Physics is?: The Physicist Explores Attributes of Physics (IOP Concise Physics)

He's back! The physicist returns with an entirely new compilation of questions and answers from his long-lived website where laypeople can ask questions about anything physics related. This book focuses on adjectives (practical, beautiful, surprising, cool, frivolous) instead of nouns like the first two books (atoms, photons, quanta, mechanics, relativity). The answers within 'Physics Is' are responses to people looking for answers to fascinating (and often uninformed) questions. It covers topics such as sports, electromagnetism, gravitational theory, special relativity, superheroes, videogames, and science fiction.

These books are designed for laypeople and rely heavily on concepts rather than formalism. That said, they keep the physics correct and don't water down, so expert physicists will find this book and its two companion titles fun reads. They may actually recognize similar questions posed to them by friends and family. As with the first two books, 'Physics Is' ends with a chapter with questions from people who think that 'The physicist' is a psychic and from people who think they have the answers to life, the universe and everything.

The Physicist is F Todd Baker. He received AB and MA degrees from Miami University and a PhD degree from the University of Michigan. His area of research is nuclear physics and he has published more than 70 articles in refereed journals as well as made numerous presentations at conferences and workshops. He has more than 35 years of college and university teaching experience. In 2006 he retired from the University of Georgia where he taught and performed nuclear physics research for 32 years. Previously he held a postdoctoral research associate position at Rutgers University and teaching positions at Carroll College (Wisconsin) and St Lawrence University. He now lives in Athens, Georgia with his wife Sara in a 106-year-old house mainly restored by him and decorated and landscaped by her. He has four beloved children aged 20-47 years. He enjoys bicycling around town, playing violin, cooking and baking, outdoor activities, DIY projects, film, music of many genres, working puzzles, reading mainly European murder mysteries, and hanging out in coffee houses. His curriculum vitae may be seen at www.ftoddbaker.com/cv.html.