After studying Natural Sciences at Cambridge (Sidney Sussex 1979), I spent my business life working in the travel industry, running the luxury Orient-Express train and renovating old hotels. However, a few years ago, an old passion grabbed me. Throughout my years in the business world, I never forgot my love of science, and especially physics. Now, over 60 years old, I have written my first book - Quantum Untangling - a primer on quantum mechanics, published by Wiley.

The idea came to me because my daughters studied science at university (the youngest at Oxford - oops!) and both did courses in quantum mechanics. Virtually any scientific subject now requires some knowledge of it, yet their study materials seemed disappointing. There are popular science books that avoid any maths and there are dry turgid textbooks which are… well… no fun. Talking with other old-timers (ex-science students like me), they agreed that something was missing. Quantum Untangling is my attempt to fill the gap. It includes the maths necessary for a full understanding but steps through the mathematical detail steadily and clearly.

The book covers the entire subject from the basics right up to quantum field theory plus a step-by-step guide to the Higgs boson. If you loathe maths this book may not be for you, but rest assured that science undergraduates past and present will find the maths familiar and not too taxing. More than anything I hope readers find it enjoyable. Physics should be fun!