Quanta and fields

 

Quanta and fields: the biggest ideas in the universe by Sean Carrol (2024) 289pp

Part of the “biggest ideas” series, this look at the basic physics intrinsic to quantum mechanics attempts to put a complex topic within reach of curious readers who are not cosmologists or theoretical physicists. Much more math here than in many popular physics books, actually loaded with equations and formulas. I was able to follow the narrative in spite of barely passing my last math class – college algebra. Carrol explains his aim, not ginning up “Big Bang Theory” fantastic cosmic scenarios, but making the current state of quanta and fields’ research comprehensible to the layperson. Readers with a solid grasp of the calculus and advanced math will follow along and nod their heads; duffers like me can do five pages and then nap, a bit of a slog. Kudos to the author for showing that much of the cutting-edge mathematical underpinnings of this esoteric subject are rooted in mathematics developed over hundreds of years – simply (well, not too simply) taking tools developed for use in classical Newtonian physics and adapting and modifying them to explain and predict observations and experimental data. If you read and enjoyed any of the hundreds of books popularizing math, science and physics, but don’t need any more pseudo-science analogies and are sated on the entertaining personalities that litter the history of science and technology, you will be rewarded with a new understanding of this complex topic. However, I wouldn’t bring it up at a dinner party.