Decoding Reality: The Universe as Quantum Information - Hardcover

Vedral, Vlatko

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0199237697 ISBN 13: 9780199237692

Publisher: OUP Oxford, 2010

Synopsis

For a physicist, all the world's information. The Universe and its workings are the ebb and flow of information. We are all transient patterns of information, passing on the recipe for our basic forms to future generations using a four-letter digital code called DNA. In this engaging and mind-stretching account, Vlatko Vedral considers some of the deepest questions about the Universe and considers the implications of interpreting it in terms of information. He explains the nature of information, the idea of entropy, and the roots of this thinking in thermodynamics. He describes the bizarre effects of quantum behaviour - effects such as 'entanglement', which Einstein called 'spooky action at a distance' and explores cutting edge work on the harnessing quantum effects in hyperfast quantum computers, and how recent evidence suggests that the weirdness of the quantum world, once thought limited to the tiniest scales, may reach into the macro world. Vedral finishes by considering the answer to the ultimate question: where did all of the information in the Universe come from? The answers he considers are exhilarating, drawing upon the work of distinguished physicist John Wheeler. The ideas challenge our concept of the nature of particles, of time, of determinism, and of reality itself.

About this title

Review

Well written and engaging, the book provides a constant flow of new ideas. (Science)

The author evinces great enthusiasm and curiosity throughout. (Steven Poole, The Guardian)

By turns irreverent, erudite and funny, 'Decoding Reality' is...a ripping good read. (Seth Lloyd, New Scientist)

A wide-ranging and intriguing picture of how quantum mechanics constructs the world. (Seth Lloyd, New Scientist)

Excellent, thought-provoking book. (BBC Focus Magazine, Marcus Chown)

ADVANCE PRAISE: An engaging, non-technical exploration of what the new theory of quantum information and computation tells us about life, the universe, and everything. (David Deutsch, author of The Fabric of Reality)

ADVANCE PRAISE: Let Vedral guide you skilfully through the wonderland of modern physics - where nothing is as it seems. This is the finest treatment I have read of the weird interplay of quantum reality, information and probability. (Paul Davies, author of The Eerie Silence and The Goldilocks Enigma)

About the Author

Vlatko Vedral studied undergraduate theoretical physics at Imperial College London, where he also received a PhD for his work on 'Quantum Information Theory of Entanglement'. Since June 2009, Vedral has moved to Oxford as Professor of Quantum Information Science. Throughout his career he has held a number of visiting professorships at different international institutions. He has published more than 130 research papers and has written two textbooks. He has written for popular science journals and major daily newspapers, as well as doing extensive radio programmes and television interviews.

Edition details

• Publisher: OUP Oxford
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0199237697
• ISBN 13: 9780199237692
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 240