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- Hi, my name is Olivia Lanes.
I am the North American Lead
for Qiskit Education and Community here at IBM Quantum.
And today I'm going to be doing a book review
of my favorite books
in quantum computing and quantum mechanics
for students of all different backgrounds.
And I'm gonna be telling you why I think these
books are the most helpful books, or they have been
for me throughout my journey in quantum computing.
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So the first book I want to recommend is the Introduction
to Classical and Quantum Computing by Thomas Wong
who is a fabulous author and a fabulous person.
So this book, I think, starts out
probably at one of the more introductory levels.
It has a really good preface to get you started
on sort of what prerequisites you might need
for the book, which are minimal.
And then it starts talking
about what classical computing is.
I think I really love this book
because one of the things that I always complain
about and that I've spoken to Tom about before actually
is how when people talk
about what quantum computing is, they always say, okay
well you know how classical computing works
and they just assume
that whoever they're talking to is intimately familiar
with how classical computers process information.
But I'm sure that's not really the case
and it wasn't necessarily the case for me either.
When I went to graduate school
and I started my PhD in quantum computing,
I didn't actually really know how bits worked or
how even classical computers worked on a fundamental level.
So he doesn't assume that knowledge.
He starts talking about what classical computing is
how bits actually are used to encode different types
of information, and then how classical gates are different
and similar to quantum gates.
So that's why I really love this textbook.
It has a completely different introduction
than most quantum computing books.
And before he gets into, you know, some of the harder stuff
he starts out at a place where he knows
that all of his readers will be able to catch up.
It also has some really good problems throughout.
None of them are too, too difficult.
So I think a freshman even can pick up this book
and have a really good educational experience.
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All right, book number two
Quantum Mechanics by David Griffiths.
Nothing too shocking here.
This is sort of the introductory textbook
that basically everybody uses when they first
start learning about quantum mechanics.
It's a classic for a reason.
It's a great textbook.
Is it flawed?
Yes, is it still like the gold standard
for undergrad quantum computing textbooks?
Yes, so I love it because it has an interlude
in the middle about what dirac notation is
and how to get started on the mathematical formalism.
But it doesn't start there.
It starts talking about the wave function
what the wave function is and how do we interpret it
and what does that mean when we start talking
about probability and statistical interpretations.
And I think this is really, of course
the fundamental problem
with quantum mechanics when we're trying to make the leap
from people's understanding from classical
to quantum is that maybe people aren't
as familiar with the statistical nature of reality.
And so when we dive into that without explaining it,
it can get a little wonky.
All right, so David Griffiths excellent textbook.
Mine's a little beaten up.
You can see I've written some notes throughout it
but it is well loved.
You're not a physics person
if you don't own the copy of this book.
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Third, Quantum Computer Science by Mermin.
This is a little bit of a different book
than the ones I have mentioned so far.
This is sort of quantum computing
from a computer scientist's point of view
whether these were more physics, I think at least.
David Griffiths is definitely a physics textbook.
And this one, like I said, is more computer science.
So these, this textbook is not gonna teach you
about shore's algorithm.
It's not gonna teach you about grower's algorithm
or what those are or how those work.
But this one is, these are really more
of how to get started with the mathematical formalism.
This is, how do I understand what quantum computing is doing
and why is it important?
And what is a quantum computer?
He spells Qubits wrong, but we can forgive him for that.
He wrote a really, really great textbook.
I use this a lot when I am trying to
understand different elements of Qiskit
and different modules and Qiskit.
And so I think that this is a really great textbook
for people who are coming
at it from a developer point of view.
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All right, next book is Quantum Computing
Since Democritus by Scott Aaronson.
Scott Aaronson is really sort of a guru
in our field of computer science and quantum computing.
He is a professor at Texas, at Austin
and he's really just
such a fun and interesting guy to talk to.
I've had the pleasure of meeting him on a few occasions.
This is not really a textbook that you would maybe have
as a textbook for a class necessarily.
It's sort of broad and very wide ranging.
And in fact, there's a really great quote
in the preface here that says, you know, if you're the type
of reader that only likes to digest popular science
once all of the science has been washed away,
skip this book.
This is not for the faint of heart necessarily.
This talks about, you know
some elements that are in popular science.
It talks about why quantum computing can be so powerful.
It talks about, you know
does P equal NP and why do we care?
But it has some, you know, more difficult elements as well
that you really have to, you know, spend some time
with and really just sort of mull and stew
in the implications of it in order to get the benefit of it.
He has some great problems throughout
or he has what he says, problems for the non lazy reader.
You should do them.
They're really helpful.
And yeah, this is a classic.
This is a great textbook.
I've had this for many years ever
since I started in the field.
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Next is not exactly a textbook
it sort of is, but it could be.
It is Circuit QED,
Superconducting Qubits coupled to microwave photons.
These are, or they were originally lecture notes
that Stephen Gervin compiled from his lectures at Yale.
And this is just masterful lecture notes.
I mean, it's been edited, it's been formatted
in a way that, you know, it should have a cover.
It doesn't, I had to, you know
illegally print it off the internet
but I printed the entire thing and I have kept it with all
of my other textbooks on my shelves for many years.
Circuit QED is basically the mathematical formalism
and the physics that is behind how we actually interact
with what we call transman Qubits, which are the Qubits
that IBM builds all of its quantum processors off of
and the physics behind it and the concept
of the Josephs injunction are all laid out in this textbook.
Again, this is, this is a Physicsy textbook
so this is not going to talk to you about shore's algorithm
and other quantum computing algorithms and applications.
This is gonna talk about, you know
how do I take a qubit and couple it
to a resonator and how do I communicate with that resonator?
It's very fundamental, good for experimentalists like me
but I never like to scare people away
from understanding the experimental elements.
I think it is, if not important
at least very interesting to understand quantum processors
from the ground up like this.
So, excellent read.
It's a little hefty.
There's a lot of math in it, but if you can make it
through this, you're really gonna understand some physics.
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And last but not least
we have the Bible of quantum computing.
This is Nielsen and Chuang lovingly referred
to as Mike and Ike.
This is the bread and butter of our field.
This is a classic for a reason.
This is like the 10th anniversary edition.
This is the book that I used
as a textbook in graduate school
for the only quantum computing course I ever took.
It starts at, you know, a pretty non-technical place.
It starts with, you know, some very basic gates
and then it talks a little bit about, you know
some of the math and like some
of the decomposition that you'll need to know to
understand later chapters in the book.
But it really ramps up pretty quickly.
It's not an easy textbook.
There are problems throughout, again
starts off in, you know, a pretty good place.
This is definitely appropriate for a graduate level reader.
Might be a little bit too, too advanced for an undergrad
but if you are determined, you can make it through.
The problems get pretty hard
and pretty complicated towards the end.
But yeah, if you're gonna go into quantum computing,
you're gonna have to read this book.
So you might as well just buckle down and and get started.
Alright, and there you have it.
These are my picks for the best quantum computing textbooks.
If I forgot any, I probably did.
I haven't read every single quantum computing
textbook in existence.
It seems like there's a new one every other week now.
But these are classics.
These are excellent.
If you're stocking up on your library
if you're trying to figure out where to start, start here.
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One more bonus book, the Quantum Spy by David Ignatius.
This is a work of fiction, sort of
it's a thriller about quantum computing.
I read it last year.
It's actually a pretty good book and if you pay attention
there are some fictional characters that are based
at least loosely off of real players in the field.
So if you're interested in that, this is a fun read.
You're not gonna learn too much
about quantum computing by reading it.
However, nothing in the book is, you know, totally crazy
and out there it's mostly based on scientific merit.
What I would read on a desert island
if I had to learn quantum computing.