The clearest, most accessible explanation yet of the amazing world of quantum mechanics.

How can matter behave both like a particle and a wave? Does a particle exist before we look at it or does the very act of looking bring it into reality? Is there a place where the quantum world ends and our perceivable world begins?

Many of science's greatest minds - including Thomas Young, Albert Einstein and Richard Feynman - have grappled with the questions embodied in the simple yet elusive 'double-slit' experiment in order to understand the fabric of our universe. With his extraordinary gift for making the complicated comprehensible, Anil Ananthaswamy travels around the world and through history, down to the smallest scales of physical reality we have yet fathomed, to reveal the answers.

'A fascinating read and a must for anyone who would like to find out the latest experimental advances made in this most fundamental of quantum experiments' Physics World

‘Offers beginners the tools they need to seriously engage with the philosophical questions that likely drew them to quantum mechanics’ Science

‘Cleverly comes at quantum physics from a different direction... An excellent addition to the “Quantum physics for the rest of us” shelf’ Brian Clegg

‘Simply an outstanding exploration of the double slit experiment and what makes it so weird’ Forbes

Anil Ananthaswamy is an award-winning journalist who contributes regularly to New Scientist, as well as writing for Nature, National Geographic News, Discover, the Wall Street Journal and Literary Review. He is the recipient of the Book of the Year award from Physics World (2010) and the Nautilus Book Award (2015). He lives in London.