El Dzogchen es la esencia del budismo tibetano. Mediante sus explicaciones e instrucciones claras, directas y precisas, el Maestro Chögyal Namkhai Norbu hace accesibles a todo el mundo estas profundas enseñanzas del linaje de Garab Dorje. Enseñanzas Dzogchen ofrece una extensiva y amplia recopilación de enseñanzas ofrecidas por un gran maestro de Dzogchen y erudito tibetano. Todos los capítulos contienen beneficiosas instrucciones tanto para estudiantes noveles como para los avanzados, sin tener en cuenta la tradición que puedan estar siguiendo, y profundiza en el significado auténtico de temas importantes relacionados con los Sutra, el Tantra y el Dzogchen.' ( )

A readable and fairly easy to understand explanation of many of the essentials of modern physics, though a few diagrams wouldn't have gone amiss. I also couldn't help wondering which technical details Chown had streamlined or left out for clarity's sake.

I'll doubtless seek out a few more introductions to physics and quantum mechanics in hopes of enriching my personal comprehension of these concepts...but I do think I might take another crack at Connie Willis' "At the Rialto" with a better chance of grasping the metaphors now. ( )

This is okay, but sort of rambling ( )

This is okay, but sort of rambling ( )

In `Quantum Zoo' popular science writer Marcus Chown tackles two of the most baffling subjects in the history of human attempts to understand the world around us through rational inquiry: quantum theory on the one hand and general relativity, on the other. Or perhaps that should be quantum theory on one hand and the other hand too!

First, Chown shrinks the reader down to the microscopic atomic world of quantum theory. Leave all of your assumptions at the door, they will avail you naught in the quantum world. Atoms being in two places at once - at least we peak at them. Quantum theory isn't just hard. Learning the table of elements is hard, hitting a curve ball is hard, but the quantum world is entirely counterintuitive. Chown does an admirable job explaining this unpredictable and uncertain world to the uninitiated in the book's first 85 or so pages (including how `probability waves' explain why the same uncertainties do not apply to the macro world).

Chown deftly leads the reader through Einstein's special and general theories of relativity in the book's second half. Compared to quantum theory, space-time seems positively commonsensical; well, perhaps not quite - did Einstein really blast Newton's theory of gravity into the ether, so to speak? Sort of - Einstein's theory shows that gravity is really warped space, but Sir Isaac's 'inverse square law' still holds. See Almost Everyone's Guide To Science. Chown closes by explaining the Big Bang theory and exploring some of the unanswered questions.

`The Quantum Zoo' is an excellent introductory book for the general reader like this reviewer. In any book of this sort, the author faces the challenge of simplifying the material while still explaining the concepts rather than simply stating conclusions. The untutored general reader wants brevity and clarity, but clarity at times requires introducing complexity - in trying to do it all in just under 160 pages Chowns set himself quite a challenge. Chown mostly succeeds, although at times his explanations are too summary. The general reader interested in more detail on the Big Bang may wish to try Big Bang: The Origin of the Universe (P.S.). ( )