Physicist Richard Feynman supposedly said “If you think you understand quantum mechanics, you don’t understand quantum mechanics.” The subject has expanded and grown by leaps and bounds since Feynman’s time, but the principles of quantum mechanics are still infamous for being weird, non-intuitive and just plain difficult to comprehend at times. In Quantum Physics in Minutes: the Inner Workings of our Universe Explained in an Instant, author and journalist Gemma Lavender aims to provide a quick and handy guide to all things quantum. The small, square-format book is part of a bigger series that includes titles on economics, world history and more.

Made up of more than 200 entries divided into 13 sections, this book covers everything from wave–particle duality and the Higgs boson to quantum cryptography and superfluids. Each entry is a page long, packed with information and accompanied by a diagram, picture or graph on the opposite page. Clearly explaining any topic in science in just a few hundred words is no mean feat, but doing so with as complex a subject as quantum mechanics is even harder. In some ways, this book could be the perfect pocket guide for an undergraduate just dipping their toes into the subject and looking for a quick and robust description of, say, Compton scattering or quantum harmonic oscillators.

A substantial chunk of the book is also dedicated to discussing particle physics and cosmology, which, while off-topic, may still come in handy. The same applies to the pages on string theory and supersymmetry. But it is the many entries on topics such as eternal inflation, “types of multiverse”, “quantum consciousness” and “no free will” that are worrying. While Lavender mentions that these are theories and not accepted science (even offering opposing views in some cases), it is exactly topics such as these that are commonly little-understood, greatly exaggerated and ultimately peddled as “woo” by those not intimately involved in the discourse and dialogue around such ideas. As tempting as it is to delve into these “extensions” of quantum mechanics – they are often the very things that make the subject interesting – they easily become hyperbolic and any actual scientific significance is lost. While debating such hypotheses is solidly within the remit of advancing science, doing so in 200 words or less, with minimal background and rebuttal, only breeds ignorance.

On the other hand, the book contains surprisingly few entries on quantum computing (though those present are very well written) and its many recent advances. Lavender would have done well to dedicate a few more entries to, say, superconducting versus silicon qubits, rather than vague descriptions of “the observer’s role” in possibly sustaining the universe.

• 2017 Quercus 416pp £9.99pb