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If you had to pick, say, three books (or the online equivalent) on quantum computing that are relatively accessible to an educated layman, which ones would you
by Snail_Commando 13y ago
If you had to pick, say, three books (or the online equivalent) on quantum computing that are relatively accessible to an educated layman, which ones would you recommend?
- finnh 13y agoNot the OP, but the one full book I've read on the topic is Scott Aaronson's "Quantum Computing Since Democritus". It gets a bit laborious walking through the entire "complexity zoo", but does a good job of laying out the general space in which quantum computers may (and may not, as far as we can tell) be useful.
- topynate 13y agoI can tell you the book that got me excited about quantum computing: The Fabric of Reality, by David Deutsch. It ranges over a much, much wider field than just QC, but if you want to understand how one of the best theoreticians thinks then there is no better book. Comprehensible by a smart 13 year old (as I was when I read it). If you have some mathematical maturity, I heartily recommend Quantum Computing since Democritus, by Scott Aaronson. The book's web page is at http://www.scottaaronson.com/democritus/ http://www.scottaaronson.com/democritus/, where you will also find freely available the lecture notes on which the book is based. Scott Aaronson's blog (http://www.scottaaronson.com/ http://www.scottaaronson.com/) is also a very valuable source of insider knowledge on QC, much of it targeted at a broader audience. I recommend his "Ask Me Anything!" posts for a good breadth of topics and technicality. Schrödinger's Killer App by Jonathan P. Dowling is a pleasant alternative to Fabric of Reality if the latter is too out-there for your tastes. No equations, but it definitely has some conceptual meat on it.