Books for overview of QM and/or QFT?

[laymanB]

I am not ready to learn the formalism for QM or QFT (maybe someday).

Does anyone have any book suggestions for a beginner like myself that present the theories in accurate ways without going into all the mathematical formalism? Preferably something that is not tied to one interpretation of the theories so that I don't get confused with the implications of adopting a certain interpretation. Thanks.

 

[Wrichik Basu]

You can read G. Venkataraman's book series Quantum Revolution (3 parts). The 3 parts are:

1. The Breakthrough
2. QED - The Jewel of Physics
3. What is Reality?

The three books do not have too much mathematical rigour, and are useful for starting with Quantum. The books explain the basics along with the associated history. I myself started with this book.

 

[sandy stone]

How much math are you willing to tolerate? I found The Odd Quantum by Sam Treiman to be an excellent introduction to QM and QFT. He uses some algebra and a touch of calculus, not so much to formally derive equations, but to concisely and clearly express important concepts. You might give it a look.

 

[vanhees71]

Well, you are asking for the impossible. It's like asking to tell you something without using any appropriate language. I like the books by Susskind, called the theoretical minimum. There are 3 volumes yet (Classical Mechanics, Quantum Mechanics, E&M and Relativity). I only know the latter two, but they are very nice with really the minimum of math making "the things as simple as possible but not simpler". Also don't listen to people who claim math isn't fun. I promise you, in fact it is!