The BEST Book on trying to Understand Quantum Theory

By H. J. Spencer PhD,
This review is from: Quantum Theory (Dover Books on Physics) (Paperback)

This is probably the best book on the Copenhagen (the standard orthodoxy)
approach to quantum mechanics. It was written by the most radical
theoretical physicist in the last 70 years. David Bohm wrote it when he was
teaching at Princeton before Oppenheimer's machination got him thrown
out of the US to protect Oppenheimer's own communist background (he
was also envious of Bohm's genius). In the 1940s, there were still
extensive discussions about what QM means (all the theorists were
comfortable with the various equivalent math approaches but were utterly
confused.) The rivalry between Bohr/Heisenberg's view (subsequently
called the Copenhagen Interpretation) and the views of Schroedinger,
Einstein & de Broglie was brutal; each camp accused the other of producing
nonsensical interpretations. Ironically, Bohm (who was a sincere admirer of
Einstein and Bohr) created this masterpiece that attempted to explicate the
vague, ambiguous ramblings of Bohr by using the mathematics of de
Broglie and Schroedinger. In fact, as several reviewers have pointed out, all
the math you need is Fourier Analysis but this approach smuggles in all the
ideas of electrons as waves. So pay a lot of attention at this point.

The problem here is that (as Bohm admits in his preface) this new view
requires a dramatic shift in our fundamental conceptual framework (not
just of classical mechanics but ordinary language and the western model of
reality as isolated things; both of which can be readily visualized and thus
"understood"). Bohm believes he had presented wave mechanics in an
understandable and imaginative manner. Unfortunately, this new way of
looking at reality is exceedingly difficult, so that QM today has regressed to
its original mathematical formulation, which is now fully acceptable to
math-soaked theoretical physicists, with little sense of wonder or
understanding. Bohm's solution was to resurrect Heisenberg's "potentia"
approach where quantum objects, no longer have fixed properties that we
think about at normal times but they change their character depending on
how the electron interacts with other matter. This leads to Bohm's radical
conclusion that at the atomic level (or smaller) the world operates as a
single, integrated whole. This was the jumping-off point for Bohm's later
investigations into the 'Implicate Order' that took the rest of his life to
explore.

It was Bohm's intent to present the main ideas of quantum theory in non-
mathematical terms rather than as some mysterious, axiomatic set of
mathematics "that works". Although this is by far (in my personal opinion
and I've been studying QM for 50+ years) the best attempt to provide an
explanation he cannot overcome the contradiction (physicists call it a
"paradox") that a single object (like an electron) cannot simultaneously BE
a localized particle and a wave that extends across all of space. In other
words, EXISTENCE is the primary property of reality; objects must first
exist (somewhere) before two or more may interact together. The wave-
function combines implied mutual existence between TWO electrons (one
being in a macro-sized measuring device) with the Broglie's periodic
interactivity.

None-the-less, I still highly recommend this book. At the very least, your
head will have gone to the 'mental gym' for 12 months getting through it &
you will learn all the wrinkles. QM is tough - there are no easy short-cuts as
many authors imply and TV pop-scientists love to “explain”.

THIS BOOK PUTS THE LIE TO ALL THOSE "SIMPLE" MATHEMATICAL

APPROACHES TO QM - IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THIS BOOK, THEN YOU DO
NOT UNDERSTAND QM.