Absolutely Small

How Quantum Theory Explains Our Everyday World

By: Michael D. Fayer

Narrated by: Scott Peterson

Our intuition about how things should behave is usually right in the everyday world. We see the baseball soar in the air, arc, drop, and lie stationary on the ground. Through data gathered by our senses and basic knowledge of the laws of classical mechanics, the motion of a ball makes perfect sense.But enter the world of the tiniest particles on earth—the motion of electrons, the shapes of molecules—and everything we think we know about the world radically changes. To understand what’s really happening in the world around us, to comprehend the mysterious, counterintuitive science of the small, we must take a quantum theory view of nature. Like no other book before it, Absolutely Small makes the inherently challenging field of quantum theory understandable to nonscientists, without oversimplifying and without bogging down in complicated math.

Written by an award-winning professor at Stanford University, the book uses clear explanations and real-world examples instead of dense equations to help you understand:

• Why strawberries are red and blueberries are blue
• How particles can change from “mixed states” to “pure states” based solely on observation
• How a single photon can be in two places at the same time
• Why quantum matter sometimes acts like particles, and other times like waves
• Why a piece of metal will glow red when it is hot, and turn blue when it’s even hotter
• What makes salt dissolve in water, while oil does not, and much more

In the tradition of Stephen Hawking and Lewis Thomas, but without the rigorous mathematical requirements, Absolutely Small demystifies the fascinating realm of quantum physics and chemistry, complete with compelling accounts of the scientists and experiments that helped form our current understanding of quantum matter.

©2010 Michael D. Fayer (P)2010 Gildan Media Corp

Critic reviews

“There are a few books that I always keep near at hand, and constantly come back to. The Feynman Lectures on Physics and Dirac’s classic textbook on quantum mechanics are among them. Michael Fayer’s wonderful new book, Absolutely Small, is about to join them. Whether you are a scientist or just curious about how the world works, this is the book for you.” (Leonard Susskind, Professor of Physics, Stanford University; author of The Black Hole War: My Battle With Stephen Hawking to Make the World Safe for Quantum Mechanics )

No math - wrong

Figures and equations don't work in Audiobooks generally. Sometimes the producers will try to make them work with either handouts (hard to read while driving) or detailed descriptions. In this case they did not even try - just a dude reading equations off to you - very frustrating. Chapters 1-4 were good and relatively math free. After that the author gives up on his promise to "keep out the math" and begins inserting equations to "prove his point." I don't need the math to convince me and the narrative is lost with the interruptions of the math.

Great book... academically speaking.

Good basis of science required to enjoy it... and by good I mean more than high school level knowledge, otherwise will be hard to digest.

Not appropriate for an audiobook

This book is very dependent on drawings, graphs and equations, and although the offer has kept it to a minimum, you can't follow large parts of the book purely from audio. Somewhere in chapter 14 I broke down and got the paper book.

Not what is advertised....

Absolutely Small suggests it will explain quantum mechanics and (in the introduction) suggests the author will show that quantum mechanics makes sense. Instead this is more of a brief introduction to quantum chemistry. It glosses over all the tricky bits of quantum mechanics, presenting a ???shut up and do quantum chemistry??? attitude. The title ???absolutely small??? is highlighted in the last chapter when the author explains when to use quantum vs. classical mechanics. His answer seems to be ???when it makes a difference.??? He also punts on Schrodinger???s cat. Although I enjoyed this book and learned a few things, I have lots of experience with physics and could easily visualize the atomic shell structure diagrams and did not mind the many audio equations. My guess is most people would find this very frustrating in a written text, let alone an audio book. As a book on the basics of quantum chemistry, it is ok, but as a book on understanding quantum mechanics it fails utterly.

interesting but frustrating..

I've always loved science.. never really dug in too deep as far as taking college level courses, but will watch the Science and Discovery Channel all day if left to my own devices.

I bought the book for my holiday trip and have always wanted to learn a bit more about quantum physics and mechanics.

The author mentions in the preface that he's not going to get too math and formula heavy and this can be sort of an everyman's book to help demystify the topic at hand.

The author keeps his promise for a little while, but then proceeds to repeatedly use formulas and refers time and again to diagrams that only appear in the actual book.

This may not be problematic for milder topics or for physics majors.. but for the everyday guy who's just trying to learn a bit of science while driving.. I found it incredibly frustrating.

I hope to make it through the entire book because the subject matter is interesting to me.. but the way it's being presented leaves a bit to be desired.