems the author does not practice what he preaches.
Ball also makes other common blunders that muddy the water. For example, he talks of the chunking of energy instead of action. Energy, in general, is not quantized, but action always is. He claims interference only occurs with waves (continuous) – while interference also happens with many discrete repeating patters like window-screens, spider-webs, or nylon stocking. Artificial limitations like this do not help us see beyond the weirdness.
I had hoped this would be a text that talked beyond the weirdness but that is not the case. Other than the prolog and epilog it is just yet another discussion of quantum weirdness without clear direction.
See instead Einstein’s Unfinished Revolution (especially the last chapters).
The narration was understandable, but tone seemed stilted at times, and other times passages seemed rushed without inflection.
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7 people found this helpful
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- gihayes
- 02-05-20
Great Book! Listened Straight Through
Covered many unresolved questions I had about Quantum Physics. it covered Its origins, its puzzles, its personalities, and its possible future. it presented a truer and most comprehensive view of what Quantum Physics is , and what it isn't better than any book, paper, or article I have read in the past. it did so with humor and without being condescending.
it flowed quickly, and smoothly with no dead spots. it stayed on topic, and held me interested throughout. Every explanation or description was clear and measured. And every paragraph was informative. It did not need any filler. The book covers the pro's and cons from every thing from Relativity to The Many Worlds Interpretation. This is my ne Goto book for physics!
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2 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 02-22-19
better questions for quantum mechanics
fascinating perspectives from which to view quantum mechanics - from more understandable and logically consistent viewpoints - than I have ever come across
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4 people found this helpful
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- plantarFasciitis
- 06-18-19
Great
Once you get used to the distinctly British verbal convolution, the book is exceptional, deep, clear, candid, and eye opening.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Gravaman
- 01-19-25
narrators breathing noise
The narrator's breathing noises were very distracting to me. I loved the information as written.
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- Max
- 10-27-20
great book, bad narration
the narrator is bad, weird, retarded, robotic, worse than a computer voice. the book es exceptionaly good.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Jake
- 10-25-22
linking
a lot of information that I did not grasp completely but the writer's ability to convey complicated concepts in a more understandable way was grate
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- Amazon Customer
- 07-16-22
Every sentence sounds like a title
I found the information of the book well explained but the reading style of the narrator made it difficult to finish. Each sentence sounds of absolute importance and that threw me off, making it difficult to distinguish the central point of the argument from a one-off comment.
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1 person found this helpful