Potty-mouth physicist

 kw: book reviews, science, quantum physics, debunking, pans

I should have known better. I saw the title, Quantum Bullsh*t: How to Ruin Your Life with Advice from Quantum Physics, by Chris Ferrie. I saw the opening pages, with an F-bomb in the header, and more scattered through the introduction. I figured, "I've been known to use the F-bomb, and a few related bombs, at times. I think I can handle it." I couldn't. I struggled through 1/3 of the book and gave up.

My usual practice when I decide not to finish a book is to ignore it and not write a review. I just couldn't do that this time, my conscience wouldn't let me. To be clear, I don't like this book!

Chris Ferrie is a quantum physicist. He is also one of the older Millennials, for whom the F-bomb is the all-purpose adjective and a panoply of 4-letter Anglo-Saxon epithets take the place of terms that one may actually have to engage in thinking to use properly. His whole generation could benefit from viewing To Sir With Love, the classic film with Sidney Poitier as a teacher in England; in particular, a mandatory viewing, at least ten times, of the teacher's tirade against some serious student misbehavior, which he pulls off without using a single vulgar term. Millennials are linguistically lazy, and this book was written to cater to them.

It's clear from the outset that Dr. Ferrie is quite disturbed by the scams being pulled off by charlatans of numerous stripes who wedge the word "quantum" into the name of their wares: Quantum Energy, Quantum Vodou (or Voodoo), Quantum Crystal Scanning… Ah, me, the silliness never stops. He sets out to instruct his victims/readers in what "quantum" really means and what quanta really do.

The science is good; the presentation, no way.