Light and Waves: A Conceptual Exploration of Physics

by Steven S. Andrews

This book explores light and other types of waves, using this as a window into other aspects of physics. It emphasizes a conceptual understanding, using examples chosen from everyday life and the natural environment. For example, it explains how hummingbird feathers create shimmering colors, how musical instruments produce sound, and how atoms stick together to form molecules. It provides a unique perspective on physics by emphasizing commonalities among different types of waves, including string waves, water waves, sound waves, light waves, the matter waves of quantum mechanics, and the gravitational waves of general relativity. This book is targeted toward college non-science majors, advanced high school students, and adults who are curious about our physical world. It assumes familiarity with algebra but no further mathematics and is classroom-ready with many worked examples, exercises, exploratory puzzles, and appendices to support students from a variety of backgrounds.

539 pages, Hardcover

Published May 14, 2023

Reviews

[Dana Nourie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am soooo stoked about this book! I have been searching for a great book on light and waves for years. The books I found previously were either for children, too simplified and barely touching the topic, or too over my head, diving deeply into quantum mechanics. Many college physics books just mention the nature of light, then dive into optics. This book is exactly what I was hoping to find. Steven S. Andrews dives deeply into light and waves, yet he explains everything so well. The book is also filled with wonderful colorful illustrations and photographs, as well as the algebra that quantify the concepts. ALL OF THIS is what I wanted to understand.

The text is enjoyable and fascinating to read. The book is something between a text book and a book for general readers. I really appreciate the way he kept the math on the level of algebra and trigonometry. At the end of every chapter are great problems that exlemplify the points in the text.

My only disappointment is that this appears to be this author’s only book. I was hoping this book may be a part of a physic series, but it is not. Steven does, however, make some great recommendations for the next steps in learning these topics and more in the appendix. In fact, I bought one of the college physics textbooks that he recommended, and I’m so happy with that one as well.

I’m really glad I opted to buy the hardback version of the book instead of paperback, as I will be referring back often to this book, to reread chapters, to do more of the problems at the end of the chapter and to refer back to his recommendations for other books and resources. This is not a book that would be good for audio only as the illustrations and equations are integral to the text.

If you are interested in light and waves, this book is for you!

[Peter Sandwall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great review. Excellent, "physics for non-physics majors."