this post was submitted on 02 Jul 2025
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I've been hoodwinked too many times by well-reviewed pop-sci books which I later discovered to be hated by the actual scientists who do the work. Quantum Supremacy by Michio Kaku was the final straw ๐Ÿ˜†

Cheers!

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[โ€“] thebestaquaman@lemmy.world 14 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Maybe a bit heavy unless you have at least some background in mathematics, physics, or chemistry, but "Quantum mechanics and path integrals" by Feynman and Hibbs is fantastically well written.

If you ever want to read about, understand, or dabble in quantum mechanics, this is the book you want to read. It's great because of how Richard Feynman expresses things: It's very verbal, and feels so much more based in intuition and physical common sense than the mathematical rigor that often makes texts in the field near unreadable.

[โ€“] DaMonsterKnees@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I love this suggestion. Now this topic is something I'm very interested in, but I'd like to get good on the math too, do you also have a great suggestion for that? Either way, thanks friend!

[โ€“] thebestaquaman@lemmy.world 2 points 19 hours ago

You're welcome! I only wish I had a really good mathematics book to recommend.

However, I can give you the pointer that, while most (operator-based) quantum mechanics requires quite a bit of linear algebra, you should be able to read "Path integrals and quantum mechanics" if you have a decent intro course in calculus. You really only need to understand the basics of how multiple integrals, path integrals, and parametric curves work.