Speakable and Unspeakable in Quantum Mechanics: Collected Papers on Quantum Philosophy 2nd Edition

Can and should be read by all physics undergraduates. Why?So they can truly discover for themselves what's really going on.And what's really going on is that local causality as advanced by someof the greatest physicists of all time must now be relegated to theproverbial "back shelf".How did this come about? The author of this book takes us step-by-stepthrough a veritable minefield of reasons why and reasons why not. Heleaves "no stone unturned" and takes great pains to examine the variousopinions, prejudices, feelings and historical events surrounding thenow-famous "Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen" paper of 1935 and the arguments forand against that paper that ensued. Almost with superhuman effort.The book which is actually a collection of more than twenty research papers that the author has written over about a twenty five year periodbeginning with his first seminal work dated 1964.(It would take several years from that time on to experimentally verify the predictions of that paper but eventually they were realized and thus established Quantum Mechanics as a complete theory without any hidden varaibles whatsoever)What makes some of these papers even more interesting to read is that they were presented tosymposia and from these one can get a sense of the tension in the meetings in which they were presented and hence can better understand the controversial natureof this subject.Each paper contains numerous references to the original "players" in thefield. These alone make an exciting and substantial contribution to the book.Contrary to what Einstein and others had hoped there are no "hidden variables" left to find in order to "save" local cauaslity.Quantum Mechanics as we know it is complete. And we humans are stuck "not knowing" certain things even though they may exist. But perhaps there is a silver lining with some of the "gifts" that "Entanglement" has to offer.Southern Jameson West

My advisor suggested me to read this book to gain some insight in physics. It includes so many very well written papers, and is helpful to anyone who want to understand the principles and ideas in quantum mechanics.The paperback version is good enough to read and write notes.

if you are an amateur, hobbyist , somewhat literate in physics person, this is a necessity. I'm all of those. I've poked around in enough books on quantum physics to consider myself knowledgeable. which means i understand about 3 percent of what i've read. but John Bell has added some incredible insights to that 3 percent. observables versus be-ables. the reduction of the wave packet versus the collapse of the wave packet. I realized, after some thought, that this book may have replaced the "secret knowledge of water" as my favorite book on the planet and that, were I ever to be graced with being able to meet and talk to one man about stuff, it would be John Bell. I just loved this book. be somewhat grounded in physics - maybe only a little - but add it to your bookshelf

This is an excellent book. John S. Bell had one of the most subtle minds among 20th century physicists, and this book provides a very clear window into that mind.Unfortunately, the formulas he provides in his essays are unreadable in the Kindle version. Were it not for this, I would have given the book five stars instead of four. This is not the only book that Amazon has messed up in the same manner. They need to find a way to present technical material in readable formats on the Kindle. I recommend getting the paper version of this book, but not the Kindle version.By the way, Bell's analysis of the rocket ship thought experiment was 100% correct. The trick is to account for relativity of simultaneity. Both rocket motors fire at the same moment in the observer's reference frame, so the distance between the rockets remains constant in that frame, but the rocket motors do not fire at the same time in the string's reference frame.sites.google.com/site/amateurscientistessays/

Essential for anyone interested in the foundation of Quantum Mechanics. The first and most famous paper may have been written hurriedly with some steps skipped in the derivation of the famous inequality and some notation that could have been improved, but perhaps Bell anticipated less interest in his work than the avalanche of enthusiasm that followed. In many of the later papers, Bell proves himself to be a talented technical writer with a keen sense of what is relevant and an admirable expressiveness, with some humorous moments that entertain as well as enlighten.

Many people use Bell's inequality in statements such as "Bell's inequality PROVES there is no classical determinism."Not according Bell!A worthy read for all those serious about the philosophical impacts of quantum mechanics.

The formulas and diagrams in the eBook version are tiny, pixelated images that are unreadable and even though there aren’t a ton of them, it breaks the flow of many explanations.

Another staple of the quantum mechanic's library.For a book with a wide intended audience, it still manages to be significant as a reference, which is a remarkable feat. It is also very well written.