D. E. RICHMOND, The Dilemma of Modern Physics: Waves or Particles? N. Y., Putnam, 1935, 120 pp., ill., diagr., bibl., Doll. 2.

D. E. RICHMOND, The Dilemma of Modern Physics.

Richmond’s small book is a popular exposition of modern quantum theory.

Among an ever wider circle of educated readers, both here and abroad, there is a need to become acquainted with that enormous revolution in our views of the nature of light and matter which has taken place over the last decade and is regarded as one of the most fruitful in the history of physics.

There is therefore no shortage of successful and unsuccessful attempts to set forth the new views in a form accessible to the educated nonspecialist. The book under review belongs among the successful attempts. The author does not conceal the difficulty of the subject and demands considerable mental effort from the reader. He has very successfully presented Bohr’s discussions of experiments and his principle of complementarity. The problem of causality in modern physics is revealed in full measure and resolved in the way shared in our time by all leading physicists.

While remaining at the proper scientific level, the author’s exposition retains accessibility and does not require from the reader special preliminary knowl-

... It would be highly desirable to have the book translated into Russian; unlike other books by the editor, it will not require much work to adapt it for the Soviet reader.

Yu. Rumer, Moscow