0
$\begingroup$

Can anyone recommend some good book(s) on the Evolution of Quantum Theory, focusing on history, not necessarily on explaining the technical/math part?

The books I have read so far,

  1. "Quantum: Einstein, Bohr, and the Great Debate about the Nature of Reality" by Manjit Kumar
  2. "Uncertainty: Einstein, Heisenberg, Bohr, and the Struggle for the Soul of Science" by David Lindley
  3. "Quantum Enigma: Physics Encounters Consciousness" by Bruce Rosenblum
  4. Entanglement: The Greatest Mystery in Physics by Aczel, Amir D

They all did a good job in explaining some part of the history, but not the overall history. So if I were to recommend just ONE book I won't recommend any of them.

Actually, I find "Introducing Quantum Theory A Graphic Guide" does a decent job of that but I was hoping to find a more detailed version of it.

Someone recommends "The Quantum Story A History in 40 Moments" but I have not read it. Any other recommendations?

I am looking for a book about 300 pages (or less) and costs less than 30$ (I think that is a reasonable price for a book around 300 pages). All the books I list here fit in this category.

BTW, I added this "requirement" after seeing the recommendation from the comments and the answer I got so far.

Improve this question
$\endgroup$
4

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
1
$\begingroup$

If you want one book covering the whole history, I can recommend 3 volumes of

Mituo Taketani, The formation and logic of quantum mechanics, (translated from Japanese), World Scientific 2001.

Some other books that I can recommend are:

Sin-itiro Tomonaga, The story of spin, also translated from the Japnese, and

B. L. van der Waerden, Sources of quantum mechanics, North Holland, 1967. This is a collection of original papers of the early period, (ending with Born, Jordan, Heisenberg) with a historical introduction of vdWaerden.

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
4
  • $\begingroup$ This book has 900 pages and costs more 200$. OMG. I was looking for a book about 300 pages (or less) and costs less than 30$. I think that is a reasonable price $\endgroup$
    – Qiulang
    Nov 7 at 10:12
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ You did not specify your parameters in your question. The book is available on Internet for free, if you search carefully. You also did not specify what exactly are you looking for: a book of history or a source to learn quantum mechanics itself. These are different things. $\endgroup$
    – Alexandre Eremenko
    Nov 7 at 10:14
  • $\begingroup$ "You also did not specify what exactly are you looking for" But I said it in my first sentence, "Can anyone recommend some good book(s) on the Evolution of Quantum Theory, focusing on history." $\endgroup$
    – Qiulang
    Nov 7 at 10:18
  • $\begingroup$ Anyway I added them in my question per your comments. $\endgroup$
    – Qiulang
    Nov 7 at 10:23

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.