A Beginner's Guide to Reality is an introduction to philosophy for people who don't read philosophy. Jim Baggott's sources range from Aristotle to The Matrix. He examines the major developments in Western philosophical thought on the nature of reality, at each of three levels - social, perceptual and physical. (Do money, colour, or photons exist?) The book systematically investigates these levels, peeling away the assumptions we make about those parts of reality that we take for granted.

Beginners Guide To Reality

Baggott, Jim

Science & Math

Penguin Uk

Beyond Measure: Modern Physics, Philosophy, and the Meaning of Quantum Theory

Quantum theory is one the most important and successful theories of modern physical science. It has been estimated that its principles form the basis for about 30 per cent of the world's manufacturing economy. This is all the more remarkable because quantum theory is a theory that nobody understands. The meaning of Quantum Theory introduces science students to the theory's fundamental conceptual and philosophical problems, and the basis of its non-understandability. It does this with the barest minimum of jargon and very little mathematics in the main text. Readers wishing to delve more deeply into the theory's mathematical subtleties can do so in an extended series of appendices. The book brings the reader up to date with the results of new experimental tests of quantum weirdness and reviews the latest thinking on alternative interpretations, the frontiers of quantum cosmology, quantum gravity and potential application of this weirdness in computing, cryptography and teleportation.

Chemistry

Oxford University Press

Quantum theory is one the most important and successful theories of modern physical science. It has been estimated that its principles form the basis for about 30 per cent of the world's manufacturing economy. This is all the more remarkable because quantum theory is a theory that nobody understands. The meaning of Quantum Theory introduces science students to the theory's fundamental conceptual and philosophical problems, and the basis of its non-understandability. It does this with the barest minimum of jargon and very little mathematics in the main text. Readers wishing to delve more deeply into the theory's mathematical subtleties can do so in an extended series of appendices. The book brings the reader up to date with the results of new experimental tests of quantum weirdness and reviews the latest thinking on alternative interpretations, the frontiers of quantum cosmology, quantum gravity and potential application of this weirdness in computing, cryptography and teleportation.

The historical development of the theory is traced from the turn of the century through to the 1930's, and the famous debate between Niels Bohr and Albert Einstein. The book examines in detail the arguments that quantum theory is incomplete, as made by Einstein, Boris Podolsky, and Nathan Rosen; the development of Bell's theorem; and crucial experimental tests performed in the early 1980s. - ;In this book the author looks at the continuing debate about the meaning of quantum theory. The historical development of the theory is traced from the turn of the century through to the 1930's, and the famous debate between Niels Bohr and Albert Einstein. The book examines in detail the arguments that quantum theory is incomplete, as made by Einstein, Boris Podolsky, and Nathan Rosen; the development of Bell's theorem; and crucial experimental tests performed in the early 1980's. Alternative interpretations - pilot waves, quantum gravity, consciousness, many worlds, and God - are described in the closing chapter. This book is aimed at graduate and senior undergraduate students of physics and chemistry taking quantum chemistry or quantum theory courses, and other scientists interested in the subject. - ;How quantum theory was discovered; Putting it into practice; What does it mean?; Putting it to the test; What are the alternatives?; Appendices; Bibliography; Index - ;I can recommend it warmly. Baggott has a practised, informal, attractive style that renders the potentially turgid digestible . . . , he gives a lucid, thoughtful, and helpful account of one of this century's great conundrums. - The Times Higher Education Supplement

The Meaning of Quantum Theory: A Guide for Students of Chemistry and Physics (Oxford Science Publications)

Reference

Words, Language & Grammar

Why is quantum theory so difficult to understand? In this book, written for both undergraduate and graduate students of chemistry and physics, the author looks at the continuing debate about the meaning of quantum theory. The historical development of the theory is traced from the turn of the century through to the 1930s, and the famous debate between Niels Bohr and Albert Einstein. The book examines in detail the arguments that quantum theory is incomplete, as made by Einstein, Boris Podolsky, and Nathan Rosen; the development of Bell's theorem; and crucial experimental tests performed in the early 1980s. Alternative interpretations -- pilot waves, quantum gravity, consciousness, and many worlds -- are described in the closing chapter. This is an ideal text for advanced undergraduate and graduate students of chemistry and physics, and for academic scientists not involved in mainstream quantum theory.

The Meaning of Quantum Theory: A Guide for Students of Chemistry and Physics

This book tells the fascinating story of the discovery of buckminsterfullerene, a perfectly symmetrical soccer-ball shaped molecule composed of 60 carbon atoms. This new molecule, one of a large family of carbon cage molecules called "fullerenes"--represents a new form of carbon, complementing such well-known materials as diamond and graphite. Its discovery has revolutionized our understanding of carbon, once the most familiar elements. It has heralded a new chemistry, a new range of high-temperature superconductors and some marvelous new concepts in the architecture of large carbon structures. In this account, prize-winning science writer Jim Baggott tells the compelling story of buckminsterfullerene, from its natural occurrence in the cold chemistry of interstellar clouds to its accidental, stunning creation in a modern chemistry laboratory, and the subsequent development of one of today's fastest-growing scientific fields. By combining a lucid and entertaining style with scientific accuracy, the author has written a book that will appeal to general readers and chemists alike.

Perfect Symmetry: The Accidental Discovery of Buckminsterfullerene

What is life? Where do we come from and how did we evolve? What is the universe and how was it formed? What is the nature of the material world? How does it work? How and why do we think? What does it mean to be human? How do we know? There are many different versions of our creation story. This book tells the version according to modern science. It is a unique account, starting at the Big Bang and traveling right up to the emergence of humans as conscious intelligent beings, 13.8 billion years later. Chapter by chapter, it sets out the current state of scientific knowledge: the origins of space and time; energy, mass, and light; galaxies, stars, and our sun; the habitable earth, and complex life itself. Drawing together the physical and biological sciences, Baggott recounts what we currently know of our history, highlighting the questions science has yet to answer.

Origins: The Scientific Story of Creation

Astronomy & Space Science

What is life? Where do we come from and how did we evolve? What is the universe and how was it formed? What is the nature of the material world? How does it work? How and why do we think? What does it mean to be human? How do we know?There are many different versions of our creation story. This book tells the version according to modern science. It is a unique account, starting at the Big Bang and traveling right up to the emergence of humans as conscious intelligent beings, 13.8 billion years later. Chapter by chapter, it sets out the current state of scientific knowledge: the origins of space and time; energy, mass, and light; galaxies, stars, and our sun; the habitable earth, and complex life itself. Drawing together the physical and biological sciences, Baggott recounts what we currently know of our history, highlighting the questions science has yet to answer.

Everything around us is made of 'stuff', from planets, to books, to our own bodies. Whatever it is, we call it matter or material substance. It is solid; it has mass. But what is matter, exactly? We are taught in school that matter is not continuous, but discrete. As a few of the philosophers of ancient Greece once speculated, nearly two and a half thousand years ago, matter comes in 'lumps', and science has relentlessly peeled away successive layers of matter to reveal its ultimate constituents. Surely, we can't keep doing this indefinitely. We imagine that we should eventually run up against some kind of ultimately fundamental, indivisible type of stuff, the building blocks from which everything in the Universe is made. The English physicist Paul Dirac called this 'the dream of philosophers'. But science has discovered that the foundations of our Universe are not as solid or as certain and dependable as we might have once imagined. They are instead built from ghosts and phantoms, of a peculiar quantum kind. And, at some point on this exciting journey of scientific discovery, we lost our grip on the reassuringly familiar concept of mass. How did this happen? How did the answers to our questions become so complicated and so difficult to comprehend? In Mass Jim Baggott explains how we come to find ourselves here, confronted by a very different understanding of the nature of matter, the origin of mass, and its implications for our understanding of the material world. Ranging from the Greek philosophers Leucippus and Democritus, and their theories of atoms and void, to the development of quantum field theory and the discovery of a Higgs boson-like particle, he explores our changing understanding of the nature of matter, and the fundamental related concept of mass.

Mass: The quest to understand matter from Greek atoms to quantum fields

Physics

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Baggott, Jim. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Baggott, Jim

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Baggott, Jim. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Beginners Guide To Reality

Beyond Measure: Modern Physics, Philosophy, and the Meaning of Quantum Theory

Beyond Measure: Modern Physics, Philosophy, and the Meaning of Quantum Theory

The Meaning of Quantum Theory: A Guide for Students of Chemistry and Physics (Oxford Science Publications)

The Meaning of Quantum Theory: A Guide for Students of Chemistry and Physics

Perfect Symmetry: The Accidental Discovery of Buckminsterfullerene

Perfect Symmetry: The Accidental Discovery of Buckminsterfullerene

Origins: The Scientific Story of Creation

Origins: The Scientific Story of Creation

Mass: The quest to understand matter from Greek atoms to quantum fields