The quantum entanglement phenomena, now firmly established, clearly demonstrates that our common sense perception of reality is -- simply stated -- wrong. Specifically, the property of "locality," which holds that all events are necessarily the result of "particles hitting particles" has been disproved. Author Clegg takes us on a historical journey through the arguments and experiments which have established this, taking time to point out the strange implications of this counter-intuitive view of reality. He does this in an entertaining, readable and exciting story.

Albert Einstein once (many times, actually) said "God does not play dice with the universe." Disbelieving quantum mechanics, he was responsible for a short (4 pages) paper in the May 1935 Physical Review (a copy of the paper is at www.burgy.50megs.com/epr.htm). In the thought experiment described in that paper, he showed that, if quantum mechanics was "true," then the principle of locality must be false. This he considered absurd. Alain Aspect, in the early 80s, showed that locality was, indeed, false.

It is a marvelous story, and Clegg tells it well. Other books of a similar nature include THE GHOST IN THE ATOM, by Paul Davies, 1986, where eight physicists argue eight different QM models, SCHROEDINGER'S KITTENS, by John Gribbin, 1995, TIME'S ARROW, by Huw Price, 1996, on the nature of time and THE FABRIC OF REALITY, by David Deutsch, 1995, which argues for the multiple universes model. The world we inhabit is created both strange and wonderful, stranger than we can possibly imagine and so wonderful we can only stand in awe of its Creator.

Highly recommended to all my ASA colleagues, particularly those who are not physicists.

John W. Burgeson, Rico, Colorado. Sent to PSCF 12-12-2006