Get a Grip on Physics

by John Gribbin

A physicist and author of popular-science books offers down-to-earth discussions of string theory, black holes, superfluidity, and other cosmic oddities. Playful engravings and cartoons illustrate these imaginative explanations of the laws of physics and their application to everything from massive stars to miniscule atoms. Suitable for readers of all ages.

Genres: Science, Physics, Nonfiction, Reference, Education

194 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

John R. Gribbin is a British science writer, an astrophysicist, and a visiting fellow in astronomy at the University of Sussex. His writings include quantum physics, human evolution, climate change, global warming, the origins of the universe, and biographies of famous scientists. He also writes science fiction.

Reviews

[Kar · Rating 2 out of 5]

LTDR: Too many concepts introduced without easy to understand explanation.

I appreciate summary books on Physics, Chemistry, biology, and others. One of the goals of the books is to capture the minds and interests of the audience that otherwise would not be much interested in reading on these topics. Of course, the books may have other objectives. 

This book fails to deliver on capturing my interest. I would categorize this book like the ones I was forced to read in my school year - it didn't make knowing more about Physics any exciting; it didn't make it easy to understand and follow the writer's logic on various topics. Physics by the nature of the topic is dense, requires your brain to be actively absorbing diverse information as you are reading it. It is imperative for the author to understand this basic need of his reader. Getting a Grip on Physics sounds like a book for anybody interested in knowing more about it. Hence, I would expect this book to make it as simple and interesting as possible any topic that it tries to introduce to the reader. 

John Gribbin throws in so many different concepts without sufficient and satisfying explanation that makes you feel you hooked on the book. I lost interest halfway through the book - I still finished it. I felt like he tried to discuss way more concepts then the booked allowed, ultimately, not living up to what I expected from this book.

[B · Rating 3 out of 5]

An illustrated, high level romp through the history of physics. Great for the WC as no one topic requires more than a minute or two's attention.

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

The illustrations and page layouts in this book are excellent. Not in an education way, necessarily, but in a nice-to-look-at way.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

an excellent way to learn about physics

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This seems like a good overview of physics from the early days up until the book was published (1999). It's mostly done in short snippets, with brief overviews of various subjects and little bios of important figures. It fried my brain a bit in places (quantum mechanics, ouch) but I think I exited the book with a better understanding of physics overall.

My biggest gripe was that the printing itself contained many errors and in two places, sentences ended at the bottom of the page, and didn't finish anywhere - including the last sentence of the book!

It was an interesting choice to print it on brown paper. I really hope they used recycled materials, but it doesn't say that anywhere in the book.

[Douglas Cosby · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this as a bathroom book over a long period of time. While we all prefer our bathroom books to be bite-sized and light, this book is too much so. Also, the more recent theories (string theory, multi-verse concepts, quantum gravity, etc.) already feel stale and outdated. I never really like Gribbin, so I'm not sure why I chose this one, but I was once again unimpressed.

[Irfin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmmm... gmn ya, saya baca yg terbitan indonesia-nya sih, alias hasil terjemahan. Menurut saya buku ini gak begitu jelas penjelasannya, bahkan kadang kalimatnya gk begitu dimengerti. Saya sangat yakin hal ini dikarenakan penerjemahnya gk mampu untuk menerjemahkannya dengan baik (ato becus maybe?)

Si penerjemah sepertinya menerjemahkan per-kata alhasil tidak terlalu menarik isi kalimat2x dari buku ini. Bahkan kadang saya harus menemukan sendiri maksud yg sesungguhnya dari kalimat yg diterjemahkan oleh si penerjemah.

(hmm.. seperti bukan review ya ini, tapi lebih ke mengkritik si penerjemah hihihi)

[Otávio Ziglia · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book for an introduction in modern physics. Totally worth reading it! Maybe with this general understanding you can, sooner, go deeper into a specific subject.

[Abdulrahman Algwaiz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book especially for children. Gives a comprehensive explanation on concepts of physics as well its history.
An easy read and to gain a general overview on physics.