What do you think?
Rate this book
Inertia
Rachel Simons just wants to graduate college and move on to an exciting biology career doing something very geeky. The only thing standing between her and her future is a required physics.
Weird happenings are going on in the physics department. Rachel’s physics professor Peter Parker, aptly nicknamed Spider-Man, has a strange document up on his computer when Rachel visits during his office hours.
Is Peter Parker really a superhero, and is there an arch enemy who’s trying to kill him - and maybe Rachel as well? Justin Borgstrom, Peter Parker’s assistant, has unwittingly dragged Rachel into the center of the conflict, and Rachel’s not sure she’ll live through the end of the semester, fend off Justin’s romantic advances, or ever pass physics.
Weird happenings are going on in the physics department. Rachel’s physics professor Peter Parker, aptly nicknamed Spider-Man, has a strange document up on his computer when Rachel visits during his office hours.
Is Peter Parker really a superhero, and is there an arch enemy who’s trying to kill him - and maybe Rachel as well? Justin Borgstrom, Peter Parker’s assistant, has unwittingly dragged Rachel into the center of the conflict, and Rachel’s not sure she’ll live through the end of the semester, fend off Justin’s romantic advances, or ever pass physics.
154 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 1, 2014
47 people want to read
About the author
Rebecca Schwartz
3 books8 followersRebecca Schwartz has a BA in Biology and an MA in Education. She started writing fiction at age fifteen and never looked back. In her limited free time, she enjoys bird watching, horticulture, traveling, and photography. She currently lives in Connecticut with her two cats and many, many plants.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
December 26, 2014
This book is pleasure to read. It's witty, fun, and a page turner from beginning to end. The dialogue is so immersive you'll start to feel like part of the conversation, too. I smiled the whole time I read it, and I can't wait for the next book in the series!
July 28, 2016
Stars: 3 / 5
Recommendation: A new twist mixing Science and Magic giving the plot an easy read at the same time. Go for it for those sunny days.
I came across this author at the book club we have at work - albeit its mostly a forum than in-person. She works for the client I work for and had promoted her third book in this series in that forum, when it had released on May 1st. Since she was a colleague (although not a direct related) I wanted to read her work and took up the first book in the series which is what I usually - if any series, always read from the first book. Newton's Laws: Lesson 1 - Inertia was released on May of 2014. Although not a huge fan of Physics, but being a Science major (Inorganic Chemistry) and having had gone thru the perils to swim thru Physics in my college, the title captured my attention immediately. I was curious to see how she had married Physics with Literature. And here is my take on the book.
Simply put, Newton's First Law of Motion also known as Law of Inertia states that every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it. That is exactly what happens to Rachel Simmons, a senior at college with majoring in Biology, one day at her Physics class - a course that she is mandated to take because the college requires all Biology Majors to take it. As part of her work-study she is assigned as the college's photographer and is usually asked to take pictures of the college and town to sell the school. However that particular day she is given an assignment to take pictures of the faculty to upgrade their profile on the college website. One of the faculty is her Physics professor, Peter Parker with a Ph. D. who is nick-named as Spider-Man by everyone at the campus. After the photo session done, when she sets on to edit the picture, she comes across a document open on the computer behind the Professor in the photo that talks about breaking rules, reversal of gravity and absence of kinetic energy. She gets obsessed with deciphering what little she sees in the photo. To add to that she gets curious about the stand-off between Peter Parker, Sherman Shapiro "The Doc" - another Physics Professor - and Justin Borgstrom "Johnny Storm" - who is always with Peter raising more questions in Rachel's mind.
Her curious mind and outright questions pulls her into the world of bendy physics and super-powers involving Justin, Peter, Barbara Ghavari "Babs" and Kitty Lebowitz - all trying to work against The Doc while protecting themselves. Rachel becomes the neutral ground for these four. Rest of the plot continues on how Rachel finds out how these super-powers work, who are these four, why is The Doc being their enemy and why is she being pulled around these four. Her obsessiveness to know the why of it opens her to their world - creating more from something, alchemy, healing injuries in a matter of seconds, ability to soundproof what one talks, time dilation, altering memories, making one invisible, reading minds and more. And from Justin's perspective he is very much interested in her in more ways than she wants him to be in - which is a hurdle she tries to avoid every time.
A very interesting idea in the plot of bringing Science and Magic together - explaining the unexplainable in terms of atoms and molecules that normally are shown as immortal, psychic or physical capabilities in other books. I watch the American TV sitcom The Big Bang Theory that blends Science with Comedy and was always amazed at the power of the writers and the imagination of the directors to do so. This author has successfully done so, however I have to read the entire series to figure out if it will bend towards comedy and romance or mystery and romance. One thing that I felt a thorn were a few annoying quirks in Rachel - her constant use of the word "crap", her emotional outbursts in a weird way and her explaining all the time her obsessive nature. The book could have been better without those.
All in all a good attempt with a unique concept for a first book by the author. Looking forward to read the second book in the series.
Spoiler Alerts:
1) In one of Rachel's English class they discuss about Alexander Pope's The Rape of the Lock. Have to read that for another blog post.
Recommendation: A new twist mixing Science and Magic giving the plot an easy read at the same time. Go for it for those sunny days.
I came across this author at the book club we have at work - albeit its mostly a forum than in-person. She works for the client I work for and had promoted her third book in this series in that forum, when it had released on May 1st. Since she was a colleague (although not a direct related) I wanted to read her work and took up the first book in the series which is what I usually - if any series, always read from the first book. Newton's Laws: Lesson 1 - Inertia was released on May of 2014. Although not a huge fan of Physics, but being a Science major (Inorganic Chemistry) and having had gone thru the perils to swim thru Physics in my college, the title captured my attention immediately. I was curious to see how she had married Physics with Literature. And here is my take on the book.
Simply put, Newton's First Law of Motion also known as Law of Inertia states that every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it. That is exactly what happens to Rachel Simmons, a senior at college with majoring in Biology, one day at her Physics class - a course that she is mandated to take because the college requires all Biology Majors to take it. As part of her work-study she is assigned as the college's photographer and is usually asked to take pictures of the college and town to sell the school. However that particular day she is given an assignment to take pictures of the faculty to upgrade their profile on the college website. One of the faculty is her Physics professor, Peter Parker with a Ph. D. who is nick-named as Spider-Man by everyone at the campus. After the photo session done, when she sets on to edit the picture, she comes across a document open on the computer behind the Professor in the photo that talks about breaking rules, reversal of gravity and absence of kinetic energy. She gets obsessed with deciphering what little she sees in the photo. To add to that she gets curious about the stand-off between Peter Parker, Sherman Shapiro "The Doc" - another Physics Professor - and Justin Borgstrom "Johnny Storm" - who is always with Peter raising more questions in Rachel's mind.
Her curious mind and outright questions pulls her into the world of bendy physics and super-powers involving Justin, Peter, Barbara Ghavari "Babs" and Kitty Lebowitz - all trying to work against The Doc while protecting themselves. Rachel becomes the neutral ground for these four. Rest of the plot continues on how Rachel finds out how these super-powers work, who are these four, why is The Doc being their enemy and why is she being pulled around these four. Her obsessiveness to know the why of it opens her to their world - creating more from something, alchemy, healing injuries in a matter of seconds, ability to soundproof what one talks, time dilation, altering memories, making one invisible, reading minds and more. And from Justin's perspective he is very much interested in her in more ways than she wants him to be in - which is a hurdle she tries to avoid every time.
A very interesting idea in the plot of bringing Science and Magic together - explaining the unexplainable in terms of atoms and molecules that normally are shown as immortal, psychic or physical capabilities in other books. I watch the American TV sitcom The Big Bang Theory that blends Science with Comedy and was always amazed at the power of the writers and the imagination of the directors to do so. This author has successfully done so, however I have to read the entire series to figure out if it will bend towards comedy and romance or mystery and romance. One thing that I felt a thorn were a few annoying quirks in Rachel - her constant use of the word "crap", her emotional outbursts in a weird way and her explaining all the time her obsessive nature. The book could have been better without those.
All in all a good attempt with a unique concept for a first book by the author. Looking forward to read the second book in the series.
Spoiler Alerts:
1) In one of Rachel's English class they discuss about Alexander Pope's The Rape of the Lock. Have to read that for another blog post.
July 30, 2014
Originally reviewed on Nori's Closet (http://noriscloset.blogspot.com/2014/...)
I love the main character. She’s so sure of herself and so intelligent. It’s nice having a main character interested in science. The girl knows her birds and her biology. Also, it’s nice to have a main character who embraces her geeky side. She’s a comic book reader. She also just picks up on things super quickly, and manages to use logic and deductive reasoning to get herself out of tough binds. On top of that, she doesn’t fall for guys who use women and won’t even consider crushing on guys who don’t consider females equal to themselves.
There’s an interesting cast of probable superheroes. And I’m not sure if I liked the actual story or the story Rachel makes up in her head more. Both were awesome. I liked how involved the teachers were. The small campus setting was entirely believable for me. Everyone knew each other and everyone seemed to always see everyone in the dining hall. I also connected to the snowstorm and the rural Vermont setting.
I didn’t always understand the relationship with the roommate. Sometimes I loved their witty back and forth banter. It was like watching a great episode of Gilmore Girls where the mother and daughter would quickly respond to each other in a way that just showed both how smart they were, and how close to each other they were. However, there were other times where I found myself skimming their lengthy dialog to get back to the mystery. I guess sometimes the dialog just felt too long. But, more than that I wanted to know the roommate better. How did this relationship happen? How come the girl (that some refer to as the ice princess) is so close to Melissa?
I loved the mystery. I had to know everything just as badly as Rachel did. I liked that school was important and never seemed to be just the background of the story; it was actually part of the story. Though, I wonder if the campus will look into more security in future installments of this series.
Also, I’m glad that Rachel never made it easy for Justin. I loved all scenes with the two of them. Rachel was always honest about how she felt and Justin never seemed too taken aback by her honesty.
All in all this was a definite one-sitting read. I literally read it from beginning to end in one sitting. It was fun and addicting. I can’t wait to see what happens next now that a certain professor appears to have left the campus. What seriously makes this book great, apart from a setting any college student (past or present) can relate to, is the snarky, intelligent main character. I give it a 9/10.
I love the main character. She’s so sure of herself and so intelligent. It’s nice having a main character interested in science. The girl knows her birds and her biology. Also, it’s nice to have a main character who embraces her geeky side. She’s a comic book reader. She also just picks up on things super quickly, and manages to use logic and deductive reasoning to get herself out of tough binds. On top of that, she doesn’t fall for guys who use women and won’t even consider crushing on guys who don’t consider females equal to themselves.
There’s an interesting cast of probable superheroes. And I’m not sure if I liked the actual story or the story Rachel makes up in her head more. Both were awesome. I liked how involved the teachers were. The small campus setting was entirely believable for me. Everyone knew each other and everyone seemed to always see everyone in the dining hall. I also connected to the snowstorm and the rural Vermont setting.
I didn’t always understand the relationship with the roommate. Sometimes I loved their witty back and forth banter. It was like watching a great episode of Gilmore Girls where the mother and daughter would quickly respond to each other in a way that just showed both how smart they were, and how close to each other they were. However, there were other times where I found myself skimming their lengthy dialog to get back to the mystery. I guess sometimes the dialog just felt too long. But, more than that I wanted to know the roommate better. How did this relationship happen? How come the girl (that some refer to as the ice princess) is so close to Melissa?
I loved the mystery. I had to know everything just as badly as Rachel did. I liked that school was important and never seemed to be just the background of the story; it was actually part of the story. Though, I wonder if the campus will look into more security in future installments of this series.
Also, I’m glad that Rachel never made it easy for Justin. I loved all scenes with the two of them. Rachel was always honest about how she felt and Justin never seemed too taken aback by her honesty.
All in all this was a definite one-sitting read. I literally read it from beginning to end in one sitting. It was fun and addicting. I can’t wait to see what happens next now that a certain professor appears to have left the campus. What seriously makes this book great, apart from a setting any college student (past or present) can relate to, is the snarky, intelligent main character. I give it a 9/10.
May 30, 2014
Yes, my daughter wrote this, but let us put that aside for the moment. I am a former English teacher, and I am very proud of her writing. The dialogue is snappy and she leaves plenty of room for character development in the second and third book of the series. Rachel, the main character, has a lot of growing up to do, but she does show potential in helping others. Her curiosity propels her to ask questions of a peer and of her physics prof. I am not a Spiderman or comic book fan, but for those of you who are, you will find plenty to enjoy in this geeky chase of good vs. evil. Buy it, and then buy the sequels! Enjoy!
July 6, 2014
Quick fun read... interested to see where the next book takes us.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews