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Nov. 20th, 2005 08:46 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
leblonI am reading a popular book on quantum mechanics called "Where does the weirdness go?" by David Lindley. Beautifully written, with a nice sense of humor, and exceptionally clear! In fact, the most lucid exposition of this difficult subject I have ever read. No formulas, which is a plus for a lay reader. In the beginning there is a charming list of "Dramatic Personae", including:
"Albert Einstein - physicist, father of relativity, godfather of quantum mechanics, though later estranged therefrom
Erwin Schroedinger - owner of a cat, though not necessarily a cat-lover
Copenhagen - city of Denmark; also, a stern philosophy"
Later one reads:
"Pragmatically, physicists understand measurement just as lawyers understand pornography and philistines understand art: they can't define it, but they know what it is."
There is also a great quotation from Niels Bohr, which is as obscure as anything by Derrida. The corresponding chapter is called "In which Niels Bohr is obscure, even by his own standards".
"Albert Einstein - physicist, father of relativity, godfather of quantum mechanics, though later estranged therefrom
Erwin Schroedinger - owner of a cat, though not necessarily a cat-lover
Copenhagen - city of Denmark; also, a stern philosophy"
Later one reads:
"Pragmatically, physicists understand measurement just as lawyers understand pornography and philistines understand art: they can't define it, but they know what it is."
There is also a great quotation from Niels Bohr, which is as obscure as anything by Derrida. The corresponding chapter is called "In which Niels Bohr is obscure, even by his own standards".
