"The writing is fresh and immediate, with plenty of detail packaged into the smooth narrative. [O]n their own terms, I found Susskind and Friedman's explanations crisp and satisfying. I maintain a clear recollection of the bewilderment with which I struggled through my own university quantum-mechanics courses. For students in a similar position, trying to draw together the fragments of formalism into a clear conceptual whole, Susskind and Friedman's persuasive overview--and their insistence on explaining, with sharp mathematical detail, exactly what it is that is strange about quantum mechanics--may be just what is needed." --David Seery, Nature "[T]he book will work well as a companion text for university students studying quantum mechanics or the armchair physicists following Susskind's YouTube lectures." -- Publishers Weekly "This is quantum mechanics for real. This is the good stuff, the most mysterious aspects of how reality works, set out with crystalline clarity. If you want to know how physicists really think about the world, this book is the place to start.

" --Sean Carroll, physicist, California Institute of Technology, and author of The Particle at the End of the Universe "Susskind does a wonderful job of carefully going through in great detail the story of the simplest quantum system. As advertised, it's the theoretical minimum, but a great place for someone to start on the road to a serious understanding of the mysteries of quantum physics." --Peter Woit, Professor of Mathematics, Columbia University, and author of Not Even Wrong: The Failure of String Theory and the Search for Unity in Physical Law.