Physics: The First Science

Today's physics textbooks have become encyclopedic, offering students dry discussions, rote formulas, and exercises with little relation to the real world. Physics: The First Science takes a different approach by offering uniquely accessible, student-friendly explanations, historical and philosophical perspectives and mathematics in easy-to-comprehend dialogue. It emphasizes the unity of physics and its place as the basis for all science. Examples and worked solutions are scattered throughout the narrative to help increase understanding. Students are tested and challenged at the end of each chapter with questions ranging from a guided-review designed to mirror the examples, to problems, reasoning skill building exercises that encourage students to analyze unfamiliar situations, and interactive simulations developed at the University of Colorado. With their experience instructing both students and teachers of physics for decades, Peter Lindenfeld and Suzanne White Brahmia have developed an algebra-based physics book with features to help readers see the physics in their lives. Students will welcome the engaging style, condensed format, and economical price.

PETER LINDENFELD has been a professor of physics at Rutgers University for more than four decades. In addition to his research in superconductivity and materials physics he has taught at all levels and is a recipient of the Millikan medal of the American Association of Physics Teachers.

SUZANNE WHITE BRAHMIA has taught physics and written curriculum for many years, beginning as a Peace Corps physics teacher in Africa. She heads the Extended Physics Program for engineering students at Rutgers University, and is associate director of the Math and Science Learning Center.