Definitely not as good as the first Aczel book I read, on the Aleph. The idea of quantum entanglement is interesting and intriguing because it goes against all we know about reality. This I have learned from Nova. I was hoping for more on the implications of what quantum entanglement means, namely, it seems as if there can either be (a) one thing in two places at once, or (b) messages between two things that travel at speeds faster than that of light. Unfortunately, what Aczel gives the reader here is the birth of the notion of quantum entanglement, the EPR paradox, and the various experiments that prove the phenomenon actually exists. Unfortunately, unlike The Mystery of the Aleph, as the book progressed I found it harder and harder, as a layman, to actually understand what was going on physics-wise and math-wise. The book started intriguingly and ended flat for this reason, and others. I found the debates between Einstein and Bohr intriguing (from a historians point of view), but got bogged down in the chapter by chapter biographies and introductions of new characters that I've never heard of. The final chapter, "Quantum Magic," was a complete let down. Still, a generally good book that could have been much more interesting. I'm wavering now on if I should purchase Fermat's Last Theorem. I mean, I find mathematics completely boring and befuddling. ( )

My fourth Aczel book and so far the best. Entanglement is one of the better popular accounts of quantum mechanics I've read. As the title suggests, it focuses on the topic of quantum entanglement, one of the central concepts of quantum mechanics.

Aczel traces the history of quantum mechanics through the lives and careers of its early players, and then introduces the concept of entanglement -- the idea that two quantum mechanical particle created during the same process, separated by even thousands of light years in distance, are inextricably linked through their probability wave function and that the measurement of one instantaneously determines the state of the other. This "spooky action at a distance" bugged Einstein and kept him from embracing the quantum theories that he was instrumental in helping to create. Over the past century, there has been active and lively research and debate over the nature of quantum mechanics and the properties and parameters of entanglement, and Aczel does a very good job of bringing such an esoteric topic down to the level of the advanced layperson and highlighting the personalities involved. ( )

Accessible overview of the debate between Einstein and Bohr as to the nature of light, electrons, atoms, etc, and many of the recent experiments that reveal the mysterious world of the very small. Is it a wave? Is it a particle? Is it both? How does a particle go through two slits at a time? How do entangled particles "know" what has been measured with its partner so it can "change" accordingly? Einstein called it "spooky action at a distance". Can we never know "where" a particle is except as a probability? Einstein said "God doesn't play dice." The work of John Bell, Abner Shimony, Greenberger, Horne, Zelinger, Gisin and more are summarized along with fascinating biographical details. Amir Aczel is obviously given much respect because of his own physics credentials, and his interviews reveal a world of research being conducted as a hobby, outside normal work, by individuals who have atypically broad backgrounds. An entertaining glimpse, but for the gory mathematical details you will need to look/read/struggle further. I'm left feeling that all the experiments reveal is that we don't really understand the nature of light, and if we don't honor Einstein's plea for true understanding, all we are left with is a way to calculate. The story is still unfolding... ( )

This is a subject that I've spent some time reading up on.

Unfortunately, I'm not enough of an expert to be able to follow the logic of this book without some diagrams.

And for some reason, diagrams aren't available for audiobooks :) ( )

All about an aspect of quantum weirdness, what Einstein called spooky action at a distance. Rather basic but enjoyable.