Everyday Quantum Reality

By: David A. Grandy

Narrated by: Tim Lundeen

Most people have heard about quantum physics and its remarkable, well-nigh bizarre claims. And most people would assume that quantum reality describes a world quite different from ours. In this book, David A. Grandy shows that one can find quantum puzzles, or variations thereof, in the backyard of everyday experience. What disappears in transferring quantum theory to the everyday is the theory's mathematical formalism, but that need not imply a loss of analytic rigor. If quantum reality is truly as elemental and ubiquitous as many thinkers suggest, then alternative or complementary perspectives ought to be possible, and with the proliferation of such perspectives, a more fully rounded understanding of quantum reality -- and everyday reality -- might emerge. Everyday Quantum Reality is a step in that direction.

The book is published by Indiana University Press.

©2010 David A. Grandy (P)2012 Redwood Audiobooks

Critic reviews

"Far from being completely counterintuitive and beyond our experience, the findings of quantum physics have many analogs in everyday life, which we have simply not seen because of the grip of the classical worldview on our thinking. . . . Everyday Quantum Reality makes an important and original argument." (Alexander Wendt, author of Social Theory of International Politics)

Double Slit Critiques

When I take the hatchet to a book I’m usually happy if others offer a second opinion. After all, writing books is hard work and books are usually harmless artifacts at worst. In this instance I find myself in strong disagreement with the previous reviewer, though I can appreciate what he’s saying. The title is indeed misleading, and some parts of the book can strike you at first as pseudoscientific mumbling. But that is a mistaken assessment. This is not a book of science or explanation of quantum theory. It is best described as a series of philosophical essays on aspects of quantum theory with a distinctly phenomenological slant. The chief influence is the French existentialist Merleau-Ponty, along with some (largely unacknowledged) points from Husserl on music. This sounds unfathomable, but it is fairly straightforward. The best sections of the book explore the paradoxes of light and visibility, Goethe’s theory of color, and a very interesting, to me, discussion of the paradoxes entailed in geometric concepts of points and lines. It is true that the author can sound a tad cosmic here and there as he dwells on duality and the ineffable. At times he sounds like he is taking Western Science and Cold Cartesians to task. But many card-carrying quantum physicists and cosmologists are not far behind him in that respect. At its best the book can be (the pun seems inevitable) an illuminating discourse on the mysterious nature of light. I enjoyed most of it and have listened to a few sections over again with intellectual pleasure. It isn’t for everyone, as the other reviewer makes clear. But for those with a speculative bent, I recommend it as an interesting accompaniment to one of the standard audiobooks on quantum theory. The reading is easy on the ears, rather pleasantly quiet and meditative.

Weak arguments and a lot of opinions

The whole book is a sequence of clouded arguments or author's personal opinion. He almost says that what's going on in your mind can change quantum-level reality, but manages to keep the argument obfuscated. One can never say that they read a book and learned nothing; it is not the case but David Grandy has been suspended from my reading list for the next 3 years and Indiana University Press is going to the corner.

Deceptive Title - not worth reading

This was not at all what I had expected. I expected a review of everyday phenomena that exhibited some aspect of quantum behavior or good analogies of for quantum ideas. Instead this was a murky connection of various philosophies with quantum theory. Ideas like everyday experience seems kind of random, just like quantum randomness, or our internal thought processes feels kind of discreet and kind of continuous, just like quantum wave-particle duality. If this was the first of this silly type of book, it would be at least amusing, but after decades of such stuff it is merely hollow. I found the description of the book deceptive.