General Books - Page 4

The Feynman Lectures on Physics including Feynman's Tips on Physics: The Definitive and Extended Edition

Richard P. Feynman, Robert B. Leighton, Matthew Sands

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 40 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

The Greatest Physics Tutorial Ever Written 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

Feynman doesn't just teach physics in these books: he teaches you to think like a physicist should. One complaint I've heard is that there's not enough math in them. "Too many words." (Kinda reminds you of Armadeus.) There are plenty of books that have the math. These books offer insight -- something that is very hard to come by in formal physics education.

The introductory material in Volume 1 is highly quotable. You can get your money's worth right there.

When I started Volume 2, I'd had undergraduate electricity and magnetism and found it dry and boring. After Volume 2, I was so pumped, I wanted to teach the subject.

I read Volume 3 when I was starting graduate quantum mechanics. My first final was oral, two-on-one. The professor had a second prof sit in with him to quiz each student. They opened with a few questions on the uncertainty principle. I started rattling off some of the insights I'd gotten from Volume 3. These guys must not have read it, because they were blown away. They'd ask a question and I'd answer and then follow with a hook to keep them coming back. I spent an hour of the two-hour exam on the uncertainty principle! Talk about getting off on the right foot with a new prof!

These books have been an inspiration to me for the last 40 years. Whether you're a student or a Ph.D. -- and especially if you teach at any level -- you must not be without them. They will improve your understanding of physics, and they'll equip you to better communicate it.

I realize that I've sounded a little over-the-top in this review. If I said less, I'd be understating my honest opinion.

Tim Naff, Ph.D.

Editorial Review:

This revised edition of Feynman’s legendary lectures includes extensive corrections Feynman and his colleagues received and Caltech approved. This boxed set provides Volumes 1-3 together with Feynman’s Tips on Physics making this the complete and definitive set of The Feynman Lectures on Physics. For all readers interested in physics.

3,000 Solved Problems in Physics (Schaum's Solved Problems) (Schaum's Solved Problems Series)

Alvin Halpern, Alvin Halpern

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 26 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Simply Excellent 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

I bought this book to help my daughter with her physics class. I just wanted to help her practice with a few of the easier problems given that she is still in high school. Surprisingly, I found the book better in comparison to the problems given in her actual textbook. Obviously, one cannot learn physics from scratch by doing these problems alone. Some initial instruction is required. However, once the basic concepts of physics are learned, this in turn becomes an excellent practice guide in order to master the topics covered. No matter what your level of acheivement is, this book will help you get to the next level. I wish I had found this book a lot sooner.

Editorial Review:

Solved Problem Series

These books help readers review and master what they've learned by showing them how to solve thousands of relevant problems. Perfect for preparing for graduate or professional exams, these detailed reminders of problem-solving techniques show readers the best strategies for answering even the toughest questions, including the types that appear on typical tests.

Ideas And Opinions

Albert Einstein

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 44 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Something to read before you live this world 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This is a very enlightening read. It takes you into the mind of a absolutely brilliant man to see his "ideas and opinions", sorry for the pun.

Honestly, i wasnt expecting a collection of his letters/speeches/lectures..etc but it was a nice surprise. It's much better than having some author display how they 'assumed' he thought.

The book can be tough to read at times (keep in mind he is a genius) but you can always search for certain topics that interest you. Everything from his theories of relativity and brownian motion to his family life are covered, so every reader could find something to relate to.

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in first-hand ideas about Einstein or anyone looking to expand their mind.

Editorial Review:

A new edition of the most definitive collection of Albert Einstein's popular writings, gathered under the supervision of Einstein himself. The selections range from his earliest days as a theoretical physicist to his death in 1955; from such subjects as relativity, nuclear war or peace, and religion and science, to human rights, economics, and government.

Physics: Why Matter Matters

Dan Green

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

science with a personality 4 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler." Albert Einstein

Yup, that just about sums up what's going on here, proving the Einstein's smaller theories were pretty solid as well. The physical world and its inhabitants are once again anthropomorphed and grouped by association. We get the Old School dudes (Mass, Weight, Density, &c.), the Hot Stuff (Energy, Entropy...), the Wave Gang (Sound, Frequency...), the Light Crew (Radio, Microwave...), and so on. It's all here, each aspect with its own spread, a first-person breakdown on the one side and a graffiti-like cartoon portrait on the other. There's also a "first discovered" box and a short historical list of how or when they were famously employed.

As with Basher and Green's previous book "The Periodic Table: Elements With Style," I think this book works best in the classroom as a supplemental text (though used correctly they could be primary) with wide appeal. A great introduction for budding young scientists to the basics of physics, a playful refresher for older young scientists, and an easily digestible crash-course for adults who need the background to keep up with their budding young scientists.

Editorial Review:

Imagine physics as a community full of wacky characters--the building blocks of the universe each with a unique personality. This book throws open the doors and welcomes you into their amazing world. From gravity to the theory of relativity, this unique book provides visual interpretations of complex concepts, designed to make learning physics easier and a whole lot more fun!

Linked: The New Science of Networks

Albert-László Barabási

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 95 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

In the 1980's, James Gleick's Chaos introduced the world to complexity. Now, Albert-László Barabási's Linked reveals the next major scientific leap: the study of networks. We've long suspected that we live in a small world, where everything is connected to everything else. Indeed, networks are pervasive--from the human brain to the Internet to the economy to our group of friends. These linkages, it turns out, aren't random. All networks, to the great surprise of scientists, have an underlying order and follow simple laws. Understanding the structure and behavior of these networks will help us do some amazing things, from designing the optimal organization of a firm to stopping a disease outbreak before it spreads catastrophically.In Linked, Barabási, a physicist whose work has revolutionized the study of networks, traces the development of this rapidly unfolding science and introduces us to the scientists carrying out this pioneering work. These "new cartographers" are mapping networks in a wide range of scientific disciplines, proving that social networks, corporations, and cells are more similar than they are different, and providing important new insights into the interconnected world around us. This knowledge, says Barabási, can shed light on the robustness of the Internet, the spread of fads and viruses, even the future of democracy. Engaging and authoritative, Linked provides an exciting preview of the next century in science, guaranteed to be transformed by these amazing discoveries.From Linked:This book has a simple message: think networks. It is about how networks emerge, what they look like, and how they evolve. It aims to develop a web-based view of nature, society, and technology, providing a unified framework to better understand issues ranging from the vulnerability of the Internet to the spread of diseases. Networks are present everywhere. All we need is an eye for them...We will see the challenges doctors face when they attempt to cure a disease by focusing on a single molecule or gene, disregarding the complex interconnected nature of the living matter. We will see that hackers are not alone in attacking networks: we all play Goliath, firing shots at a fragile ecological network that, without further support, could soon replicate our worst nightmares by turning us into an isolated group of species...Linked is meant to be an eye-opening trip that challenges you to walk across disciplines by stepping out of the box of reductionism. It is an invitation to explore link by link the next scientific revolution: the new science of networks.

Insultingly Stupid Movie Physics: Hollywood's Best Mistakes, Goofs and Flat-Out Destructions of the Basic Laws of the Universe

Tom Rogers

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 9 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Highly Interesting for Geeks like me! 4 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

This book examines many things that happen in movies. So, you see a guy with an automatic weapon firing for 20 seconds straight. This book lets you know the firing rate, and capacity so that it would be empty in 1.5 seconds. Also, the weight of bullets, e.g. Matrix Revolutions, at that firing rate, wheelbarrels of bullets won't do it, you need truckfulls. Besides the physics - how fast an explosion goes, versus gravity pulling our hero down to water (they always jump away from an explosion), would give him 17 inches down toward water - oops, fried. Beside the fun physics, what I remember from high school and freshman college physics is in seperate boxes (e.g. Force = Mass x Acceleration) used to give details. You can skip these if they are too dry for you - but I love the backup info. What is great about this book is that the author does not just dismiss stuff - e.g. let's say Superman can fly (given), but if he swooped in to save Lois, coming to an immediate stop, all his kinetic energy would be converted to heat - about 6000 degrees. Or Spiderman, to zip around would need about 1/3 of his body weight to be web creating fluid. Lots of great stuff covered, Star Trek inertial dampers (without they'd be pancake crew), shields in all space movies, Matrix Revolution firing, bullets knocking someone off his feet (e.g. Lethal Weapon), how much explosive to blast the asteroid in Armageddon (oh, about 1000 of the largest nuclear bombs Russia ever built), the bus jump in Speed (how it could actually happen, versus how they filmed it), etc. Lots of great movies covered, without ruining them. Clearly this author loves movies as much as I do, and yet wants to educate readers on physics so you don't try to start a gasoline puddle fire with a cigarette (highly unlikely to work - read the book and see why!). The end of each chapter has a short list of PLUS and MINUS for movies in the category - e.g. [-][-] planets that explode in a few seconds, [0] terrestrial fireballs traveling great distances at hypersonic speeds (incorrect but forgivable), [+][+] fragmentation grenades detonating without large fireballs. So each of these plus and minus relate to movies in the prior chapter, and notice the author often 'forgives' some physics because it is good for the movie/story.

Editorial Review:

-Would the bus in Speed really have made that jump?
-Could a Star Wars ship actually explode in space?
-What really would have happened if you said "Honey, I shrunk the kids"?

The companion book to the hit website (www.intuitor.com/moviephysics), which boasts more than 1 million visitors per year, Insultingly Stupid Movie Physics is a hilarious guide to the biggest mistakes, most outrageous assumptions, and the outright lunacy at work in Hollywood films that play with the rules of science.

In this fascinating and funny guide, author Tom Rogers examines 20 different topics and shows how, when it comes to filmmaking, the rules of physics are flexible.

Einsteins and film buffs alike will be educated and entertained by this wise and witty guide to science in Hollywood.

Uncertainty: Einstein, Heisenberg, Bohr, and the Struggle for the Soul of Science

David Lindley

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 28 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

God Not Only Plays Dice, She Cheats! 5 out of 5 stars.
7 of 7 people found this review helpful.

Richard Feynman once remarked, perhaps apocryphally, that if anyone told you they `understood' quantum theory, that the one thing you could depend on is that they had missed something. That is why I find it interesting that many of the `so-so' or negative reviews of this book focus on the issue that it does not impart an `understanding' of quantum theory or mechanics. The entire point of the book is the debate between `determinism,' the idea that everything is knowable (understandable), and `uncertainty,' the idea that nothing can be `known' in the ultimate sense as everything exists only as a probability.

So, in the limited sense, this book will not allow you to `understand' quantum mechanics; if you are a careful reader you will see that `understanding' in the common sense is impossible if you accept uncertainty.

In the past few years there have been many books about particle physics, string theory, cosmology, and such which are more or less dependent on the idea that at the heart of the matter uncertainty rules the function of physics on both the large and the small scale. Rutherford once asked Bohr what `caused' the electron to shift from one state to another; Bohr spent most of the rest of his life trying to explain that the question was irrelevant; nothing `causes' the shift; it is a probability function. At the larger scale Edward Tryon said "our Universe is simply one of those things which happen from time to time."

I really admire this book because it does focus on the personalities of the big players in this debate, something other reviewers have criticized. But unless you understand the background of these giants of science you will not understand why some of them resisted the idea of indeterminism even in the face of overwhelming evidence.

But the debate continues with some popular writers, Dinesh D'Souza, `What's So Great About Christianity?,' for example, who wish to maintain that all scientists accept a deterministic model of the Universe and that this constitutes a sort of `religious faith' in causality. The fact is that most scientists ignore the issue as it has little to do with day to day science. But if you are at all interested in what the debate means in so far as particle physics and cosmology is concerned, this book is an excellent primer on the topic. Because the book does not present a comprehensive, non-mathematical, explanation for quantum mechanics should not be seen as a fault, it's `simply one of those things.'

Editorial Review:

Werner Heisenberg’s “uncertainty principle” challenged centuries of scientific understanding, placed him in direct opposition to Albert Einstein, and put Niels Bohr in the middle of one of the most heated debates in scientific history. Heisenberg’s theorem stated that there were physical limits to what we could know about sub-atomic particles; this “uncertainty” would have shocking implications. In a riveting account, David Lindley captures this critical episode and explains one of the most important scientific discoveries in history, which has since transcended the boundaries of science and influenced everything from literary theory to television.

Reinventing Gravity: A Physicist Goes Beyond Einstein

John W. Moffat

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Einstein's gravity theory—his general theory of relativity—has served as the basis for a series of astonishing cosmological discoveries. But what if, nonetheless, Einstein got it wrong?

Since the 1930s, physicists have noticed an alarming discrepancy between the universe as we see it and the universe that Einstein's theory of relativity predicts. There just doesn't seem to be enough stuff out there for everything to hang together. Galaxies spin so fast that, based on the amount of visible matter in them, they ought to be flung to pieces, the same way a spinning yo-yo can break its string. Cosmologists tried to solve the problem by positing dark matter—a mysterious, invisible substance that surrounds galaxies, holding the visible matter in place—and particle physicists, attempting to identify the nature of the stuff, have undertaken a slew of experiments to detect it. So far, none have.

Now, John W. Moffat, a physicist at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Canada, offers a different solution to the problem. The cap­stone to a storybook career—one that began with a correspondence with Einstein and a conversation with Niels Bohr—Moffat's modified gravity theory, or MOG, can model the movements of the universe without recourse to dark matter, and his work chal­lenging the constancy of the speed of light raises a stark challenge to the usual models of the first half-million years of the universe's existence.

This bold new work, presenting the entirety of Moffat's hypothesis to a general readership for the first time, promises to overturn everything we thought we knew about the origins and evolution of the universe.

The Quantum World: Quantum Physics for Everyone

Kenneth W. Ford

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 25 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

No, not everyone 3 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

I wanted a book that would give me an overview of quantum physics and since this was a fairly recent book, I thought it would do the trick.

Unfortunately, I found it pretty dull. It was alright at first, but every time it got bogged down into the historical notes, I found my brain wandering off and it became increasingly difficult to return and finish the book. With the extensive and detailed digressions into who wrote what when, I approached the more interesting parts with growing disinterest.

I do NOT mind historical notes and have often read history of ___ books, but the amount of detail was completely unnecessary in telling the story.

I agree with what another reader said, 'all over the place.' Perhaps he was trying to appease every audience he could think of rather than producing a book with universal appeal/approachability.

In short, if I wanted a history of physics book, I would have bought one. I didn't intend to buy half a pop-sci physics book and half a history of physics book and lose track every time it switched from one to the other. It was ok. It was just not what I thought I purchased.

Editorial Review:

As Kenneth W. Ford shows us in The Quantum World, the laws governing the very small and the very swift defy common sense and stretch our minds to the limit. Drawing on a deep familiarity with the discoveries of the twentieth century, Ford gives an appealing account of quantum physics that will help the serious reader make sense of a science that, for all its successes, remains mysterious. In order to make the book even more suitable for classroom use, the author, assisted by Diane Goldstein, has included a new section of Quantum Questions at the back of the book. A separate answer manual to these 300+ questions is available; visit The Quantum World website for ordering information.

There is also a cloth edition of this book, which does not include the "Quantum Questions" included in this paperback edition.

Relativity: The Special and the General Theory (Penguin Classics)

Albert Einstein

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 77 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

A qualified recommendation 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

As at least one reviewer has noted there are several editions of this book. (This exact edition is also available in paperback.) Definitely get this one (or another 15th edition) because it is the 1952, fifteenth edition, which is the last one that Einstein prepared and is the one that contains all five of his appendices. My local bookstore has several editions put out by different publishers. Side by side were two, one was a 1916, third edition, that contained only three appendices and the other was the complete 1952, fifteenth edition, which actually cost a dollar LESS than the incomplete version. The 1916 version is in public domain, so the publisher does not have to pay anything to the Einstein estate. Thus, the publisher makes more money from purchasers who are not savvy enough to realize that they are getting an inferior edition for the same or even a higher price than a complete one. Caveat emptor.

The four stars do not in any way refer to my view of Einstein or his work. Were they the basis of the review I would have given it five stars. I am qualifying my recommendation because I believe that only some readers will find the book to be suitable for their needs. Thus, I am giving it only four stars because this book is too elementary for someone studying relativity in a graduate course but too complex for someone with little or no physics background. Thus, the readership is somewhat limited.

Pros:
1) This book is Einstein's classic presentation of his special and general theories of relativity, prepared for a general audience. As such, it has interesting historical value as well as being illuminating for some readers. The fifteenth edition contains all of Einstein's corrections and all of his appendices.
2) A reasonably good presentation of the special theory.
3) Good for someone with a physics background (engineers, physicists at the BS or MS level, chemists, etc.) It is, however, too elementary for someone studying relativity at a graduate level. For them, it is primarily useful as a historical document. They would probably get more from Einstein's papers than from this book, which was written for the general public.
Cons:
1) The bulk of this book was written in 1916, in German, and then translated into English. As such, it is somewhat convoluted in places and generally has the typical flavor of 19th century prose.
2) I feel that while the special theory is presented in a reasonably straightforward manner the general theory is not. Einstein uses a little math here, but it is insufficient for a physicist and is probably incomprehensible for someone with little or no math or physics background. I believe that Martin Gardner's book "Relativity Simply Explained" is a better choice for someone with little or no science background. It does a very much better job of explaining the general theory for a general audience.
3) While Einstein explains how the basic assumptions of his theories differ from those of classical physics, these differences are not, in my opinion, highlighted sufficiently. I recommend Isaacson's recent biography of Einstein for those who want these differences more clearly delineated. Isaacson clearly shows why Einstein's theories were so radical a departure from those of Newton.

All in all, this is a good book for the right audience.

Editorial Review:

The Nobel Prize-winning scientist’s presentation of his landmark theory

According to Einstein himself, this book is intended "to give an exact insight into the theory of Relativity to those readers who, from a general scientific and philosophical point of view, are interested in the theory, but who are not conversant with the mathematical apparatus of theoretical physics." When he wrote the book in 1916, Einstein’s name was scarcely known outside the physics institutes. Having just completed his masterpiece, The General Theory of Relativity—which provided a brand-new theory of gravity and promised a new perspective on the cosmos as a whole—he set out at once to share his excitement with as wide a public as possible in this popular and accessible book.