Reader reviews

I have read a lot of books on this subject and this is the clearest.

I bought this on a whim after seeing it mentioned in a forum thread, and I am glad I did. A few of the examples could be more realistic, but the underlying points come across clearly. The progression from chapter to chapter is well thought out; nothing feels out of order. Some terminology is introduced without much ceremony; I had to look a few things up along the way. If you have the prerequisites, this is an easy recommendation. I will be keeping it on my desk rather than the shelf.

Exactly the book I needed. Straight to the point and genuinely useful.

I picked this up after getting stuck on a project and it turned out to be exactly the right book at the right time. The index and cross-references are surprisingly good, which matters for a book I will come back to. A couple of chapters felt like they could have been merged, but that is a minor complaint. There is a section near the end that ties several earlier ideas together in a way I had not seen before. One of those books that pays for itself within the first few chapters. Highly recommended.

Worth every page. I have already recommended it to two colleagues.

I came to this book already familiar with the basics, and it still had plenty to offer. The balance between theory and practice is well judged; neither side dominates. The exercises at the end of each chapter are worth doing — they caught a few misconceptions I did not know I had. If you have the prerequisites, this is an easy recommendation. I will be keeping it on my desk rather than the shelf.

A worthwhile addition to my shelf, with realistic expectations.

This is the third book I have read on quantum computing this year, and it is comfortably the best of them. The author is unusually honest about where the simplifications break down, which I appreciated. It is denser than the page count suggests, and I found myself slowing down around the middle. Worth picking up if you already have the basics. Set realistic expectations and you will get a lot out of it.

Decent, but uneven. Some chapters are much stronger than others.

I read this over a couple of weekends alongside a small side project, which turned out to be the ideal way to approach it. The exercises at the end of each chapter are worth doing — they caught a few misconceptions I did not know I had. Some of the material is available elsewhere, but rarely presented this clearly. I appreciated the honesty about what the book does not cover — it saved me from expecting things that were not there. Fine, but there are stronger books on the same subject if you look around.

Solid and well-organised. A couple of chapters dragged a little.

There is a particular kind of technical book that is dense without being difficult, and this is one of them. I found myself making notes in the margins, which is always a good sign. The balance between theory and practice is well judged; neither side dominates. Recommended, with the caveat that it is not a gentle introduction.