Dr. Stevane Alouch - What Are the Basic Principles of Quantum Mechanics?

Liked the mathematical approach to foundational issues of quantum mechanics. Must be willing to learn some basic linear algebra. Lessons without homework provided by the text. Comes with penetrating verbal analysis of the issues.This book is a perfect introduction to the material. The book uses the Von Neumann/Dirac formulation of the standard model as an ongoing reference point. It opens with a non-mathematical description of the motivations surrounding the early development of QM, then introduces basic bra ket notation, and then the standard model. After that, it gives a very approachable articulation of the Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen (EPR) objection along with Bells inequality. Comparing the EPR paper with this books presentation of the objection is incredible because Barrett makes the objection from EPR and Bells inequality incredibly clear. He does this all in bra ket notation avoiding the more involved mathematics of the EPR paper. A motivated high school student could work through this book without guidance. After EPR and Bell, Barrett uses Wigners articulation of the measurement problem as a touchstone for discussing alternative formulations/interpretations of QM. These include GRW, Everetts pure wave mechanics, many-worlds interpretations, and Bohmian mechanics. He does not commit to any one of these formulations being the best, but rather focuses on the merits and vices of each.