10 books about physics

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A Science News favorite science book of 2019 As you read these words, copies of you are being created. Sean Carroll, theoretical physicist and one of this world's most celebrated writers on science, rewrites the history of twentieth-century physics. Already hailed as a masterpiece, Something Deeply Hidden shows for the first time that facing up to the essential puzzle of quantum mechanics utterly transforms how we think about space and time. His reconciling of quantum mechanics with Einstein's theory of relativity changes, well, everything. Most physicists haven't even recognized the uncomfortable truth: Physics has been in crisis since 1927. Quantum mechanics has always had obvious gaps--which have come to be simply ignored. Science popularizers keep telling us how weird it is, how impossible it is to understand. Academics discourage students from working on the "dead end" of quantum foundations. Putting his professional reputation on the line with this audacious yet entirely reasonable book, Carroll says that the crisis can now come to an end. We just have to accept that there is more than one of us in the universe. There are many, many Sean Carrolls. Many of every one of us. Copies of you are generated thousands of times per second. The Many-Worlds theory of quantum behavior says that every time there is a quantum event, a world splits off with everything in it the same, except in that other world the quantum event didn't happen. Step-by-step in Carroll's uniquely lucid way, he tackles the major objections to this otherworldly revelation until his case is inescapably established. Rarely does a book so fully reorganize how we think about our place in the universe. We are on the threshold of a new understanding--of where we are in the cosmos, and what we are made of.

Introduces the superstring theory that attempts to unite general relativity and quantum mechanics.

Physics is fun! It's all about pushing and pulling, running and jumping, rainbows and rockets — it's even about sports! Physics involves the sun and the moon and all the things around you, including how you use energy and how animals and plants do, too. This is the book you'll want to use to discover fascinating facts about gravity, light, heat, sound, and other wonders such as thunder and lightning and volcanoes. Find out how things move, how you see and hear, what electricity is, and what's inside an atom. These 46 detailed, full-page illustrations with easy-to-understand captions will introduce you to the most basic concepts of physics, using memorable examples drawn from nature.

The creator of the incredibly popular webcomic xkcd presents his heavily researched answers to his fans' oddest questions, including “What if I took a swim in a spent-nuclear-fuel pool?” and “Could you build a jetpack using downward-firing machine guns?” 100,000 first printing.

An accessible and engaging guide to the atom, the smallest, most fundamental constituent of matter. Until now, popular science has relegated the atom to a supporting role in defining the different chemical elements of the periodic table. In this book, Jack Challoner places the atom at center stage. The Atom investigates the quest to identify the smallest, most fundamental constituents of matter--and how that quest helps us to understand what everything is made of and how it all works. Challoner covers a wide range of topics--including the development of scientific thinking about atoms and the basic structure of atoms; how atomic interactions account for the familiar properties of everyday materials; the power of the atomic nucleus; and what the mysterious quantum realm of subatomic particles can tell us about the very nature of reality. Illustrated in color throughout, The Atom offers clear answers to questions we have all pondered, as well as some we have never even dreamed of. It describes the amazing discoveries scientists have made about the fundamental building blocks of matter--from quarks to nuclear fission to the "God particle"--and explains them accessibly and concisely. The Atom is the engaging and straightforward introduction to the topic that we didn't get in school.

An illustrated, large-format edition of the best-seller has been expanded to encompass the remarkable advances that have occurred in science and technology over the past eight years, with a new chapter on Wormholes and Time Travel and more than 240 full-color, captioned illustrations. 100,000 first printing.

The sweeping new update to the worldwide bestseller, "The New Way Things Work" includes all new sections on the technology that most impacts our everyday lives."

Presents photographic representations of the one hundred and eighteen elements in the period table, along with facts, figures and stories about each one.

Its' Really About Time provides a clear and complete explanation of why it will someday be possible to travel years, decades or even centuries in the future, a direct consequence of Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity. The book is aimed at intellectually curious people and requires no previous science or mathematics training.