Reviews (3)

Very impressed
In short: very small book in terms of pages (Under 200), discusses and reviews major Mathematical concepts around Computer Science, Number Theory and Quantum Computing including Shor's Theorom. The author being a Mathematician, seems to be very good at describing these topics in a concise manner. The book briefly introduces material from Theoretical CS (e.g. From Computer Language Theory such as Turing machines etc.) as well as Number theory (Abelian groups etc.) for people who may not have that background.

good Intro to Quantum Computing
This book provides a good intro to Quantum Computing for beginners, plus it gives a clear presentation of the current results to more advanced readers. It does, to put it in the author's words, provides a good bridge between quantum mechanics and the theory of computation. It covers the basics, Turing Machines, some Theory of Computation, Shor's factorization algorithm, Grover's Method, etc.

It also has some helpful appendices for beginners in the end.

Quantum Algorithms are covered fairly well, but as the authorhimself acknowledges, Qm. Info. theory, Qm. Communication, Qm. error Correcting, Qm. Crypto. etc are not covered.

On the whole, a good read. Highly recommended.

Reviews (12)

Like a video game walk through for applied quantum theory!
Most "beginner" books on quantum theory I've tried to read take the reader on a chronological tour of who discovered or developed what. I hate that. Just becase B happened before A doesn't mean that it's easiest to understand if you describe B before A!

Well, Johnson doesn't cheat the reader by taking this easy way out. He's distilled all the background necessary to understand the key concepts behind quantum theory and how it can be used in a crazy revolutionary way to compute, boiled it down to the bare minimum required and organized it in such a way as to make things crystal clear.

No oblique anecdotes. No historical "human-interest" segues dumped in for filler. Just applied quantum theory 101, pure and simple.

Reading this very compact book took me all of half a day and after that I felt like I had just climbed a set of stairs from darkness to illumination. Before: "What's quantum theory?" After: "I get it now."

There is some sensationalism, but it's easy to read around that. Besides, hype is engaging! It makes you go "Wow, cool!"

-- Insert Superlative Here --
This guy not only describes quantum computing in a way that should be accessible to nearly everyone, but he does it in a highly entertaining, highly readable way.By appealing to a healthy dose of abstraction, the author is able to seamlessly touch on an amazing array of topics from computational theory to quantum mechanics to cryptography. Occasionally he sinks deeper into the quantum quagmire to examine a few quantum algorithms, but he never loses sight of his intended audience: the scientifically curious layman.

This book does contain a large amount of hype, but to his credit the author includes the opinions of a few noteworthy skeptics to lace all the optimism with a sprinkle of doubt.If you are looking for a quantum appetizer, or to bring yourself up to speed on the buzz behind quantum computing, I couldn't recommend this book more highly.

Reviews (20)

Excellent introduction and guide
This book is not only a thorough and gentle introduction to quantum computing and information; it is also a great reference I keep at my desk at all times. The book reminds me of a guide book; if you get lost or aren't sure of or don't know something, all you need to do is open this guidebook.

It's difficult to critisize this book because any weaknesses I've encountered so far seem to me like oppurtunities to learn new things. If something is unclear, it is easy to pinpoint what needs clarification and what to seek help for to understand the topic. The book doesn't throw random, useless or complicated notation at the reader. All of that is explained clearly and simply.

For readers looking for experimental developments, this book does contain a section on a few techniques known by 2001. However, it is important to remember that this book is an introduction to the processes of quantum computing and not so much the implementations. The chapter on implementations serves as a nice way to give the reader an idea of what's been realized so far.

I recommend this book to anyone interested in learning about quantum computation and information, as well as those working in the field.

Great reference text - hard to learn from for the first time
This book has found its many uses as a reference.In particular the citations helped me locate key papers that I needed to work toward my research project.If you want to do research in this area than I recommend you add this text to your collection without question, however if you are trying to teach yourself quantum mechanics (like I did) I can suggest several other books that will help you along your quest.

This book lacks worked examples, I recommend the worked problems text: (Problems & Solutions in Quantum Computing & Quantum Information, ISBN: 9812387900) This book also skips over many `simple' concepts as expected for the depth of coverage.The kindest introduction to quantum computing out of the dozen books on my shelf is:
(Approaching Quantum Computing, Dan C. Marinescu, Gabriela M. Marinescu , ISBN: 013145224X).

There are now many texts on the subject of quantum computing, but there is a reason why this text is citied hundreds of times by the top people in this field.For a research project you must get this book, if you are teaching a class it might be wise to mention this book and refer students to another text.I think that the text (Explorations in Quantum Computing, ISBN: 038794768X) is good in the amount of material covered, but does not go into depth on key points -- It could be argued that the Mathematica simulation files more than compensate for this.I have not had a chance to read the Gruska text (Quantum Computing, ISBN: 0077095030) since it is out of print for the time being.I hear a new addition is on its way and I am interested in reading that book.

I would say that this text will remain a classic but the material is not easy for me to grasp.The book is hard, but quantum computing is hard so this is expected.I could live without the other texts on my shelf, but I need NC.If you do buy this book search for the "Quantum Computing Tutorial by Mark Oskin", an Assistant Professor at the University of Washington.His notes were designed as a guide for his students using the NC text, and they will help you get through some key examples.I downloaded the file: quantum-notes.pdf but it is also free in latex for professors.

Reviews (1)

Reviews (5)

Excellent book on physics and ideas of Quantum Information
Definitely one of the best books on PHYSICS of quantum information and this subject. If you are in the field of Quantum Information and Computing you probably know that it lies on intersection of Physics (Quantum Mechanics), Computer Science (Complexity and Algorithms, Cryptography) and Mathematics (Vector spaces, Linear Algebra, Number Theory...) This one is exceptional for physics of quantum information and also for describing all important ideas behind 'strange things' that exist in quantum mechanics. Authors have properly described all experiments and ideas on quantum information, quantum cryptography and teleportation.This book assumes that you have some knowledge on quantum mechanics or basic concepts about this subject. If you have mathematical background and you want to know how those thing are made physically, you will not regret for buying this book!

To learn it.
You could use this book as a first if you have a general idea
of basic concepts in quantum theory. It is a collection of
very nicely written tutorials. They are done by authorities in the field, and cover the main trends. I especially liked Jozsa's
chapter on quantum algorithms. By now there are also good textbooks that can get you started from scratch, such as Hirvensalo, or Nielsen-Chuang. If you have trouble getting hold the original journal articles, World Scientific just came out with a collection of major papers on quantum computation and quantum information, isbn 9810241178. It includes the full text [reprinted] of some of the papers which are cited in the present book; quite a few by the very same authors. That is a big help, as the papers in the subject are scattered and spread out over many different journals, and it might be hard to know where to start when
logging into the arXiv.

Reviews (1)

Isbn: 9810241178
Sales Rank: 446729
Subjects:  1. Hardware - Mainframes & Minicomputers    2. Information Theory    3. Physics    4. Quantum Mechanics    5. Quantum Theory    6. Quantum computers    7. Science    8. Science/Mathematics   

Reviews (3)

Friendly
A handful of good introductions to ideas in quantum computing have appeared in the past two years. The present one stands out in being both friendly and brief. There is no way into the subject, getting around the fundamentals in quantum physics and in math. Through this little book, an uninitiated reader can get some insight into the ideas of Deutsch-Jozsa, and the algorithms of Peter Shor and Lov Grover. The author does his job, as well as any, and the book is pleasant reading.

Not for a Computer Scientist or Mathematician
who don't have a strong background in Physics.The first "basic" example is a particle spin interaction that displays quantum entanglement.Well, maybe that's easy for a physics major, but a math and computer science major will be totally clueless!It assumes too much quantum physics for non-physics people, myself included.Quantum Computing by Mika Hirvensalo is a much better starting point for these who have traditional background in math and computer science.Also, if you want to build a good intuition about quantum systems before doing algorithms, QED by Richard Feynman would be a good reading for the same audience.

Reviews (1)

Well chosen and well written.
The individual papers, and their authors, represent a great choice on the part of the editors. The list of authors includes the editors themselves, Lov Grover, David Meyer, Michael Freedman, Noland Wallach, and more.A deeper understanding of the math of quantum computation divides itself naturally into the parts and the chapters (15 chapters in all) of the book, and some that aren't in the book. A choice must always be made, but what is there is central, well written, and well explained:--

Editorial Review

Reviews (5)

Knuth is Analysis of Algorithms
Befor Donald Ervin Knuth, there was no such thing as the Analysis of Algorithms.He is a visionary in this field, and these selected papers are a testomony to his greatness in this field.

Not as Approachable as Knuth's Other Writings
To a reader interested in the analysis of algorithms, this bookdoubtlessly contains a number of very thorough analyses, with someinteresting correspondence about the origin of complexity O()-notation andthe term "NP-hard" thrown in.

As a reader more interested inKnuth's work in general, I must admit that, despite having advanced degreesin CS and a quite decent math education, I found myself unable to followthe heavy mathematics employed, and ultimately, the problems analyzed werenot interesting enough to me to make me spend the effort to follow it. Oneof the chapters was titled "A Trivial Algorithm Whose AnalysisIsn't", and this probably sums up why I'm not entirely enthusiasticabout this book and about the field of algorithm analysis ingeneral.

Knuth wouldn't be Knuth if he didn't throw some lighter materialin as well, and chapter 2, "The Dangers of Computer ScienceTheory", was quite amusing.

Isbn: 3540170936
Sales Rank: 1092722
Subjects:  1. Algebra - General    2. Mathematics    3. Probability & Statistics - General    4. Science/Mathematics    5. Algebras    6. Operator    7. Operatoralgebra    8. Physics    9. Physik    10. Quantenmechanik    11. Quantenstatistik    12. Science / Mathematical Physics    13. Statistische Mechanik   

Reviews (3)

Has been surpassed
My three star review is no criticism of Dirac - after all, he is the pioneer of the theory of Hamiltonians with constraints and as such deserves all the credit that is due. However I would like to redirect you to Henneaux and Teitelboim's book on quantization of gauge systems since they have done much to clarify the mathematics behind the theory and I think give a better introduction to the field than Dirac's dated book.

Quantization
The concept of 'quantization' has acquired multiple meanings in mathematical physics, since the foundation of quantum mechanics in the 1920ties. I refer to the papers of Heisenberg, Schrodinger, and Dirac which made precise the variables: states, observables, probabilities, the uncertainty principle, dual variables, and the equations of motion. This was also when the wave-particle question received a more precise mathematical formulation, and resolution. Perhaps best known are the equation of Schrodinger, giving the dynamics of systems of quantum mechanical particles, and Dirac's equation for the electron. All three of the pioneers won the Nobel Prize at a young age;-- Schrodinger was a little older than the other two (Heisenberg and Dirac were both born in 1902.) In 1932, John von Neumann showed, surprisingly at the time, that Schrodinger's formulation is equivalent to Heisenbergs matrix mechanics, and von Neumann turned quantization into a field of mathematics. Von Neumann was a contemporary, but trained in mathemetics. His 1932 book "Mathematical Foundations of Quantum Mechanics" was reprinted by Princeton University Press in 1996. Occasionally the link to the foundations of physics have been missed: Reed and Simon quote Edward Nelson: "First quantization is a mystery, and second quantization is a functor." Dirac's lovely little book represents a set of lectures Dirac gave in 1964 at Yeshiva University, at a time when the great master could take advantage of hindsight. The Dover edition didn't appear until 2001. The clarity of Dirac's presentation is truely compelling (no mystery at all!). Very little background is required on the part of the reader. Dirac begins with the Hamilonian method, and then passes to quantization in terms of physics. The mathematics of quantization on curved (and flat) surfaces is clearly presented in the second part of the book. Dirac's ansatz for relativistic theory is Lorentz invariance, and the equations of motion arise naturally as extensions of the 'classical' theory. The Lorentz-invariant action integrals are central, and Dirac covers the Born-Infeld electrodynamics in the last chapter. In total the book is only 87 pages, but Dirac is the master of effective and consise exposition. He also firmly believed that, as a rule, the beauty of the mathematics involved is a good indication that the equation is right for physics. Readers who enjoy popular books by the pioneers in science might like to check out Schrodinger's "What is Life?" reprinted by Cambridge University Press 2002, with a Preface written by Roger Penrose, and a lovely set of biographical sketches, written by Schrodinger, and translated by his granddaughter Verena. And there is a lovely book edited by Pais, Jacob and Atiyah, "Paul Dirac: The Man and his Work" , Cambridge U Press, 1998. ---Review by Palle Jorgensen, July 2003.

Reviews (2)

A clear exposition of Shannon's results by a great mathemati
A Y Khinchin was one of the great mathematicians of the first half of the twentieth century. His name is is already well-known to students of probability theory along with A N Kolmogorov and others from the host of important theorems, inequalites, constants named after them.He was also famous as a teacher and communicator. The books he wrote on Mathematical Foundations of InformationTheory, Statistical Mechanics and Quantum Statistics are still in print in English translations, published by Dover.Like William Feller and Richard Feynman he combines a complete mastery of his subject with an ability to explain clearly without sacrificing mathematical rigour.

In his "Mathematical Foundations" books Khinchin develops a sound mathematical structure for the subject under discussion based on the modern theory of probability. His primary reason for doing this is the lack of mathematically rigorous presentation in many textbooks on these subjects.

This book contains two papers written by Khinchin on the concept of entropy in probability theory and Shannon's first and secondtheorems in information theory - with detailed modern proofs. Like all Khinchin's books, this one is very readable. And unlike many recent books on this subject the price is very cheap. Two minor complaints are: lack of an index, and typesetting could beimproved.