Promotions - Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles 2019 - Science & Technology — Physics

This slender volume expounds on the concept of entropy for non-physicists, offering a fascinating account of the originator of the idea: Ludwig Boltzmann (1844-1906). Johnson (chemistry, Mount St. Joseph Univ.) offers a sympathetic retelling of Boltzmann's eccentricities and struggles. Aside from being a genius who once bought a cow for his children for fresh milk and escorted the animal to his house in Graz, Boltzmann also began to suffer from bouts of depression from his middle age. Powerful men such as Ernst Mach and Wilhelm Ostwald--who did not believe in the existence of atoms--often attacked Boltzmann's physics. This probably worsened the man's mental health. We read many snippets from Boltzmann's life here, including his difficulty with English during a trip to UC Berkeley, where he had been invited to give lectures. Boltzmann is known to have hanged himself during a vacation to Trieste with his wife and daughter, but Johnson invents a moving, alternative ending to Boltzmann's story in which the hero passes away on a couch while listening to his daughter play Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. Every physicist and many lay readers will enjoy this book.Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers.

Bohn (Univ. of Colorado, Boulder) has written an excellent supplement for understanding analytical mechanics. The first chapter defines the discipline, explaining how analytical mechanics is a set of mathematical methods that take a different approach than Newtonian dynamics; the book covers many essential mathematical methods that are applicable to mechanics. A subsequent section focuses on the derivations of these methods, and the third section describes the methods themselves and how to apply them. These sections are ideally suited to the rookie practitioner. Each chapter has a real-life application described at the beginning to which the methods will be applied, and then comes the application. The essential principles of Lagrangian mechanics, Hamiltonian mechanics, and Hamilton-Jacobi theory are all masterfully explained. Each chapter contains a few end-of-chapter practice exercises, usually calculations to fill in steps for some of the calculations in the chapters. Bohn offers more than just practical instruction; he discusses the philosophy behind the methods described. A further reading section at the back provides useful directions for more study. Overall this will serve as an excellent supplement to a regular mechanics textbook.Summing Up: Recommended. Undergraduate and graduate students; professionals.

As the title suggests, this book provides a practical introduction to atomic physics. Geared towards undergraduate physics students, the text begins with the basic Bohr model of the hydrogen atom and builds on this foundation to cover radiative transitions, the shell model, the model for helium, and effects due to magnetism and external fields. Fox (Univ. of Sheffield) includes a good discussion of lasers and the behavior of atoms in solids and in an astrophysical environment. Each section contains clearly explained examples; the chapters all conclude with homework problems. The mathematics is at the level expected for undergraduate physics students, and the writing is clear, concise, and well illustrated. This text would be a valuable reference for students taking courses in atomic physics and also a valuable refresher for graduate students who want to brush up on their understanding of atomic physics. As such, it belongs on the shelves in academic libraries as well as in general and community college collections.Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels.

From the era of Kepler and Galileo until the mid-20th century, the goal of physics was to offer rational, consistent, and coherent explanations of observed natural phenomena. Aside from fruitful concepts, physicists had two powerful tools: ingeniously contrived instruments and sophisticated mathematics. The enterprise of physics also functioned in a not explicitly stated framework: a physical theory must be simple and have the aesthetic traits of elegance and beauty. This book argues, based on the author's conviction as well as numerous interviews with some of the leading living theoretical physicists, that the attraction--if not obsession--for mathematical elegance has led astray some of the creative physicists (not physics, as the title says) of the day. The interviews yield interesting glimpses into the insights of prominent physicists. This alone is enough to make the book worth reading. Hossenfelder, a philosophically inclined physicist, presents the informed reader with a fascinating panorama of the current state of physics, replete with imaginative entities like wormholes, parallel universes, and bubbles associated with the baby universe whose existence cannot be established or falsified through standard experimental modes. As George Ellis put it, "The world of theoretical physics is in a very strange place." This book explains why.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Advanced undergraduates and above; general readers.

This is not the first book to question the assumptions and deductions, usually presented as confirmed science, leading to the now familiar understanding of the universe. Generally accepted is that the universe originated in a "big bang" 13.2 billion years ago, has been expanding ever since, and comprises known matter as well as dark matter, dark energy, black holes and negative gravity, and a few other concepts that make observation and theory coincide. It's a universe, as author Ekeberg puts it, "... where what we really know is not so easily distinguished from what we think we know, believe we know, and would like to believe." (Worth noting here is that evidence for the existence of black holes was photographed, to worldwide acclaim.) Still, Ekeberg's is an exceptional work, assembling as it does an in-depth metaphysical case--"ontological, epistemological, ethical, political, and theological"--explaining his doubts. To buttress the argument, he calls on an eclectic group of thinkers over the centuries--Descartes, Galileo, Spinoza, Bergson, Heidegger, Arendt, Foucault, Michel Serres, and the radical skeptic Bruno Latour, among others. This erudite, idiosyncratic book more than earns a place on the library shelf.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Advanced undergraduates and above.

The Elements of Relativity is a detailed new textbook designed to introduce relativity to non-experts, and it was written by Wittman (UC Davis) for a course he teaches on this topic. Introductory astronomy is a very popular science course taken at many colleges and universities by students who need a general science course. Many of these students want to explore the subject more deeply than they can in a typical survey course, and the ideas behind relativity, black holes, and the nature of space-time often appeal to them. On the other hand, courses on relativity are often designed for senior undergraduate or graduate physics students, and assume a very sophisticated understanding of physics concepts. Thus The Elements of Relativity is unique: Wittman writes for students who lack a detailed physics background but who still wish to learn about the nature of space-time, black holes, and astronomical phenomena like gravitational lensing. The book successfully builds the necessary physics fundamentals at a reasonable pace to allow the reader to tackle the most sophisticated concepts by the end of the book.Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels.

In addition to being an engaging and accessible example of the scientific method in process in a great many of its modes (theory, experiment, collaboration, labwork, and fieldwork), this is also an important example of how even in the 21st century, scientists aren't locked into one pursuit for their entire career. Steinhardt (Princeton) was previously known to this reviewer for his involvement in the inflationary cosmology model, which is rather different from solid-state physics. Yet Steinhardt did not abandon cosmology to study quasicrystals, as the narrative makes clear; he continued to work in both fields, alternating as need and opportunity arose. As a newcomer to many of the related fields he had to pursue in the quest for quasicrystals, Steinhardt is well positioned to offer a clear layperson's view of them to the reader. Occasionally the terminology gets dense, especially regarding the many varieties of minerals, but these rough patches never last long. The text sometimes gives the impression that it was assembled from previously written essays, but the occasional repetition and recap help make this a casual and accessible reading experience.Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers.