Walter Lewin with Warren Goldstein's "For the Love of Physics"

This is a fun romp through physics. It starts with the tragic personal story of Walter Lewin surviving WWII and the Nazi extermination policies. Then quickly moves the scene to America where he arrives in 1966 to teach at MIT. The book is chatty, filled with solid basic physics and curious bits of physics that lighten the tone and make this book interesting. Despite being trained as a particle physicist, Lewin has a keen interest in astronomy and atmospheric physics. The book is filled with references to video clips to illustrate concepts.

This isn't a review of physics for the student. It is a more light-handed romp through physics with references to historical figures and key physical facts. It won't prepare you for a physics exam, but it will make attractive the idea of reading more in this subject.

Of the 15 chapters. One is Lewin's personal background. Eight are fairly standard surveys of basic physics. And six focus on his speciality: x-ray astronomy.

Here's Lewin's comment on his approach in this book:

My purpose in the classroom, and the main reason I've written this book, is to translate the truly astounding, groundbreaking, sometimes even revolutionary discoveries of my fellow physicists into concepts and language intelligent, curious laypeople can really get hold of -- to make a bridge between the world of professional scientists and your world. Too many of us seem to prefer talking only to our peers and make it awfully difficult for most people -- even those who really want to understand science -- to enter our world.

And:

Most high school and college students hate taking physics because it is usually taught as a complicated set of mathematical formulas. That is not the approach I use at MIT, and it is not the approach I use in this book. I present physics as a way of seeing our world, revealing territories that would otherwise be hidden to us -- from the tiniest subatomic particles to the vastness of our universe. Physics allows us to see the invisible forces at play all around us, from gravity to electromagnetism, and to be on the alert not only for where and when we'll find rainbows, but also halos, fogbows, and glories, and maybe even glassbows.

I highly recommend this book. It is lots of fun and will teach you some basic physics.


I plan to watch the videos from Lewin's on-line MIT course in physics.