Essential quantum mechanics for electrical engineers is a deceptively short textbook of almost exactly 200 pages that packs a wallop. If you believe that it’s cruel to allow mathematicians to be college instructors for engineers, this is your book. If you believe instead in the self-standing value of formally abstract axiomatic presentations, it is not. Truly, quantum mechanics (QM) is not an intuitive discipline. However, QM stands on the value of its experimental foundations, practical applications, and the many inspired guesses and theoretical derivations that allow its description in quantitative mathematical terms. This textbook follows the breadcrumbs of experimental phenomena that classical physics cannot justify to build an intuitive ramp leading to the colossal triumphs of inspiration and imagination that harness the formerly inexplicable into a formal theory. Today’s QM, albeit counterintuitive, is effective in predicting physical behavior, even if it lacks an intuitive mechanistic underpinning. And yet this textbook succeeds in making its approach accessible to the more experimentally oriented engineering student.

The book can be read in two passes. First, it is possible to follow the narrative while glossing over the mathematical formalisms to gain an overall perspective of the roots, scope, and purpose of QM. On second reading, paying greater attention to the mathematical derivation and following the exercises allows gathering the quantitative understanding that is indispensable to a practicing physical scientist. A dedicated instructor may even base a semester delivery on such a two-fold approach, given the clarity and brevity of the text. All exercises aim at supporting insight, rather than formal virtuosity.

The table of contents is a testimony to the breadcrumbs approach. After a summary of the concepts of classical physics (chapter 1), chapter 2 begins with black body radiation, where the experimental path shows the applicability of Planck’s law to the common Edison light bulb. In chapter 3, CRT (anybody remember cathode ray tube computer monitors?) and other practical applications are used to introduce the photoelectric effect and photons. In chapter 4, the common discharge (“fluorescent”) lamp brings to life the Frank-Hertz experiment and energy quantization. Thereafter, the climb begins to steepen, yet remains experimentally founded in chapter 5 when the exposition leverages the double-slit experiment to introduce the wave function and the scale dependency of physics. The explanation of the relation between classical and quantum mechanics in chapters 6 and 7 makes the theory supporting observables less distant from common experiential evidence. Chapter 8 presents QM states, and in chapter 9 the light-emitting diode brings them to life. Chapter 10 introduces the tunnel effect, and leakage current in integrated circuits (with other applications, too) brings it to life. The last two chapters (11 and 12) provide the quantum mechanics view of the hydrogen atom and of the chemical properties of heavier elements. After these, the book includes two appendices, Appendix A (“Important Formulas of Classical Physics”) and Appendix B (“Important Mathematical Formulas”); a list of abbreviations; solutions for all exercises; a list of figures; and an index.

It’s noteworthy that the 12 expository chapters span 164 pages total and are replete with references to Internet links that address sources of computational aids and images enabling a student to bring relevant information to interactive life for greater immediacy. However, this dependency on external resources is also a weakness, relying on the persistence of the links. Also, the book follows the currently accepted representation of QM based on the probabilistic collapse of the wave function; however, given its general tone, perhaps it may have benefited from an additional appendix addressing pilot wave theory.