Quantum field theory: an informative approach

[gtorassa]

TL;DR Summary

Looking for a book that tries to explain the basis of quantum field theory in an informative approach, without complex formulas but with the spirit used by Brian Greene for his fantastic The Elegant Universe

I'm looking for a book that describes the quantum field theory without going deeply in the theory with formulas or complex description of the mathematics under the theory.
I know that this theory is really complex and it needs a deep knowledge of quantum physics in order to be understood.
But Brian Green succeeded in writing a book about String Theory for everybody, I'm wondering if such a book exists for quantum field theory too.

 

[vanhees71]

Well, Brian Greene's books are indeed fantastic but everything else than good textbooks about physics. You cannot understand quantum theory without math. A much more honest approach to make QT as simple as possible but not simpler is Susskinds corresponding volume in the "Theoretical Minimum" series.

 

[A. Neumaier]

Looking for a book that tries to explain the basis of quantum field theory in an informative approach, without complex formulas but with the spirit used by Brian Greene for his fantastic The Elegant Universe

Here is a fantastic book about quantum field theory, fully featuring the Vacuum Fluctuation Myth (the fantasy about QFT intended solely for lay people):

• Martinus Veltman, Facts and Mysteries in Elementary Particle Physics, World Scientific 2003.

In the Introduction, he writes:

we cannot assume the reader to be familiar with the mathematical methods of quantum mechanics, so he will have to swallow strange facts without the support of equations.

... not only strange facts but also strange fiction!

Veltman won in 1999 the Nobel prize for physics for much more serious work. He also wrote a serious textbook on quantum field theory,

• Martinus Veltman, Diagrammatica: the path to Feynman diagrams, Cambridge University Press 1994.

which is free of virtual particle fantasy, featuring instead a valid formal approach - but it is therefore a bit more difficult to understand. This technically precise (though not mathematically rigorous) book contains not a single mention of the word 'fluctuation' or ‘virtual’. In the Introduction, he writes:

No one should have an excuse not understanding this book. Knowing about ordinary non-relativistic quantum mechanics and classical relativity one should be able to understand the reasoning.

This much to your excuse...

I know that this theory is really complex and it needs a deep knowledge of quantum physics in order to be understood.

 

[vanhees71]

A book about physics promising "mysteries" is usually not worth the paper it's printed on...

 

[Demystifier]

A physically very accurate book on QFT with almost no equations is
K. Huang, Fundamental Forces of Nature: The Story of Gauge Fields
https://www.amazon.com/dp/9812706453/?tag=pfamazon01-20

 

[gtorassa]

Three books and a video, now I can't say I don't have something to read at night