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4.5/5 stars

If you believe that quantum mechanics is complicated, then, to quote Walter White, you're goddamn right. However, it doesn't mean that quantum mechanics cannot be understood whatsoever. With persistence, patience, and attention, some level of understanding could be reached.

"Quantum: Einstein, Bohr, and the Great Debate about the Nature of Reality" written by Manjit Kumar is a book attempting to guide you through the rich history behind this revolution: from the quantization of energy, which Max Planck considered to be just a magic trick, to Einstein's realization that light is made up of a package of energy called quanta. After the two events, a wave of new generation of young physicists started to emerge including Niels Bohr, Louis de Broglie, Wolfgang Pauli, Weiner Heisenberg, Erwin Schrődinger, Paul Dirac and others.

There were two groups among these men: one, leading by Niels Bohr, believed in Copenhagen Interpretation, while the other one, leading by Einstein, opposed to it. Copenhagen Interpretation states that a physical system does not have a definite property prior to being measured, which means that before being measured, its property is just the cloud of probability. This obscures the nature of reality because nothing is real until observed, and Einstein felt bothered by it. The debate between Einstein and Borh spanned for 3 decades until their death. On the drawing board on the day Bohr died was Einstein's light box which Einstein used to argue with Borh thirty years ago. This, I must admit, made me tear up.

I've read books and watched many documentaries about quantum mechanics before. Yet, each time I re-encounter the contents, my grasp of the subject appears to be pity, miniscule even. The concept of bell theorem is still annoyingly out of reach for me despite my reading about it from various sources many times already. Maybe one day when I have a firm grip and a more stable basic understanding on this subject, all the remaining unreachable concepts would be within my grasp.

If you desire to know more about quantum mechanics, I would totally recommend this book, for it is presented in not-too-technical styles, thus making the probability of your being able to grasp it a bit higher even if you don't have any background of physics or mathematics.

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