Quantum Computing Since Democritus: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 00:21, 10 September 2017

Revision as of 00:27, 10 September 2017

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== Reviews ==

[[Amazon.com|Amazon]] gives the book 4.5 [[Star (classification)|stars]] out of 5 based on 46 reviews, with one saying "This is easily one of the best books ive [sic] ever read."<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.amazon.com/Quantum-Computing-since-Democritus-Aaronson/dp/0521199565/|title=Quantum Computing since Democritus|last=Aaronson|first=Scott|date=2013-04-29|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780521199568|edition=1 edition|___location=Cambridge|language=English}}</ref> [[Michael Nielsen]], author of the classic [[quantum computing]] text ''[[Quantum Computing and Quantum Information]]'' reviewed the book, saying, “This book is a beautiful synthesis of what we know about some of the most fundamental questions in science.  What is information?  What does it mean to compute?  What is the nature of mind and of free will? Along the way, Scott Aaronson provides crisp and often highly original explanations of some of the most striking recent ideas in science, ideas such as zero-knowledge proofs, quantum computing, black hole entropy, and many others.  Highly recommended.”<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.scottaaronson.com/blog/?p=1277#comment-66937|title=Comment by Michael Nielsen on Shtetl-Optimized Quantum Computing Since Democritus: The Buzz Intensifies|last=|first=|date=|website=www.scottaaronson.com|language=en-US|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=|access-date=2017-09-09}}</ref>

[[Seth Lloyd]] said about the book, "I laughed, I cried, I fell off my chair - and that was just reading the chapter on computational complexity. Aaronson is a tornado of intellectual activity: he rips our brains from their intellectual foundations; twists them through a tour of physics, mathematics, computer science, and philosophy; stuffs them full of facts and theorems; tickles them until they cry 'Uncle'; and then drops them, quivering, back into our skulls. [He] raises deep questions of how the physical universe is put together and why it is put together the way it is. While we read his lucid explanations we can believe - at least while we hold the book in our hands - that we understand the answers, too."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.cambridge.org/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9781107302105|title=Quantum Computing since Democritus - Cambridge University Press|website=www.cambridge.org|language=en|access-date=2017-09-09}}</ref>

Other reviews were not as positive - [[Stephen Wolfram]] said about the book, "I think Scott Aaronson has delusions of grandeur. Even the title of his book: “A New Kind of Science, Quantum Computing Since Democritus” sounds a bit pretentious to me. Mr. Aaronson thinks he can write a really fat book about everything under the sun and that everyone is going to rush to read every word of it. Good luck Mr. Aaronson!"<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://qbnets.wordpress.com/2013/04/13/stephen-wolfram-reviews-quantum-computing-since-democritus/|title=Stephen Wolfram Reviews “Quantum Computing Since Democritus”|date=2013-04-13|website=Quantum Bayesian Networks|access-date=2017-09-09}}</ref>

== References ==