Physics for Entertainment, Book 2 - Hardcover

Perelman, Yakov

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1401309216 ISBN 13: 9781401309213

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing, 2008

Synopsis

For physics students and science buffs alike, this clever and easy-to-read elementary physics handbook, recently mentioned in a New Yorker article, was a bestseller in the Soviet Union in the 1930s.

This book appeals to bright inquisitive minds and gives answers to basic questions about physics. The fundamentals of mechanics, force, work, friction, rotation, gravitation, and more are presented with timeless charm. Instructive and witty, the author singles out and presents ordinary facts and phenomena from a physics perspective, encouraging readers to think in physical categories. The anecdotes are enhanced by black and white illustrations. The English language edition was first published in the UK by Mir Publishers.

Chapters include:

• Can One Walk Without Support?
• Why Do Knots Hold?
• You as Galileo
• Can an Invisible Man See?
• How to Dig Tunnels
• Why Fish Have Bladders
• And much more!

About this title

About the Author

Yakov Perelman (1882-1942) was a Russian author of many popular science books.

From the Inside Flap

"The main objective of Physics for Entertainment is to arouse the activity of scientific imagination, to teach the reader to think in the spirit of science and to create in his mind a wide variety of associations."
--Yakov Perelman

Ask most people what they think about physics, and you'll likely get a shrug or a scowl. But hand someone a copy of Physics for Entertainment, and you'll get a smile.

Written in the early days of the Soviet Union, Physics for Entertainment is filled with easy-to-understand explanations of the essential laws of the universe, which Perelman sets up with questions such as:

Can an invisible man see?

Why does a microscope magnify?

Why do knots hold?

Why does a rocket go up?

What would happen if the speed of sound was slower?

Why do fish have bladders?

What is the safest way to jump from a moving car?

Perelman also uses examples from authors such as Mark Twain, Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, and Charles Darwin to illustrate the otherwise obtuse principles of physics.

Both instructive and witty, this book explores ordinary facts and phenomenon from a physics perspective, encouraging readers to think in scientific terms.

Physics for Entertainment is just as unique and diverting--and educational--as it was seventy years ago, when it first became a bestseller in the Soviet Union.

Reviews

The impetus to republish this once-popular miscellany by an early–20th-century Russian scientist stems from the notoriety of reclusive Russian mathematician Grigori Perelman (no relation), who was awarded, and declined, the Fields Medal for proving the Poincaré conjecture. Grigori claimed he was inspired by Yakov's book as a child, and certainly children often ask about things like whether an invisible man is able to see, or what you would experience if you fell all the way through the center of the earth. Each chapter is devoted to a scientific principle, such as mechanics, heat, and properties of liquids and gases. Perelman nods to science fiction writers from Cyrano de Bergerac to Mark Twain and H.G. Wells as he explains why their whimsical fancies might or might not be feasible. The writing in this anonymous translation is lively and entertaining, but more up-to-date books in a similar vein are more likely to stoke modern young imaginations. This reprint of the original treatise's second volume (the first being unavailable for translation and republication) is a charming historical curiosity and an entertaining diversion. (Feb. 12)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Edition details

• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
• Publication date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1401309216
• ISBN 13: 9781401309213
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 336