The Restless Universe 2nd edition by Born, Max (2013) Paperback

by Max Born

This highly readable introduction to modern physics was written by a giant of quantum mechanics. Gifted with a rare ability to explain complicated scientific concepts to lay readers, Nobel laureate Max Born presents a step-by-step guide to the understanding of molecules, atoms, subatomic particles, and nuclear physics. Chemical and Engineering News praised Born's narrative as "masterfully discussed . . . easy and delightful," and Philosophy of Science declared that it "should be welcomed by all."
Starting with explanations of molecular motion and the kinetic theory of gases, Born advances to the laws of chance, conduction of heat, molecular weight, relativity, mass and energy, electronic charges, gaseous ions, light waves, light quanta, and spectral lines of gases. Subsequent topics include electron waves, Bohr's theory of the hydrogen atom, wave mechanics, Pauli's exclusion principle, cosmic rays, nuclear structure, and dozens of related subjects. Profusely illustrated with helpful figures and drawings, the text includes an extensive appendix that explains the historical and social significance of developments in modern physics.

Genres: Physics, Science

Paperback

First published January 1, 1936

About the author

Max Born (was a German-British physicist and mathematician who was instrumental in the development of quantum mechanics. He also made contributions to solid-state physics and optics and supervised the work of a number of notable physicists in the 1920s and 30s. Born won the 1954 Nobel Prize in Physics (shared with Walther Bothe).

Reviews

[Bria · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book appealed to me, and seems to be sold on, the illustrations, particularly the flipbook films that inhabit the margins of the pages. Sadly, a great deal of the illustrations are kind of useless, either just drawings of objects or scenes that are totally unnecessary, or charts or diagrams that are not very well explained. It was also curious to see what types of knowledge Born expected his audience to know or be familiar with, such as experience with how mechanical or electronic objects work. Part of this must be due to the time period, when maybe people were closer to how their machines worked since they were less complicated and on a large enough scale that one could conceivably take them apart or work with them without expensive equipment. And maybe his idea of what the demographics of his readers would be was different than what I might have expected, which may also be a result of the time period.

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

A qualitative description of the foundations of quantum and nuclear physics. He focuses on using descriptions of the actual experiments which discovered the phenomena being discussed. Overall it is a very fast read and provides a fascinating historical account of how many important concepts in physics were pieced together.