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THE AMAZING STORY OF QUANTUM MECHANICS By: James Kakalios
A Math-Free Exploration of the Science that Made Our World
Gotham
October 2010
On Sale: October 14, 2010
336 pages ISBN: 1592404790 EAN: 9781592404797 Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
James Kakalios, the author of The Physics of Superheroes returns with an accessible and math-free primer on quantum mechanics. Most of us are unaware of how much we depend on quantum mechanics on a day-to-day basis. Using examples from science fiction pulp magazines and comic books, The Amazing Story of Quantum Mechanics explains the fundamental principles of quantum mechanics that underlie the world we live in. In the pulp magazines and comics of the 1950s, it was predicted that the future would be one of gleaming utopias, with flying cars, jetpacks, and robotic personal assistants. Obviously, things didnβt turn out that way. But the world we do have is actually more fantastic than the most outlandish predictions of the science fiction of the mid-twentieth century. The World Wide Web, pocket-sized computers, mobile phones, and MRI machines have changed the world in unimagined ways. The book begins with an overview of speculative science fiction, beginning with Jules Verne and progressing through the space adventure comic books of the 1950s. Using the example of Dr. Manhattan from the graphic novel and film Watchmen, Kakalios explains the fundamentals of quantum mechanics and describes nuclear energy via the hilarious portrayals of radioactivity and its effects in the movies and comic books of the 1950s.
 Media BuzzStudio 360 - October 23, 2010 Studio 360 - October 16, 2010
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