A typical undergraduate would seldom describe his or her first course in quantum mechanics as congenial. Indeed, even eager and talented students can be driven to despair by the confluence of unfamiliar mathematical territory, a surfeit of new notation, and a wildly counterintuitive theory. Ignoring the role of the lecturer, this unfortunate situation can be ameliorated to some extent by selecting the right textbook. While there exist several well qualified candidates, there is none that seamlessly blends in the deep and rich new insights offered by quantum information theory without sacrificing the established requirements demanded by a standard undergraduate curriculum. There were none, that is, until now.
The new text by Schumacher and Westmoreland is a real gem. The authors themselves are accomplished physicists, having contributed fundamental results to quantum information theory and most notably in the areas of quantum data compression and quantum channel capacities. Their fluency with all...
