50 Physics Ideas You Really Need to Know [Hardcover]

This book contains 50 concise overviews of important ideas that form the basis of classical and modern physics. They are grouped into five sections, namely:
· Matter in Motion (mostly classical physics, such as Newton's laws of motions and Kepler's laws, but with some more modern ideas such as Chaos theory).
· Beneath the Waves (wave behavior of light, electromagnetic waves and Maxwell's equations).
· Quantum Conundrums (quantum mechanics, including Planck's law of black body radiation, photoelectric effect, Schrodinger's wave equation, Heisenberg's uncertainty principle and superconductivity).
· Splitting Atoms (structure of the atom, atomic fission and fusion, the standard model of particle physics and string theory)
· Space and Time (special and general relativity, the big bang theory, black holes, dark matter and dark energy).

The specific topics listed above represent only 20 of the 50 ideas covered in the book, each of which is presented in exactly four pages. Each idea is supplemented with boxes containing some extended discussion of a particular point, some quotations concerning the idea and biographical information about some scientists. Given that only four pages are allotted to each idea, the presentation is necessarily only superficial, but the author did a very good job of compressing the most salient points into a very limited space.

This is a good book for those who only want an general overview of some very important ideas, presented without any math, for a general audience. It is also a useful review book for those who know are better versed in physics. Some very complex ideas (such as Newton's bucket, the difference between Fraunhoffer and Fresnel diffraction, Feynman diagrams and the Anthropic principle) that are often not discussed in basic physics texts are covered. This is thus more than just an elementary overview of physics.

Given that the author has been limited to only 50 ideas (this book is part of a series of 50 idea books) there are those who will quibble about the choices that were made. I for one think that they were reasonably comprehensive (although I would have liked to see more thermodynamics) and I highly recommend this book.

I just bought this book and read first few "ideas" and found the book impressive. You can read sample pages at Amazon, so I am not going to go into details. Book, paper, and print are of very high quality. Material is easy to read and mostly in simple language without much technical talk. Each "idea" (theorm, law, etc.) takes 4 pages and contain related information on the sidebars. For example, in the idea that explains Newton's laws of motion, there is a section describing Newton's life.

In my opinion, one can use this book to refresh their memory of what they have learnt while studying AS WELL AS lean new things that weren't taught in school.

I am happy with the purchase.

I'm out of practice on physics, to this was a really handy review, covering everything from Newtonian motion to relativity to quantum mechanics to cosmology and string theory.

Baker does a great job of explaining the history behind the theories and provides some fascinating anecdotes and facts about the scientists who developed these important ideas.

She also presents the material in a format that is understandable and digestible, with four pages given to each topic, and the ideas arranged in a naturally-flowing sequence.

I would have liked to see a little bit more of the mathematics covered, but I also realize that not everyone in the target audience for a book like this is going to have a lot of tolerance for pages of equations. Baker's "condensed idea" catchphrases that end the chapters are a bit hit-or-miss, and a few of the segments wander off the topic a bit.

But some of the topics are really well-presented. I may use Baker's description of photoelectric effect in my chemistry class next year. Her explanation is superior to either my textbook or any version that I've managed to come up with for my students. I also really enjoyed the chapter on Feynman diagrams, a topic that I really had no previous exposure to and which I came away feeling like I had a decent grasp and a curiosity to learn more. And she did a good job with some topics that I'm very comfortable with already such as the Ideal Gas Law.

This is worth reading if you're taking physics, teaching it, trying to refresh your knowledge of it, or if you missed out on it in high school or college and are curious as to what it's all about.