An astrophysicist offers an introduction to the theoretical principles, practical applications, and far-reaching implications of quantum physics and quantum mechanics.

The theory of evolution by natural selection did not spring fully formed and unprecedented from the brain of Charles Darwin. The idea of evolution had been around, in various guises, since the time of Ancient Greece. And nor did theorizing about evolution stop with what Daniel Dennett called "Darwin's dangerous idea." In this riveting new book, bestselling science writers John and Mary Gribbin explore the history of the idea of evolution, showing how Darwin's theory built on what went before and (...) how it was developed in the twentieth century, through an understanding of genetics and the biochemical basis of evolution, into the so-called "modern synthesis" and beyond. Darwin deserves his recognition as the primary proponent of the idea of natural selection, but as the authors show, his contribution was one link in a chain that extends back into antiquity and is still being forged today. (shrink)

Paperback reissue of a book first published in 1991. The authors demonstrate how the materialistic and mechanistic world-view that has dominated western culture and science during the last few centuries is being challenged by the findings of modern physics, ranging from relativity to quantum physics. Includes a bibliography and an index. British-born, Davies is a well-known physicist and has written many other books including 'The Mind of God', winner of the 1992 Eureka Science Book Prize. He is currently professor of (...) mathematical physics at the University of Adelaide. Gribbin trained as an astrophysicist and is now a full-time science writer in Britain. (shrink)

Seven years after Richard Feynman died, I visited Caltech for the first time. One reason for the visit was to give a talk about the transactional interpretation of quantum mechanics, which draws so strongly on Feynman's own unusual ideas about the nature of electromagnetic radiation, now more than half a century old. It was, to say the least, an unusual feeling to be talking not just from the spot where Feynman himself used to lecture, but about his own work. And (...) when, during the question period at the end of the talk, the discussion moved on to QED, the dream-like quality of the occasion intensified -- an audience at Caltech, of all places, was asking me to explain QED to them! (shrink)