The best quantum computing books

Ignatius’s most recent novel is in many respects a mashup of books no. 1 and 2 on this list: terrific storytelling and the latest spy recent tech: You’ll conclude that it’s just a matter of time until “bad actors” (spy speak for “bad guys”) can hack your brain. At the same time, you’ll enjoy the story.

Now we are getting to the modern era, where physics meets computing in ways never dreamed of by the founders of quantum physics. Seth Lloyd is a professor at MIT and one of the first to prove that quantum theory admits the possibility of building computers on wholly quantum foundations. He is also one of the most creative and engaging writers on the subject. His main message is that information is the basis of all things physical. From quantum bits or qubits to cosmology, this book has it all, and is written in a highly accessible way. Not a single… show more.

I’ve been fascinated by complexity theory and quantum computing since I started studying cryptography. Not only because of the intellectual depth and rich history of these disciplines, but because of how they relate to cryptography: complexity theory brings the foundational security assurance, while quantum computing destroys part of that security. Aaronson is one of the world-leading researchers working at the intersection of these two fields, whose research and blog I’ve been following for many years. I was thus delighted to find his witty, funny writings turned into a comprehensive book, touching on topics as diverse as logic, computability, quantum mechanics,… show more.

This masterful book goes one step further and presents a game-based analogy that goes a long way toward explaining how a quantum computer actually works. Working through the book, one gains an understanding of how qubits can be quantum entangled and how entanglement leads to computing tasks that could not be performed on an ordinary computer. Deceptively simple in appearance, the method leads you deep into the inner workings of quantum logic operations without realizing you are digesting some pretty advanced concepts. The author knows of what he writes, as his theoretical discoveries led to one of the world’s most… show more.