Shortcut Through Time, A

　　In this remarkably illustrative and thoroughly accessible lookat one of the most intriguing frontiers in science and computers,award-winning New York Times writer George Johnson reveals thefascinating world of quantum computing—the holy grail of supercomputers where the computing power of single atoms is harnassed tocreate machines capable of almost unimaginable calculations in theblink of an eye.　　As computer chips continue to shrink in size, scientistsanticipate the end of the road: A computer in which each switch iscomprised of a single atom. Such a device would operate under adifferent set of physical laws: The laws of quantum mechanics.Johnson gently leads the curious outsider through the surprisinglysimple ideas needed to understand this dream, discussing thecurrent state of the revolution, and ultimately assessing theawesome power these machines could have to change our world.