Physics: A Crash Course: Become An Instant Expert

by Brian Clegg

Physics is the most fundamental of the sciences – it tells us how the universe works. It’s behind most of our exciting technology, from space rockets and satellites to cell phones, from electric cars to MRI scanners. Divided into 52 sections and grouped into four chapters  A Crash Course is the quickest way to get up to speed with the fundamentals. Matter and Light outlines the forms different matter can take and the qualities of light. Energy and Heat explores different types of energy, and the specific form of kinetic energy that is heat. Quantum Physics brings in the central structures and implications, and developments in quantum theory. Motion and Relativity outlines the concepts of mechanics and the other greater transformer of physics, relativity. Taking you from inside an atom to the edge of the universe. What else could it be but a crash course in physics?

160 pages, Hardcover

Published July 30, 2019

About the author

Brian's latest books, Ten Billion Tomorrows and How Many Moons does the Earth Have are now available to pre-order. He has written a range of other science titles, including the bestselling Inflight Science, The God Effect, Before the Big Bang, A Brief History of Infinity, Build Your Own Time Machine and Dice World.

Along with appearances at the Royal Institution in London he has spoken at venues from Oxford and Cambridge Universities to Cheltenham Festival of Science, has contributed to radio and TV programmes, and is a popular speaker at schools. Brian is also editor of the successful www.popularscience.co.uk book review site and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Brian has Masters degrees from Cambridge University in Natural Sciences and from Lancaster University in Operational Research, a discipline originally developed during the Second World War to apply the power of mathematics to warfare. It has since been widely applied to problem solving and decision making in business.

Brian has also written regular columns, features and reviews for numerous publications, including Nature, The Guardian, PC Week, Computer Weekly, Personal Computer World, The Observer, Innovative Leader, Professional Manager, BBC History, Good Housekeeping and House Beautiful. His books have been translated into many languages, including German, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Japanese, Polish, Turkish, Norwegian, Thai and even Indonesian.

Reviews

[Devin Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Honestly, I think this is a great "coffee table" book on physics. Has a couple of short bios of notable physicists and a good mix of fairly well known topics (but not necessarily well understood topics) like gravity, light and electromagnetism to go with topics where I've heard the keywords but know nothing about (dark matter, antimatter, entanglement, etc).

Clearly you are not an "Instant Expert" after reading this. But, you can perhaps not sound like an idiot when talking about the subjects (unless you are talking to a physicists I suppose) and I thought the briefs were fairly well written and succinct. Good enough that I'd consider others in the "Crash Course" series.

[Bill Glose · Rating 3 out of 5]

All of the sections provide great information, but many provide just a glimpse of the subject matter. The result is a muddle that never goes deep enough into anything to feel like you understand it, and often the information is so confusing that it leaves you feeling even more bewildered than when you started. Physics: A Crash Course is a great idea that was poorly executed.

[Sheila · Rating 3 out of 5]

I never studied physics in school so I picked this up to learn more on the subject. An interesing, easy to read introduction to many concepts.