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David Fairbairn's Reviews > Atom Land: A Guided Tour Through the Strange and Impossibly Small World of Particle Physics
Atom Land: A Guided Tour Through the Strange and Impossibly Small World of Particle Physics
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This is a surprisingly difficult book, although one of the best of its kind. The author construes the whole realm of quantum physics as a gigantic map (Atom Land) through which we travel as we learn the concepts of quantum mechanics and particle physics. Now, considering the complexity of the material it endeavors to teach, it is surprising this book works at all. Quantum mechanics is notoriously complicated, and many of its fundamental assumptions are controversial and open to multiple interpretations. So, we should not expect an introductory book on quantum mechanics to be light reading. So on this account it is one of the better introductory books on the subject, along with Richard Feynman’s excellent publications.
To be perfectly honest, I read the book multiple times in order to revisit the more difficult passages. The book is far more than just a surface-level introduction to the behavior of particles and delves into more advanced concepts such as chirality, symmetry, Chromodynamics, and philosophical concepts regarding the nature of explanation and causation.
The real question is, do the author’s analogies work? Yes and no.
He attempts to explain quantum mechanics using the analogy of a map, starting at an ocean at the west side and moving further east as energies change. Along the way, we encounter islands airports, lagoons, volcanoes, forests, and the like. There is the island of quarks, the wave lagoon, Hadron island, and so forth. The strong and weak nuclear forces are represented by planes and railway systems, the Dirac equations are represented by a ship, and there are several characters we meet along the way, including dolphins, a captain, and a musician. I have to say most of the illustrations were helpful to me however they are a little confusing sometimes and it would’ve been better if the author had been consistent and not just suddenly abandoned them in some parts. Another point I found confusing: the whole concept of moving east was supposed to represent an increase in energy levels, however this doesn’t actually apply to several of the new lands, and he abruptly adds a new hemisphere to his map 3/4 of the way through the book to represent anti-particles with inverted charge.
When explaining Bosons and virtual particles, his analogies break down significantly, such that by the time we reach the land of virtual particles, the best he can do is ask the reader to image a world of randomly exploding volcanoes (although, perhaps this is indicative of the chaotic state of physics today). So, the reader might see his examples as a little ad hoc. Still, the book stands as an excellent introduction for somebody with a basic grasp of physics and mathematics, and you will be hard pressed to find a more comprehensive and clear introduction to the subject.
To be perfectly honest, I read the book multiple times in order to revisit the more difficult passages. The book is far more than just a surface-level introduction to the behavior of particles and delves into more advanced concepts such as chirality, symmetry, Chromodynamics, and philosophical concepts regarding the nature of explanation and causation.
The real question is, do the author’s analogies work? Yes and no.
He attempts to explain quantum mechanics using the analogy of a map, starting at an ocean at the west side and moving further east as energies change. Along the way, we encounter islands airports, lagoons, volcanoes, forests, and the like. There is the island of quarks, the wave lagoon, Hadron island, and so forth. The strong and weak nuclear forces are represented by planes and railway systems, the Dirac equations are represented by a ship, and there are several characters we meet along the way, including dolphins, a captain, and a musician. I have to say most of the illustrations were helpful to me however they are a little confusing sometimes and it would’ve been better if the author had been consistent and not just suddenly abandoned them in some parts. Another point I found confusing: the whole concept of moving east was supposed to represent an increase in energy levels, however this doesn’t actually apply to several of the new lands, and he abruptly adds a new hemisphere to his map 3/4 of the way through the book to represent anti-particles with inverted charge.
When explaining Bosons and virtual particles, his analogies break down significantly, such that by the time we reach the land of virtual particles, the best he can do is ask the reader to image a world of randomly exploding volcanoes (although, perhaps this is indicative of the chaotic state of physics today). So, the reader might see his examples as a little ad hoc. Still, the book stands as an excellent introduction for somebody with a basic grasp of physics and mathematics, and you will be hard pressed to find a more comprehensive and clear introduction to the subject.
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