Reddit mentions of Quantum Enigma: Physics Encounters Consciousness

Oh man. Where do I begin?

It started with Edward Feser. Then Aquinas.

I recently compiled my 'short list' of books that were foundational for a Master's:

Start here:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0764807188/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/019925995X/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Then go here:

https://www.amazon.com/Story-Christianity-Vol-Church-Reformation/dp/006185588X

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0061855898/ref=pd_sbs_14_t_0?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=T5D86TV1MTCSQAYZ4GHR

G.K. Chesterton is always a good supplement (Heretics and Orthodoxy):

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ALKPW4S/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Bible Study:

https://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Testament-Anchor-Reference-Library/dp/0385247672/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1477868333&sr=1-1&keywords=raymond+brown

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1585169420/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0809147807/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

(Jewish perspective on NT): https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0195297709/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

After you've gotten through these (or maybe interspersed), get into de Chardin -- but be careful, because he toes the line into heresy with the noosphere stuff.

Then, start reading the theoretical physicist priests in our faith, Stanley Jaki, for example.

And this. This.

Finally, try to muddle through Spitzer. These guys have more smarts in their little finger than I will ever have.

Edit: I refreshed the thread and saw that you've already found Feser. Excellent. Are you familiar with John C. Wright as well? Sci-fi-writer-former-atheist-now-traditionalist-Catholic.

I'm interested in any science + metaphysics books you've come across too. . .

Sorry, I'm just reading your comment now, 2 months late.

You touched on an important point though. Actually, it's sort of the reason I asked this question because I didn't want to get any false ideas. Remember this, the Copenhagen interpretation (just like the several other interpretations) are trying to explain things that we see in practice, in the real world. Any interpretation has to explain the experimental results.

The experimental evidence says our world is clearly stranger than our common sense/experience tells us. Like you said, "Where did the first classical system come from"? If observation occurs because something in a quantum state interacted with something in a "classical" state (whatever that is), what was the first observation that collapsed the first wave.

Many people will try to brush this aside, which is also part of Copenhagen, but really it's a question that's somewhat left to philosophers. Some people say "God" or "Consciousness", others channel the Many Worlds interpretation. Either way, we don't know how to explain why the universe appears classical because the world is definitely modeled most accurately by Quantum Theory. Researchers are putting bigger and bigger things into superposition all the time. Even objects big-enough to be visible to the naked-eye

If you're interested in that subject, check out the Quantum Enigma. It asks these questions in depth, and it's not one of those new-age books that are so easily dismissible.

I can't believe no one has discussed the observer effect in quantum physics yet! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Observer_effect_(physics)

Let's see if I can give a brief description without screwing it up too badly. Depending on the type of test you perform, you can make light photons act like a wave OR a particle. They have gone on to perform experiments where they make 'weak' measurements on the light before you randomly choose which test to do, and those weak measurements show that the light knows what type of test you are doing before you do the test. This means that your test's interaction with the light actually sent information back in time. Since all matter fundamentally acts the same as light (as a wave 'function' that collapses when measured), and since all matter is entangled since the big bang, somehow the order of matter of the whole universe was determined at the beginning of the universe by some future observer. This is all 'hypothetical' of course.

If you're interested I'd highly recommend this book http://www.amazon.com/Quantum-Enigma-Physics-Encounters-Consciousness/dp/0199753814

Not sure if it's exactly what you're looking for, but I just read a book called Quantum Enigma: Physics Encounters Consciousness. It's written by physics professors, so it's not very metaphysical / philosophical, but it does discuss the reality of the counterintuitive weirdness of quantum mechanics.

A good read (which almost baby steps you through the processess) is Quantum Enigma by Rosenblum and Kuttner. Its very light hearted but informative, almost as if the two old boys are competing with eachother to make YOU understand. I loved the read and am looking forward to pick it up again soon after finishing some other books.

Feynman's Six Easy Pieces is a great introduction to quantum mechanics. Gary Zukov's book The Dancing Wu Li Masters doesn't have a great reputation among physicists because it strays a bit into mysticism, but I think it's a pretty good read. Capra's Tao of Physics is in the same category. For an easy-to-understand discussion of the weirdness of quantum mechanics, Fred Kuttner and Bruce Rosenblum's Quantum Enigma: Physics Encounters Consciousness is excellent.

This is an Amazon list of books on the subject that I found helpful:

Robert Kroese, author of Schrödinger's Gat

Check out the Quantum Enigma:
http://www.amazon.com/Quantum-Enigma-Physics-Encounters-Consciousness/dp/0199753814/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1346167652&sr=1-1&keywords=quantum+enigma