Decoding reality

In 1994 Vlatko Vedral came across the phrase 'Information is Physical', and it had a lasting effect on his life. In Decoding reality: the universe as quantum information he puts forward his thoughts on how information and especially ideas from thermodynamics, underlies all areas of science.

The book starts with a description of a card game, with the players representing different sciences. We get to see the cards as each player plays them, and have to work out the rules of the game. As the book progresses, Vedral shows how ideas of information can be applied to the various sciences.

The trouble is that there are too many errors in the book. Vedral seems to think that global warming is simply due to releasing energy rather than the greenhouse effect of CO2. His thermodynamics of a Mars bar is the wrong way round. It became difficult for me take note of what he was arguing for as I looked out for the next 'howler'. Even when he knows his stuff, I don't think he explained it particularly well - he has no diagrams, which makes it difficult to see what is going on with the Mach-Zehnder interferometer, for instance. I get the feeling this book was written without putting that much effort into getting it right, and I would not recommend reading it.