It took a while, but I have now read Susskind’s Quantum Mechanics: The Theoretical Minimum. 346 pages of mathematics. But not mathematics you’d recognise (unless you’re a physicist, I suppose). According to Susskind, we don’t have the sensory apparatus to sense quantum mechanical effects (in the way we obviously do have the senses for the classical mechanical world which is all around us), so abstract mathematics takes the place of the senses needed. I get this. The maths presented in the book is a journey to understanding, and the mathematical language that developed for Quantum Mechanics was forged to be fit for purpose; abbreviations and short-hand formulations were constantly being invented to simplify the appearance of the maths, and to make it easier to manipulate. And always, experimental observations impose the constraints on the maths needed to describe the reality. Out of this framework the understanding emerges. But very slowly, for me at any rate.
I feel that I have a better understanding of how the Uncertainty Principle comes about, but I can’t put my finger on it. Generally, my grasp of Quantum Mechanics is improving, and I think this is to do with my developing understanding of what function the maths is serving. But I need to read some more. So, next, Lectures on Quantum Mechanics by Paul Dirac.
chemistrypoet 
Reblogged this on SoN oF ThE sOiL and commented:
Quantum Mechanics
What am I, a god? Without reading these treatises, quantum functions seem intuitive. It’s the cat alive or dead? Yes. In the case of two photons heading directly opposing one another, why does it not stop all reality? Because of (local) wave function additive functions and (quantum) the compression of spacetime. It seems so simple. That said, I’d love to see more mathematics.