[1] Dirac gives an account of quantum mechanics by "demonstrating how to construct a completely new theoretical framework from scratch"; "problems were tackled top-down, by working on the great principles, with the details left to look after themselves".

[2] It is considered one of the most influential texts on quantum mechanics, with theoretical physicist Laurie M. Brown stating that it "set the stage, the tone, and much of the language of the quantum-mechanical revolution".

[4] In 1947 the third edition of the book was published, in which the chapter on quantum electrodynamics was rewritten particularly with the inclusion of electron-positron creation.

[4] Beginning with the third edition (1947), the mathematical descriptions of quantum states and operators were changed to use the Bra–ket notation, introduced in 1939 and largely developed by Dirac himself.

[5] Laurie Brown wrote an article describing the book's evolution through its different editions,[6] and Helge Kragh surveyed reviews by physicists (including Werner Heisenberg, Wolfgang Pauli, and others) from the time of Dirac's book's publication.