#Book #Review: "ABC of #Physics. A very Brief #Guide"
ABC of Physics. A very Brief Guide
by Lev Okun
World Scientific, 2012
http://www.worldscientific.com/worldscibooks/10.1142/8422
The title of this little book, the "ABC of Physics", can be deceptive.
It is somewhat introductory but also sweeps through all the fields of the so-called "modern, fundamental physics", namely gravity, quantum and particle physics.
"ABC", therefore, stands not only for "introductory" but for "fundamental" as well.
It is indeed a very short guide, which can fit the needs of neophytes, amateurs and a certain share of "general audience", but at the same time it can be a useful summary of many concepts and ideas also for students at different levels, starting from high-school, and maybe for professionals as well.
Lev Okun, the author of this book, undertook the difficult goal of squeezing basically every aspect of basic and fundamental physics in about 120 small-format pages. His approach is to select a specific set of subjects, presented in chapters, which are at their turn subdivided in very short and concise "pill-sections".
The result is quite original since it can fit the needs of a very large audience, and at the same time it might result difficult to any of the same audience. Admittedly, this can be confusing, and the author himself gives a word of advice in the Preface: this book is mainly intended for professional physicists, and specifically for young professors, who wish to get ideas for their work. Each chapter, or a series of chapters, can be used as the seeds to start and structure a course.
by Lev Okun
World Scientific, 2012
http://www.worldscientific.com/worldscibooks/10.1142/8422
It is somewhat introductory but also sweeps through all the fields of the so-called "modern, fundamental physics", namely gravity, quantum and particle physics.
"ABC", therefore, stands not only for "introductory" but for "fundamental" as well.
It is indeed a very short guide, which can fit the needs of neophytes, amateurs and a certain share of "general audience", but at the same time it can be a useful summary of many concepts and ideas also for students at different levels, starting from high-school, and maybe for professionals as well.
Lev Okun, the author of this book, undertook the difficult goal of squeezing basically every aspect of basic and fundamental physics in about 120 small-format pages. His approach is to select a specific set of subjects, presented in chapters, which are at their turn subdivided in very short and concise "pill-sections".
The result is quite original since it can fit the needs of a very large audience, and at the same time it might result difficult to any of the same audience. Admittedly, this can be confusing, and the author himself gives a word of advice in the Preface: this book is mainly intended for professional physicists, and specifically for young professors, who wish to get ideas for their work. Each chapter, or a series of chapters, can be used as the seeds to start and structure a course.
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