Quantum Theory (Dover Books on Physics)

This is probably the best book on the Copenhagen (the standard orthodoxy) approach to quantum mechanics. It was written by the most radical theoretical physicist in the last 70 years. Bohm wrote it when he was teaching at Princeton before Oppenheimer's machination got him thrown out of the US to protect Oppenheimer's own communist background (he was also envious of Bohm's genius). In the 1940s, there were still extensive discussions about what QM means (all the theorists were comfortable with the various equivalent math approaches but were utterly confused.) The rivalry between Bohr/Heisenberg's view (subsequently called the Copenhagen Interpretation) and the views of Schroedinger, Einstein & de Broglie was brutal; each camp accused the other of producing nonsensical interpretations. Ironically, Bohm (who was a sincere admirer of Einstein and Bohr) created this masterpiece that attempted to explicate the vague, ambiguous ramblings of Bohr by using the mathematics of de Broglie and Schroedinger. In fact, as several reviewers have pointed out, all the math you need is Fourier Analysis but this approach smuggles in all the ideas of electrons as waves. So pay a lot of attention at this point.The problem here is that (as Bohm admits in his preface) this new view requires a dramatic shift in our fundamental conceptual framework (not just of classical mechanics but ordinary language and the western model of reality as isolated things; both of which can be readily visualized and thus "understood"). Bohm believes he has presented wave mechanics in an understandable and imaginative manner. Unfortunately, this new way of looking at reality is exceedingly difficult so that QM today has regressed to its original mathematical formulation, which is now fully acceptable to math-soaked theoretical physicists.Bohm's solution is to resurrect Heisenberg's "potentia" approach where quantum objects, no longer have fixed properties that we think about at normal times but they change their character depending on how the electron interacts with other matter. This leads to Bohm's conclusion that at the atomic level (or smaller) the world operates as a single, integrated whole. This is the jumping off point for Bohm's later investigations into the 'Implicate Order' that took the rest of his life to explore.It was Bohm's intent to present the main ideas of quantum theory in non-mathematical terms rather than as some mysterious, axiomatic set of mathematics "that works". Although this is by far (in my personal opinion & I've been studying QM for 50+ years) the best attempt to provide an explanation he cannot overcome the contradiction (physicists call it a "paradox") that a single object (like an electron) cannot simultaneously BE a localized particle and a wave that extends across all of space. In other words, EXISTENCE is the primary property of reality; objects must first exist (somewhere) before two or more may interact together. The wave-function combines implied mutual existence between TWO electrons (one being in a macro-sized measuring device) with the Broglie's periodic interactivity.None-the-less, I still highly recommend this book. At the very least, your head will have gone to the 'mental gym' for 12 months getting through it & you will learn all the wrinkles. QM is tough - there are no easy short-cuts as many authors imply.THIS BOOK PUTS THE LIE TO ALL THOSE "SIMPLE" MATHEMATICAL APPROACHES TO QM - IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THIS BOOK, THEN YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND QM.

David Bohm was a near-great physicist of the twentieth century. Were it not for a flirtation with Communism in his youth, a dalliance that got him blacklisted in this country, he would have spent his career working with the likes of Wigner, Feynman, Oppenheimer and Einstein and might well have won his own Nobel Prize.Instead, he went to a post in Brazil where he was able to think deep thoughts about the nature of quantum mechanics. But this is not a philosophy book; it is a textbook aimed at advanced undergraduates, and it hits the bullseye perfectly.It cogently, carefully and extremely clearly explains both the formalism and mysteries of quantum mechanics. It is the only book on quantum theory that I know of that uses enough words to answer the myriad questions about the "why" of the subject as well as the "how." The antithesis of most QM books that basically say to the student "Don't ask. Shut up and calculate!"I used this book more than fifty years ago; today it remains useful to good students, at the least as a secondary text to whatever their professor requires. I am delighted but not surprised that Dover has kept it in print and that Amazon keeps it in stock for two day delivery.Pretty well printed, tho' the type is a bit less than crisp. Decent cover

David Bohm has some interesting theories about an Atom being made up of Resonating Energy waves. Just curious how he came up with that theory. I didn't realize the book had so many pages. That's a great thing because after browsing through it, it appears he covers a lot of areas within Physics. The Book is more than I bargained for.

This book has an excellent discussion of the experiments that led to the theoretical development of quantum ideas. The math is on par for an early to mid level undergraduate class class in physics. I appreciate having the mathematics developed in the text, so that there is also a rigorous development of the ideas. There are problems scattered through the text that are reasonable to do after having read the relevant sections. But the prose is excellent, the author really takes time to explain the intuition behind the math. Even if you skip over some or most of the math, one still learns much from the text alone.

This book is a very, very good book on quantum mechanics. I am a junior EE major and this book is at just the level that I wanted. It is mildly challenging, but if you went through the freshman and sophmore level physics and math classes you should be able to read the book without too much difficulty. I especially liked how Bohm wanted to try to develop some intuition rather than just teach how to solve problems (I don't Griffiths for this reason). I also enjoyed the chapters on measurements in quantum mechanics. If you're considering buying this don't hesitate and just do it. At less than 20 dollars you can't go wrong.

Definitely the best introductory QM book out there.Professor Bohm spends the first part of the book explaining the need for QM and the various subtleties of the subject material.He doesn't just throw a bunch of equations at you and ask that you accept them as most other introductory QM texts do(Griffith's QM book is extremely guilty of this) and it is this aspect of the book that really helps set it apart from the rest.This book also helped me to get through Sakurai's more advanced QM textbook.Once you're done with it,you can finally claim to understand QM.Highly recommended.