Through Two Doors at Once

Praise for Through Two Doors at Once

“Through Two Doors at Once is a challenging and rewarding survey of how scientists…are grappling with nature’s deepest, strangest secrets.”
–Wall Street Journal

“A fascinating tour through the cutting-edge physics the experiment keeps on spawning.” 
–Scientific American

““In this book, science writer Anil Ananthaswamy gives an absolutely mind-boggling tour of how quantum physicists try to explain this “reality” that one of the most powerful scientific models of our era.”
—Smithsonian 

“Through Two Doors at Once offers beginners the tools they need to seriously engage with the philosophical questions that likely drew them to quantum mechanics.”
—Science

“At a time when popular physics writing so valorizes theory, a quietly welcome strength of Ananthaswamy’s book is how much human construction comes into focus here. This is not “nature” showing us, but us pressing “nature” for answers to our increasingly obsessional questions.”
—Margaret Wertheim, The Washington Post

“Ananthaswamy’s book is simply an outstanding exploration of the double slit experiment and what makes it so weird.”
–Forbes

“A thrilling survey of the most famous, enduring, and enigmatic experiment in the history of science.”
—Kirkus, starred review

“Ananthaswamy deftly describes the science and history of a simple experiment that perplexes physicists to this day.”
—Symmetry, Physics Books of 2018

“Following up 2015’s acclaimed The Man Who Wasn’t There, Ananthaswamy treats a 19th-century light experiment as a sprawling intellectual adventure story….This accessible, illuminating book shows that no matter how sophisticated the lab setup, the double-slit experiment still challenges physicists.”
—Publisher’s Weekly, Top 10 Science Books for Fall 2018

“An excellent and comprehensive exploration of notable double-slit-like experiments…. A fascinating and readable exploration of quantum mechanics that is a particularly wonderful book for nonspecialists, hobbyists and students of science — you may not be able to put this captivating book down until you’ve finished it.”
—Forbes

“An engaging and accessible history of a fascinating and baffling experiment that remains inconclusive to this day. Recommended for those interested in the subject or anyone wishing to delve further into the double-slit experiment.”
—Library Journal

“Through Two Doors at Once is a fascinating read and a must for anyone who would like to find out the latest experimental advances made in this most fundamental of quantum experiments.”
—Physics World

“Ananthaswamy cleverly comes at quantum physics from a different direction…An excellent addition to the ‘Quantum physics for the rest of us’ shelf.”
–Brian Clegg, author of Are Numbers Real? and The Quantum Age

“Wondrous book.  If I were boarding the Trans-Siberian Railway in Moscow, Anil Ananthaswamy is the companion I’d want in the Lounge car.  I would buy him a very good Scotch, say ‘Tell me about quantum physics and the scientists who created it,’ and then I’d sit back contentedly for the seven days to Vladivostok, and listen.”
–David Quammen, award-winning author of The Song of the Dodo and (forthcoming) The Tangled Tree
 
“Upon opening his two quantum doors, Anil Ananthaswamy invites us into the bizarre and wacky world of nature on the smallest of scales.  An engaging raconteur, he tells us a story that is confounding, disturbing, and yet eminently fascinating.  Ananthaswamy serves as the perfect tour guide to physics’ wild side by closely examining one of its most famous experiments.”
–Marcia Bartusiak, award-winning author of Einstein’s Unfinished Symphony and Dispatches from Planet 3

“Quantum mechanics asks us to believe a number of bizarre things about the nature of reality. But these demands don’t arise out of thin air; they are forced on us by experiments. Anil Ananthaswamy has provided a lively introduction to the most paradigmatic of these: the (in)famous double-slit experiment.”
–Sean Carroll, author of The Big Picture

“The double-slit experiment is among the most important experiments ever conducted, both scientifically and historically. In this brisk and enjoyable book, Anil Ananthaswamy gives the double-slit the biography it has long deserved. Anyone interested in the true nature of our quantum world should read this book.”
–Adam Becker, Ph.D., author of What Is Real?
 
“All the strangeness of the quantum world is revealed as Ananthaswamy skillfully weaves an almost magical tale out of who, what, when, where and the elusive why surrounding modern versions of an experiment first performed over two hundred years ago. A must read for all those interested in the nature of reality.”
–Manjit Kumar, author of Quantum

“Like quantum particles encountering the fabled double slit, physicists have traveled many different paths in trying to parse the beguiling implications of quantum theory. Through Two Doors at Once is a marvelous guide to the leading ideas – and the stakes – in that century-long quest.”
–David Kaiser, author of How the Hippies Saved Physics

“The first time I saw the double-slit experiment, I thought it was a trick. Even now that I know it’s real, it still seems like magic. In his new book, Anil Ananthaswamy brings alive the magic of quantum mechanics.”
–Sabine Hossenfelder, physicist and author of Lost in Math

“For a lover of physics and mathematics, there could not have been a better book to explain the complexities of quantum mechanics.”
–The Hindustan Times