A Shortcut through Time by George Johnson, Knopf/Jonathan Cape*, $24/£17.99, ISBN 0375411933 Reviewed by Graham Farmelo
MIGHT the computer on your desk one day be as obsolete as an abacus? Yes, if quantum computers ever reach their full potential. Their critical components would be just short strings of atoms, but thanks to the subtleties of quantum mechanics they’d have phenomenal power. To achieve the performance of a 13-atom quantum computer, one of today’s state-of-the-art supercomputers would need to cover 5000 times the surface area of the Earth.
As ace science writer George Johnson from The New York Times explains…
