How Everything Works: Making Physics Out of the Ordinary.

HOW EVERYTHING WORKS: Making Physics out of the Ordinary

LOUIS A. BLOOMFIELD

The heft of this book suggests that it might, indeed, contain the details on how everything works. Its 720 large-format, text-filled pages give a remarkable range of basic physics instruction. Bloomfield, a physics professor and long-time popularizer of his field, packs this volume with the basics of "Things That Move," "Things Involving Fluids," "Optical Things," and so forth, as suggested by these chapter titles. Under each of these headings, the author explains specific physical phenomena. "Things That Move," for instance, leads with the subsection "Skating: How things move when nothing pushes on them." These early chapters might appear intended for children, describing not only skaters but also falling balls, seesaws, and bumper cars. But each explanation is elaborate, while straightforward. Topics of later chapters become less kid-friendly. In "Things That Use Recent Physics," Bloomfield discusses nuclear weapons, nuclear reactors, and medical imaging. Appendixes cover "relevant mathematics" and unit conversions. A 38-page glossary and a detailed index round out this elaborate presentation. Wiley, 2006, 720 p., b&w illustrations and photographs, hardcover, $40.00.