I’m looking for a book, or a combination of up to 5 books, that fulfills the following requirements:
At least a pretty good coverage of the all the major subjects in modern fundamental physics & cosmology (at least those that can be covered without going too deep into the math)
An emphasis on the philosophical implications and interpretations of the different leading theories. So it should cover all the major different interpretations of quantum mechanics, the meaning of space and time, the philosophical implications of multiple universes, etc.
Gives solid coverage to the major competing alternatives rather than just promoting a single controversial view. (Alternatively, I could try a combination of different books where each promotes a single view, but between them they cover all the major views.)
Very low math requirements: if there’s anything more than high school math then that math needs to be extremely well explained and probably very dumbed-down.
Very clear and well-written.
As up to date as possible, although this is a bit less important than the other requirements.
Textbooks are fine, as long as they meet all those requirements.
I’m assuming you already have some absolutely basic knowledge of the major physical theories, at the level of Brian Greene’s The Fabric of the Cosmos (which was recommended in another comment). The books I’ll recommend take you deeper into the theories (emphasizing philosophical implications) without excessive mathematics. If you don’t have knowledge at this level, read Greene’s book first. Some of the books I’m suggesting aren’t entirely up to date, but none of them are obsolete. I’m not aware of any more recent books that cover the same material with the same quality. I teach philosophy of physics to non-physics majors, and these are usually among the books I assign (supplemented with recent papers, lecture notes, etc.).
Space-Time: Geroch, General Relativity from A to B
Quantum Mechanics: Albert, Quantum Mechanics and Experience
Statistical Mechanics: Ben-Naim, Entropy and the Second Law: Interpretation and Misss-Interpretations (Supplement with Albert’s Time and Chance if you want to go deeper into the “Arrow of Time” issue)
Quantum Field Theory and the Standard Model: Oerter, The Theory of Almost Everything (A pretty superficial book compared to the others on this list, I admit, but I’m not aware of any philosophically deep treatment of QFT that doesn’t presume considerable math knowledge. You could also try Feynman’s QED, which is excellent but very out-dated.)
Cosmology: Tegmark, Our Mathematical Universe (Good basic overview of cosmology, but the philosophical speculation doesn’t meet your third requirement. Try Unger and Smolin’s The Singular Universe and the Reality of Time for a counterpoint.)
“Excessive” was probably a poorly chosen word. I meant that the books I listed are the ones that provide the deepest insight into the theories (out of all the books I have seen) within the constraints specified by iarwain (presuming nothing more than high school mathematics). Some of the books teach some slightly more advanced math along the way, because yeah, it’s hard to really comprehend much of GR without at least a basic conception of differential geometry, or understand QM without some idea of linear algebra, but none of the books inundates you with math like The Road to Reality does.
I was questioning whether to keep reading lesswrong; thanks to the questioner and the answerer for reminding me why I should. Books are cheap so I’m buying them all, even if not for all immediate reads. Don’t suppose you teach near upstate New York?
It really depends on what topic you’re interested in. Papers tend to be pretty focused on one question, so if you’re looking for an overview of a subject, books are the way to go. If you’re interested in learning more about some specific problem, I’d be happy to recommend accessible papers if I can think of any.
Are your requirements sorted by order of importance?
Quantum ComputingSince Democritus might be a good choice. If I think of the first item as the goal and the others qualifications, it is a poor choice, but if I rearrange them, maybe a good choice.
I didn’t originally intend them to be in order, but they actually are. The only exception is that the very low math part is very important and should go at the top.
How about The Fabric of the Cosmos by Brian Greene? It is a clearly written account of cosmology, though with more emphasis on string theory than on other topics.
As for comparing and explaining the different interpretations of quantum mechanics, I am not aware of any book that does what you ask for. The clearest explanation of some of the interpretations of quantum mechanics that I’ve read so far is actually right here on Less Wrong, in the Sequences. However, that focuses on a few of the interpretations, without context of the others, and I had to read a bunch of scientific papers to start to get some of the missing context, though I still feel like there are gaps in my knowledge. I too would be interested in reading a book that properly explains and compares the different interpretations of Quantum Mechanics, so I’ll be checking back at this thread to see if someone recommends one.
Logically self-contained, which just means that the treatment doesn’t assume outside knowledge. Difficulty level is not bounded from above.
Beginner-friendly, which means the presentation is tailored to people without a strong background in the subject.
Penrose falls squarely in Category 1. An intelligent reader can probably push the definitions around enough to follow the presentation, but that’s not the same as understanding what’s actually going on.
That’s correct, but it is difficult enough to effectively not be self-contained, I think. Being able to apprehend the concepts at the pace and brevity at which Penrose introduces them would require significant prior training in thinking mathematically, or a quite unusually agile mind.
I don’t actually remember, it’s been a while. I do remember that it’s not completely explained—he does skip steps (and that’s not just me, I read that in a review of the book). I also remember getting confused and frustrated. I bought the book with high hopes and put more than a little bit of effort into it, but eventually I gave it away to someone who knew more math.
I suppose I could go take it out of the library and try again.
I’m looking for a book, or a combination of up to 5 books, that fulfills the following requirements:
At least a pretty good coverage of the all the major subjects in modern fundamental physics & cosmology (at least those that can be covered without going too deep into the math)
An emphasis on the philosophical implications and interpretations of the different leading theories. So it should cover all the major different interpretations of quantum mechanics, the meaning of space and time, the philosophical implications of multiple universes, etc.
Gives solid coverage to the major competing alternatives rather than just promoting a single controversial view. (Alternatively, I could try a combination of different books where each promotes a single view, but between them they cover all the major views.)
Very low math requirements: if there’s anything more than high school math then that math needs to be extremely well explained and probably very dumbed-down.
Very clear and well-written.
As up to date as possible, although this is a bit less important than the other requirements.
Textbooks are fine, as long as they meet all those requirements.
I’m assuming you already have some absolutely basic knowledge of the major physical theories, at the level of Brian Greene’s The Fabric of the Cosmos (which was recommended in another comment). The books I’ll recommend take you deeper into the theories (emphasizing philosophical implications) without excessive mathematics. If you don’t have knowledge at this level, read Greene’s book first. Some of the books I’m suggesting aren’t entirely up to date, but none of them are obsolete. I’m not aware of any more recent books that cover the same material with the same quality. I teach philosophy of physics to non-physics majors, and these are usually among the books I assign (supplemented with recent papers, lecture notes, etc.).
Space-Time: Geroch, General Relativity from A to B
Quantum Mechanics: Albert, Quantum Mechanics and Experience
Statistical Mechanics: Ben-Naim, Entropy and the Second Law: Interpretation and Misss-Interpretations (Supplement with Albert’s Time and Chance if you want to go deeper into the “Arrow of Time” issue)
Quantum Field Theory and the Standard Model: Oerter, The Theory of Almost Everything (A pretty superficial book compared to the others on this list, I admit, but I’m not aware of any philosophically deep treatment of QFT that doesn’t presume considerable math knowledge. You could also try Feynman’s QED, which is excellent but very out-dated.)
Cosmology: Tegmark, Our Mathematical Universe (Good basic overview of cosmology, but the philosophical speculation doesn’t meet your third requirement. Try Unger and Smolin’s The Singular Universe and the Reality of Time for a counterpoint.)
How much mathematics is excessive for this? Physics is made of mathematics.
“Excessive” was probably a poorly chosen word. I meant that the books I listed are the ones that provide the deepest insight into the theories (out of all the books I have seen) within the constraints specified by iarwain (presuming nothing more than high school mathematics). Some of the books teach some slightly more advanced math along the way, because yeah, it’s hard to really comprehend much of GR without at least a basic conception of differential geometry, or understand QM without some idea of linear algebra, but none of the books inundates you with math like The Road to Reality does.
I was questioning whether to keep reading lesswrong; thanks to the questioner and the answerer for reminding me why I should. Books are cheap so I’m buying them all, even if not for all immediate reads. Don’t suppose you teach near upstate New York?
I teach about 8000 miles away from upstate New York, I’m afraid.
Thanks! What are the recent papers that you suggest?
It really depends on what topic you’re interested in. Papers tend to be pretty focused on one question, so if you’re looking for an overview of a subject, books are the way to go. If you’re interested in learning more about some specific problem, I’d be happy to recommend accessible papers if I can think of any.
Are your requirements sorted by order of importance?
Quantum Computing Since Democritus might be a good choice. If I think of the first item as the goal and the others qualifications, it is a poor choice, but if I rearrange them, maybe a good choice.
I didn’t originally intend them to be in order, but they actually are. The only exception is that the very low math part is very important and should go at the top.
How about The Fabric of the Cosmos by Brian Greene? It is a clearly written account of cosmology, though with more emphasis on string theory than on other topics.
As for comparing and explaining the different interpretations of quantum mechanics, I am not aware of any book that does what you ask for. The clearest explanation of some of the interpretations of quantum mechanics that I’ve read so far is actually right here on Less Wrong, in the Sequences. However, that focuses on a few of the interpretations, without context of the others, and I had to read a bunch of scientific papers to start to get some of the missing context, though I still feel like there are gaps in my knowledge. I too would be interested in reading a book that properly explains and compares the different interpretations of Quantum Mechanics, so I’ll be checking back at this thread to see if someone recommends one.
Penrose
I tried it, but I struggled with a lot of the math past chapter 5 or so.
The math is self-contained, just difficult, right?
There are two categories of “self-contained”:
Logically self-contained, which just means that the treatment doesn’t assume outside knowledge. Difficulty level is not bounded from above.
Beginner-friendly, which means the presentation is tailored to people without a strong background in the subject.
Penrose falls squarely in Category 1. An intelligent reader can probably push the definitions around enough to follow the presentation, but that’s not the same as understanding what’s actually going on.
That’s correct, but it is difficult enough to effectively not be self-contained, I think. Being able to apprehend the concepts at the pace and brevity at which Penrose introduces them would require significant prior training in thinking mathematically, or a quite unusually agile mind.
I don’t actually remember, it’s been a while. I do remember that it’s not completely explained—he does skip steps (and that’s not just me, I read that in a review of the book). I also remember getting confused and frustrated. I bought the book with high hopes and put more than a little bit of effort into it, but eventually I gave it away to someone who knew more math.
I suppose I could go take it out of the library and try again.