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Thinking Physics: Understandable Practical Reality | 
 enlarge | Author: Lewis Carroll Epstein
Publisher: Insight Press
Category: Book
List Price: $33.95
Buy New: $20.92
You Save: $13.03 (38%)
New (17) Used (14) from $18.99
Rating:  20 reviews
Sales Rank: 52823
Media: Paperback
Edition: 3rd
Pages: 582
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.6
Dimensions (in): 9 x 6 x 1.1
ISBN: 0935218084
Dewey Decimal Number: 530
EAN: 9780935218084
ASIN: 0935218084
Publication Date: September 1, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
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Product Description
Lewis Carroll Epstein explains deep ideas in physics in an easy-to-understand way. Thinking Physics is a perfect beginner’s guide to an amazingly wide range of physics-related questions. The book targets topics that science teachers and students spend time wondering about, like wing lift. Epstein elucidates the familiar but misunderstood — such as how tides work — along with more obscure but fascinating phenomena like the “Bernoulli sub” and the “artificial aurora” created by hydrogen bombs. Broken into many short sections and peppered with Epstein’s own playful hand-drawn illustrations, the book does not simply give the right answer: It also goes into the answers that seem right but are wrong and shows why they are wrong — a rarity in science books. Thinking Physics is a rigorously correct, lighthearted, and cleverly designed Q and A book for physicists of all ages.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 5 more reviews...
20 years and counting August 9, 2008
P. Willey (ME USA)
We originally bought this book in the late 80's. It sits in our bathroom and gets more use than Uncle John's! It has insightful problems that often don't require the use of math. The problems often seem common sense, but OUCH! It's like those game shows when you know the answer must be the one that's outside the box. Of course, then the next problem will bite you when you realize you common sense isn't so screwed up after all!
After each problem is an explanation, that's easy to understand, usually less than a page, and is usually explained in such a way that you will say... "DOH"!
The same real world problems your physics teacher made seem SOOOOoooo Hard and complicated to solve/understand will suddenly be lit with a hundred light bulbs.
As I said before, this book sits in our bathroom, is constantly read and doesn't need a calculator next to it. Although some of the solutions do use math, this book breaks them down into simple math problems.
As for the 1 star review by the scientist. That indicates how great this book is. A book with a description of "..cleverly designed Q and A book for physicists of all ages." may be an indicator that the problems do not require a background in calculus.
 Haphazard, poorly organized, disappointing June 30, 2008
Michael Willers (New Haven, Connecticut)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
The other reviewers have given this book excellent ratings, but I must differ. As a scientist, I approached this book with high hopes, but it fell far short of my expectations. It is poorly organized and written in a haphazard fashion, jumping around without any continuity and without the development of common themes. Furthermore, the author confuses his units -- to pick only one example, he uses pounds (lbs) for both mass and force. This may seem too particular, but confusing units is truly inexecusble in the world of physics, at least if you want to think about physics in an exact manner. Finally, there is very little in the way of demonstration of basic laws of physics. Newton's laws get mentioned only rarely, and the mathematics are not explained adequately. The author relies far too much on the reader's physics "intuition," rather than actually explaining the mathematics or physical laws behind the illustrative (or not-so-illustrative) situation.
All in all, this book is a patchwork compilation of random physical scenarios that may have interested the author, but do little to illuminate physical laws or enlighten the reader.
 good practical examples May 18, 2008
Douglas Elliott
I love the way Epstein explains things in everyday language and examples. He uses simple drawings and does not use mathematical formulas!
A fine addition to any science library March 2, 2008
A. Squitieri (Madison, WI US)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
An excellent low-math book that covers many everyday concepts in physics, allows anyone to think through everyday problems and gain experience in thinking without doing calculations or sitting through endless ball-rolling-down-ramp labs. It shows ways that physicists and scientifically literate people think about physics problems in general terms. I've seen it on many shelves- grad students, postdocs and professors, teaching or not, since my undergrad days 25 years ago , alongside Art of Electronics, Jackson, Halliday/Resnik , and a book of integrals. Fine for junior- and high school students, and even younger with parental guidance. Many kids have sensible questions about why e.g. a bike stays up or who you really wouldn't want to run into on a football field, and the answers to them, and nice sketches too.
Thought Experiments in Physics February 6, 2008
Frank Jung (Sacramento, CA USA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book by Epstein is one of my better investments for secondary school (or undergraduate/graduate) physics books. Although I do not use it as a text, I have taken advantage of the problems posed within as warm-up questions to engage the students on the topics at hand(in addition to the hands-on demonstrations.) My students can really get fired up by some of the classical problems and the illustrations that accompany every questions within. The answer keys are highly intelligible as well as entertaining.
However, do not underestimate the questions as merely for the beginning students of physics: they are far from that realm. Some of the questions are challenging enough even for the professional physicists, and in fact even for Newton himself.
If you are intrigue, go buy it.
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