Cover of Great Ideas in Physics

Great Ideas in Physics

by Alan Lightman · 1991

+ Want to read

Explains the physics behind each of the four ideas - the conservation of energy, the second law of thermodynamics, the theory of relativity, quantum mechanics - and deftly untangles for lay readers such knotty concepts as entropy, the relativity of time, and the Heisenberg uncertainty principle.

Subject
sciencescienceMore like thisLess of this
Audience
adult
Length
medium · 300 pages

Click a tag to see books like this one that share it. Point at it (on a phone, tap it) for less of it instead.

Read it? Sign in to help tag it.

BuyAmazonGoogle Books

BorrowOpen LibraryA library near you

MoreCompare prices

Liked Great Ideas in Physics? Here’s where I’d start.

These suit anyone who liked Great Ideas in Physics. Sign in and mark a few books for picks shaped around your own taste.

  1. Boltzmanns Atom: The Great Debate That Launched a Revolution in Physics David Lindley · 2001 Shares physics, wlt own, science
  2. Where Does The Weirdness Go?: Why Quantum Mechanics Is Strange, But Not As Strange As You Think David Lindley · 1996 Shares science, physics, wlt own
  3. Six Not-So-Easy Pieces: Einstein's Relativity, Symmetry, and Space-Time Richard Feynman · 1963 Shares science, physics, nonfiction
  4. Schrodinger's Rabbits: The Many Worlds of Quantum Colin Bruce · 2004 Shares physics, science, nonfiction
See more recommendations →

“If you want more of the same (science), start with these.”

  1. Dr. Joe's Science, Sense and Nonsense: 61 Nourishing, Healthy, Bunk-free Commentaries on the Chemistry That Affects Us All Joe Schwarcz · 2009
  2. The Magic of Mathematics: Discovering the Spell of Mathematics Theoni Pappas · 1994
  3. One Universe: At Home in the Cosmos Neil deGrasse Tyson, Charles Liu · 1999
  4. How to Destroy the Universe: and 34 Other Really Interesting Uses of Physics Paul Parsons · 2011

“If it was the physics that hooked you, try one of these.”

  1. QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter Richard Feynman · 1985
  2. Stephen Hawking's Life Works: The Cambridge Lectures Stephen Hawking · 1994
  3. Quantum Physics: Illusion or Reality? Alastair I.M. Rae · 1985
  4. 50 Quantum Physics Ideas You Really Need to Know (50 Ideas You Really Need to Know series) Joanne Baker · 2013

“These start from a similar idea, even if they go somewhere else with it.”

  1. Mysteries of Modern Physics: Time Sean Carroll · 2012
  2. Physics and Philosophy: The Revolution in Modern Science Werner Heisenberg · 1958
  3. The Laws of Thermodynamics: A Very Short Introduction Peter Atkins · 1990
  4. Einstein's Relativity and the Quantum Revolution: modern physics for non-scientists Richard Wolfson · 2000

Report a problem