Waves in an Impossible SeaMatt Strassler
Waves in an Impossible Sea
by Matt Strassler · first published 2024
6mentions
5recommended by
6HN commenters
2024–2025first – last mentioned
83% recommend17% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Popular introduction to quantum field theory that uses analogies rather than math, explaining fields versus the medium they live in; suited to laypeople and curious readers wanting current theory and experiments.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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…wouldn't say that that everything builds up from binary in CS. There is really no particular relation to (or benefits of having) computer expertise. Two recent popular books about QFT are: Matt Strassler’s Waves in an Impossible Sea (no math, just hand-wavy analogies): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CB3LZXR9/ Sean Carroll’s Quanta and Fields (tries to give you a basic understanding of the actual math): https://www.amazon.com/dp/0593186605/
on “A common misunderstanding about wave-particle duality” ↗The book Waves in an Impossible Sea by Matt Strassler goes deep into explaining precisely this. https://profmattstrassler.com/waves-in-an-impossible-sea/
on “New technique generates topological structures with gravity water waves” ↗If you want to learn more of about current theory and experiments I suggest you pick up “Waves in an impossible sea” by Matt Strassler
on “Did the Particle Go Through the Two Slits, or Did the Wave Function?” ↗Strassler is usually more technical than your run-of-the-mill popsci writer. But his book "Waves in an impossible sea" is much more accessible.
on “Did the Particle Go Through the Two Slits, or Did the Wave Function?” ↗The book Waves in an Impossible Sea really goes into some depth on this (for a layman -- which I am) and tries to drive home the point that there are two perspectives one might take. There's the perspective of the medium and the perspective…
on “How the Higgs field gives mass to elementary particles” ↗There's an association here to another topic which came up recently: a review of Matt Strassler's new book, Waves in an Impossible Sea [1]. Professor Strassler says a big motivation for writing this book was what he calls 'phibs': 'explanations' of physics so bowdlerized that they are not just uninformative, but at least misleading and…
on “Feynman’s Razor” ↗