Geek Physics: Surprising Answers to the Planet's Most Interesting Questions

by Rhett Allain

Have you ever wondered whether a human could really fly with wings like a bird’s? What about how many zombies you could actually drive through? Or whether airplanes could save fuel by using iPads instead of paper safety manuals? How about whether Superman could really punch someone into space?

In Geek Physics, Rhett Allain, a physics professor and Wired’s popular Dot Physics blogger, finds intriguing questions buried in familiar movies and TV shows, video games, viral videos, and news hooks and walks readers through the fascinating answers from a physics perspective, without all the complicated details. Geek Physics appeals not just to the geek oriented but also to anyone who loves pop culture and technology.

With illustrations, basic equations, and easy-to-read graphs and diagrams, each chapter not only covers the most popular subjects from Allain’s blog, like lightsabers and McDonald’s drive-thrus, but uses those questions from a less technical approach to teach basic physics concepts. What better way to explain the nature of light than to consider how Gollum could see in the dark?

Geek Physics explores interesting questions like:

* How much bubble wrap would you need to safely jump off a 6th floor building? * Why does R2-D2 fly the way he does? * Why does a mirror reverse left to light, but not top to bottom? * Is Angry Birds using real physics? * Does a heavier truck make a better snow plow? * What if everyone on earth jumped at the same time? * How many dollar bills would it take to stack them to the moon?

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Physics

224 pages, Hardcover

First published April 14, 2015

Reviews

[knitsmith · Rating 2 out of 5]

I so wanted to like this book. The topics are engaging and the physics is legit. An exciting combination! Unfortunately, the writing was often confusing and there were some very blatant errors (for example, the wrong formula appears on page 2 - it doesn't even include the variables mentioned in the text). Both of these problems could have been solved with better editing. In the end, I found the book to be as frustrating to read as it was enlightening. Not an ideal balance for a book presenting real science to the lay person.

[YHC · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have to say that you still need some physics basic to be able to understand this book. The approach of this book is indeed very geeky, full of example of Star Wars experiments, which might be fun for fans, but still if you are not familiar with the equations then you find it hard to see the beauty!

Besides that, many fun questions with imagination and some suggestions are not bad, such as if the flight manual books are replaced by Ipad it could saved up quite a lot of fuel for airline companies as long as we humans (flight attendants and passengers don't keep gaining weight ..LOL since they don't charge your weight per KG)

[♪ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Once you get over Rhett Allain's inability to procure numbers in any method other than wild estimates; answer questions that aren't blatantly obvious (such as "Why don't mirrors flip top and bottom?"); or draw from sources other than Star Wars, MythBusters, and Wikipedia; his childlike writing style and poorly edited writing eventually become bearable.

[Edward ott · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had no idea how much I needed to know this.

[Fredrick Danysh · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a layman's look at the science of physics as applied to everyday, mundane situations. The formulas are given and explained. It is a way to make physics more approachable. This was a free copy.

[Jenny · Rating 2 out of 5]

Skimmed....I was hoping for a science book for non-science readers, and this is a science book for people who love science and whose eyes don't glaze over when they see equations....I wish I was one of those, but I'm not. Compilation of blog posts.