100 books like Programming the Universe

My second pick is by the master himself. Richard Feynman’s little book explains quantum electrodynamics or QED to a lay audience. Not only did he receive a Nobel Prize for his discoveries in this area, but Feynman was at the pinnacle of using deep understanding of physics to give the simplest possible yet accurate description of the world as seen through physics. He steps the reader slowly and carefully through some incredible journeys of logic (without equations) to explain how light travels from one place to another and how light interacts with matter such as electrons. It’s basic stuff, but deep and a fun ride. 

This masterful book goes one step further and presents a game-based analogy that goes a long way toward explaining how a quantum computer actually works. Working through the book, one gains an understanding of how qubits can be quantum entangled and how entanglement leads to computing tasks that could not be performed on an ordinary computer. Deceptively simple in appearance, the method leads you deep into the inner workings of quantum logic operations without realizing you are digesting some pretty advanced concepts. The author knows of what he writes, as his theoretical discoveries led to one of the world’s most ambitious quantum computing efforts.  

Baggott's book is a rich, readable account of quantum physics as viewed at 40 key "moments" in its history. These moments range from the trouble with classical physics in 1900, leading to the notion of discrete "quanta" of energy, to the hunt for the Higgs particle at the CERN accelerator laboratory. Other moments include the invention of Schrodinger's equation, the Uncertainty Principle, and the Standard Model of particle physics. The author is an experienced science writer and former academic scientist.

The subtitle of this book is A Serious Comic on Entanglement. Normally I am not fond of comic-style presentations of physics (although I do love comics, as my Conan the Barbarian collection can attest). But I am happy to make an exception for this excellent book, written by a daughter-father team, the father being one of the leading philosophers of physics and the daughter being an artist and web designer. All the deep physics is there, presented in a fun, reader-friendly style. The acknowledgments section credits six ‘reviewers,’ ages 12 to 15, for reviewing and helping edit the book – now that’s inter-generational! 

A simple (not perfect) test of whether you’re going to love this book: Just check out the author’s blog, called “shtetl-optimized”. The style is similar: sharp, funny, mixing professional theoretical Computer Science with broader takes.

I am still in the middle of the book, and nevertheless, I’m happy to recommend it. As an amateur with superficial CS knowledge, I am enjoying this introduction to classical complexity theory and the basic theory of quantum computation.

Aaronson’s distinctive style makes the ride all the more enjoyable. It’s neither a “real” textbook nor a pop-science book. It’s in a weird space somewhere in between, and I love it!

John Bell’s theorem about the unavoidability of what Einstein called “spooky action-at-a-distance” in quantum mechanics set off the second quantum revolution, leading to quantum computation, quantum cryptography, and quantum teleportation among other insights. This book collects Bell’s most important papers which range in style from professionally mathematical to popular and intuitive, so there is something for everyone. Beginners can start with “Quantum Mechanics for Cosmologists” or “Six Possible Worlds of Quantum Mechanics” or “Bertlmann’s Socks and the Nature of Reality” or “La Nouvelle Cuisine”. Experts can learn from “Against ‘Measurement’”. People interested in the mathematical details can find them, and people scared by math can largely avoid them.

This is a good example of a book that makes a complicated topic accessible and easy to understand. Strictly speaking, this is not a linear algebra book, but quantum computing is so closely linked to linear algebra that I'm including this gem.

Prof. Wong covers all quantum computing topics in a straightforward and intuitive manner. He goes out of his way to prepare hundreds of examples of quantum circuits that made my life easy as a reader. What I like particularly about this book is that it explains all the derivations and all the details without skipping any steps.

I can recognize the work of a true master teacher: whenever I ran into a confusing concept, it was explained a few lines later, as if reading my mind.

Ignatius’s most recent novel is in many respects a mashup of books no. 1 and 2 on this list: terrific storytelling and the latest spy recent tech: You’ll conclude that it’s just a matter of time until “bad actors” (spy speak for “bad guys”) can hack your brain. At the same time, you’ll enjoy the story.

The fields of Psychology, Economics, and Biology are well-known for offering interesting and informative introductory courses that provide a doorway into the area for budding scientists but also essential background knowledge appropriate for any educated person.

In Computer Science, we don't really do things that way. I wanted to offer a new kind of Computer Science introductory course that laid out the coolest ideas we have to offer along with compelling descriptions of why they matter.

I ended up using this book as the required reading in the class I built because it tells a personal, moving story while taking the reader from the nuts and bolts of bits and bytes all the way up to cutting-edge ideas surrounding artificial intelligence. It's a great read! Plus, it's short so I thought I could get my students to actually finish it.

Would you like to live forever—or barring that, for a really long time? If the answer is yes, then who are you? Is the person you were last month you? If your consciousness from last month could be transferred to a clone of your body, would that clone be you?

Matthew FitzSimmons explores the reality of who we are and more in his fast-paced mystery sci-fi novel Constance.

If you’re like me, and you feel a hole in your reading life when you finish this book, the good news is that the sequel is just a click away. Enjoy!