Rating: 
Summary: Gribbin's Schrodinger's Kittens
Review: I have reviewed an equally creative scientist, Michio Kaku (see under Kaku's books in Amazon.com), and Gribbin maintains his usual reputation for creativity in science. His backward time traveling wave theory may or may not be correct, but it still inspires me years after reading the book. Creative geniuses in science seek to inspire both others and themselves by translating difficult science into ordinary English or other language more or less. Since most scientists are Ingenious Followers, we should be lenient if some technical mistakes are made in the process. Gribbin is absolutely correct in his description of the collapse of the Copenhagen Complementarity Interpretation; for a more mathematical and physically complicated description which still deserves to be read by everyone (possibly with the help of consultants or tutors), see T. Y. Cao's 1997 book in Amazon.com (which I also reviewed). Rather than criticize Gribbin for not adhering to scientific materialism with 100% accuracy, we should praise him for adhering to the spirit of scientific inquiry, creativity, learning with as little human error as possible and with inspiration both of oneself and others. (Come to think of it, this would have been a better speech for Marcus Aurelius than his "the good is buried...the evil lingers on," speech, but then he was living in a relatively unscientific era.)
Rating: 
Summary: A great introduction for non-believers into the realm of QM
Review: I refute Hemmick's evaluation as being incomplete. Except for the subtitle which would be more accurate with a question mark on the end, I would recommend this, as well as The God Particle, to anyone who is interested in looking into the mysteries of the Universe, and not be overwhelmed by the deep math of Shrodinger's equation, Gribbon is a great teacher which shows in the restraint he uses, and the exciting tone he gives to the tome.
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Summary: Another must-read from Gribbin
Review: I won't pretend that this book is for everyone. It's not. It helps if you've read the initial book in this series, and it helps a lot if you read about science extensively. You will need a frame of reference, but don't get too comfortable with it, because it will be snatched away from you.John Gribbin follows "In Search of Schrodinger's Cat" with a book that is even more important. While he points out that no one will ever really understand quantum phisics, I must say that this book at least gives you an understandable look at it. It's hard to overstate the value of "Schrodinger's Kittens" but if you've read "Cat" then you must read this. If you haven't, well then, go read "Cat," and then get this book. Gribbin makes quantum physics as clear as it can be made to those who don't know all the math. He makes you wish you did, but you don't really need it. But he also adds an excitement that I never believed possible in a book on physics, or on a topic of this type, including my own. You won't really understand quantum physics after reading this book (because it's beyond human understanding) but you will surely appreciate it more than you do now. That's as good as can be said about any book in this subject. I wish I could do as well in my books. Thanks, John.
Rating: 
Summary: Tough to follow, but still a good read
Review: It's a great book for getting a rough handle on some of the popular quantum interpretations, but Gribbin fails to explain some critical theories. In some parts he leaves the reader a bit confused, while going to deeply in some of the historical/ mechanical stuff, boring the readers in other parts. "In Search of Schroedinger's Cat" was much better. I'd recommend other authors (like Feynman) for explanations of quantum theories.
Rating:
Summary: Great book.
Review: John Gribbin is one of the best expositors of science to the general public, in the league of people like Richard Dawkins, or S. Jay Gould. He has written lots of poular science, mainly physics, and every single one of his books will teach you something new. Needless to say, his classic book on quantum physics "in search of schrodinger's cat" was the cornerstone of popular physics books in the 80's. Maybe this book is not quite its analouge in the 90's, but it is still a no-nonsense simple introduction to quantum physics, with mysteries and solutions. The book is quite standard in many respects. It tells the story of Newton, Einstein, Bohr, Bell and everything. He explains (the best discussion found anywhere on)the two slit screen experiment, and uses it as a foundation for his later discussions. But I have to say that Gribbin is probably the most partial writer on the subject I have read yet. Most physicists or popular science writers immediately adhere to a certain quantum physics interpretation, and discard any other posibility, the favourites being Everett's (many world) and the copenhagen interpretation. But Gribbin is rightfully agnostic. He calls iterpretations "myths", standing in a postitivistic corner arguing that we use them because they work, and this is true for quantum physics in general. It is true, however, that at the end he says he would arbitrarily choose the pilot-wave interpretation. I would too. This way we get all that "spooky action at a distance" and reduction of the wave function by an observer, calling into discussion things like the ontology of mind and consciousness, out through the window. I found one of the most intriguing parts on the book where Gribbin describes experiments that seem to show that it is imposible for a quantum system to evolve when it is being observed all the time (its quantum state being determined constantly by measurement). It seems then that those who answer to the question "is the tree still there when nobody looks?" with a "yes, because God allways looks" are just simply wrong. If God allways looks,there would be no change in the unverse. Gribbin also touches on some deeper mysteries that those brought about by trying to find out what "really" happens in the quantum world. He discussess superstings, albeit briefly, and the problems in unifying relativistic theory with quantum physics, especially in "quantum gravity". But Gribbin keeps a cold head and does not despair, nor underestimate the issues. Anyone with an interest and a little drive will emerge, after reading this book, with the necesary knowledge of quantum physics for the layman. The mysteries will just not go away magically, though.
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Summary: Bohr was a bully!
Review: John Gribbin's book is the strongest refutation yet of Neils Bohr's Copenhagen interpretation of the quantum world. The refutation is given credibility by Gribbin's describing leading edge experiments (most performed within the last five years) that shakes the Copenhagen Interpretation to its very foundation. He also makes the reader aware that the mainstream physicists are guilty of blindly accepting Bohr's quantum "house of cards" without question. Why? Primarily because Bohr was an obnoxious intellectual bully who shouted down any objection to his interpretation and campaigned unceasingly and forcefully for its acceptance. Bohr's argument was given further unquestioned credibility by John von Neuman-one of the greatest of mathematicians-supposedly proving that no hidden-variables theory could properly describe the quantum world. John Bell-not one to be intimidated by either Bohr or von Neuman's unquestioned genius reputations-showed in 1966 that von Neuman's proof, "...is not merely false but foolish!" Sadly, Bohr succeeded in his propoganda mission and science found itself having to tolerate the ludicrous notion that the Universe exists only because we perceive it! For those who find this a bit hard to accept I would stronly recommend John Gribbin's book. Whether you agree with Gribbin or not the book makes one realize that "religious fervor" is not confined to to the religious community. Bohr for one was full of it!
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Summary: Gribbin is the best
Review: Nobody is better than John Gribbin at writing easy to understand books without leaving out the serious information =) This book is great for anyone, whether you're not a science buff and you want to be one, or you already know this stuff and just want another viewpoint.
Rating:
Summary: Worth a Read
Review: Ok, its not Brian Greene's The Elegant Universe. Its not Feynman either. But John Gribbin is a polymath who has a unique insight into many things scientific. This book is no different and an easy to follow account of quantum physics follows within. You need to read more than one book to get a full understanding of what is know as Quantum Electrodynamics. Try 10 - and you'd be getting near. This would be one of my 10. I like his coloring in of the characters involved at the time, Boltzmann, Faraday, Maxwell, Davy, Michelsom. Morley, Lorentz. He also takes Einstein a little off the pedestal on which he unfortunately rests. Einstein was lazy, used other peoples work and should not be the byword for science - that belongs to Maxwell, Feynmann, Heisenberg or Young. If you are thinking of buying this book - and you genuinely want all the pieces of the quantum puzzle - buy this - it fills in yet another part of this complex issue
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Summary: A Good De-spooking
Review: One of my favorite books on the topics discussed. Fuzzy here and there, perhaps, but the fairest assessment and broad evaluation of many theories extant. The criticisms of modern science, the enslavement of theory to mathematics, and the noting of "forgotten" observations (e.g. photon's frame of reference) are perhaps the most important discussions. I wonder how the scientific community is reacting to these! Gribbon's very healthy attitutde that all theories are useful, and none are complete is most welcome. He dubs such theories "myths" which is an intriguing metaphor I'd like him to elaborate on. And by the way, he also presents some theories which may one day "de-spook" the problems. Please read and reply! db
Rating:
Summary: It was a good layman's book.
Review: The book by John Gribbin, "Schrodinger's Kittens and the Search for Reality", was a good layman's book. However it does deserve some constructive criticism. I felt that the book failed to make proper transitions between concepts. Like going from relativity to quantum mechanics. Why did the physics community have such a revolution ? Also I felt that the quantum mechanics section was less then completely comprehensive, in that it gave a brief description of it. Like I might of expected out of such a short book. Despite all these things I still think that the book did represent a good book for laymen to better understand the world of physics.
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