Customer Reviews

Exploring the World of Physics: From Simple Machines to Nuclear Energy

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I bought this book for my 12 (almost 13) year-old son so that he could study Physics on his own over the summer. He really seems to enjoy the book, he carries it with him on drives, etc. and now spouts physics facts at the breakfast table. He chooses this book over Wii and TV. Now THAT'S kewl! I highly recommend this book - for adults too.

I bought this book for my High School daughter, to prepare her for her physics class. It's an excellent starting point for physics, covers most of the basics. While her teacher spends most of his time lecturing against our President and the war in Iraq, my daughter has learned more from this book than in the classroom. It's laid out much better and covers more than her school textbook. Highest recommendation!

This book makes the world of physics very pleasant due to the way of the themes are shown. The correlaction between the nature with the history of the concept discovering by the reknown scientists make the physics a simpler game of watching the surrounding nature. Practical examples are great and substantial. The author was wise of type writing such as the way he did, mixing history, complex / simple concepts and gathering all of these in a structured way. It is not a sophisticated physics book with several formulas e integrals but rather a good and interesting wide introductory view of physics

As a home educator, I am reading through Exploring the World of Physics for several reasons. One, it is a physics book from a Creationist perspective. That's good. Two, it is for middle school students. I have one middle school students right now, and at least five more coming up through the ranks soon. Three, I never took physics in school and I have always regretted that.

I have read the first four chapters, and I can tell you it is keeping my attention. Each chapter is short -- about ten pages. Each chapter contains sidebars with fascinating extra bits of information, activities, scientist biographies, and historical information. Each chapter starts with a problem set and ends with a solution set. Each chapter has a set of questions at the end designed for the student to test themselves on their understanding of the material.

At the beginning, the book states that a middle school student should be able to take this book and work through it on their own. I am curious about this claim, because I have had algebra and I am still having a little trouble following all the formulas. However, the formulas only make up a small portion of each chapter. Most of each chapter is describing the history of the law of physics being discussed and the arrival at solutions for the problem set. I can skim over the formulas and still get the main ideas from each chapter. The introduction also states that a mother can work through the book with her elementary students and they can get a basic grasp of many of the concepts. I would agree with this statement. The book also states that high school students can use the book as a review, and complete the sections titled "For Extra Study" to bring the book more up to their level. I think this is absolutely true.

I think the only caviat I would say about this book is that if you want your middle school student to work through it independently make sure they are already familiar with a basic understanding of what a formula is and how a formula works.

My bottom line is this. I like this book a lot, and plan on finishing it for myself. I am planning to require the book for my middle school students once they have been exposed to basic algebra and I expect it to be a highly effective introduction to physics.

I need to preface this with reasons why I jumped at the chance to read this book --

1. I've loved Tiner's other books in this series (Biology, Mathematics, Medicine, Planet Earth).

2. I have science nuts for sons, and they are always interested in another good book.

3. And... to confess... physics intimidates me. I never took physics. Ever. Because it intimidates me.

I started reading this book. And you know what? I get it. Tiner makes this pretty non-threatening. He writes like he is talking to you. And it is in English, not geek-speek.

I was afraid as I started that maybe I was just "getting it" because I was only dealing with the old stuff. You know, Aristotle, Galileo, Newton... simple machines, laws of motion, I can handle that. It's all the scary stuff with electromagnetism and nuclear energy that worries me. So, after reading the first few chapters, I skipped ahead. Surprisingly, I was still understanding him. Even though words like "quantum," "cold fusion," and "electrostatic" were being bandied about, it continued to make sense to me.

My eldest is on track to be taking high school physics next year. I am going to thoroughly read this book, again, before he gets there. But now I am not so terribly concerned about helping him with his projects. I will require him to read this as a supplement, or maybe over the summer.

My conclusion? This book is as wonderful as others in the series, maybe even moreso for me. If you have a child in physics and you want to have a clue as to what they are studying, this is a fairly painless way to obtain that clue. If you have a student who is intimidated by physics, this is a friendly overview of the subject.

I highly recommend.

Disclaimer: I received this book for free from New Leaf Publishing Group. No other compensation was received. The fact that I received a complimentary product does not guarantee a favorable review.

Physics can be an extremely complicated and difficult subject. How do I know? Because I had a love/hate relationship with physics in high school. While I did well in physics in high school, there were concepts that were not clearly explained or taught which made the subject matter difficult to truly grasp. This meant that I needed to work very hard to try to work through the concepts being taught in order to do well in the class. If I had a book like Exploring The World of Physics back then, I believe things would have been at least a little bit easier.

Knowing that one day I will be helping my daughter with her study of physics, I jumped at the chance to review Exploring The World of Physics. Having never read any of Mr. Tiner's previous books, I honestly didn't know what to expect. The book description stated that Mr. Tiner "explains the fascinating world of physics in a way that students from elementary to high school can comprehend." After reading just the first chapter, I started to believe that this may just be true.

Upon delving deeper into the book, I found that Exploring The World of Physics is more than just your ordinary physics book. It breaks concepts down in more manageable chunks of information. Students will find themselves learning science and history through the lives of great men such as Aristotle, Galileo, Newton, Archimedes.... Hands-on experiments as well as review questions (answers given at end of book) help the students grasp the concepts being studied. The "for more study" section offer more challenging options for older students or students who want/need to dig a bit deeper. The black and white images and illustrations allow students to gain a better understanding of the topics being covered without being overly distracting.

Exploring the World of Physics is a valuable introductory guide into the scientific discipline of physics. Whether students are learning about physics for the first time or they need a refresher course, they are sure to walk away with a better understanding of physics as well as a deeper knowledge of some of the history of physics. This book is sure to be a valuable resource for homeschoolers and non-homeschoolers alike.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from MasterBooks/New Leaf Publishing to help facilitate the writing of a frank and honest review. All opinions are my own.

This book is perfect for fun-loving physics. My children love it. It brings the subject to life and therefore to love!

"Exploring the World of Physics" teaches basic physics within the format of discoveries made throughout history. It included page-long biographies of scientists who made important contributions to our understanding of physics.

The author did a good job of clearly explaining new concepts. The book was suitable for middle schoolers on up, though younger children may find this book understandable. There were useful black and white charts and illustrations. There were also a few experiments that the reader could do with common objects. At the end of each chapter, there were 12-20 questions that tested if you learned the important points in the chapter. The answers were in the back.

The author occasionally referred to God as Creator and pointed out which scientists were Christians. Overall, the book was interesting and well-written. I'd recommend it to homeschoolers and those who want to learn basic physics in an interesting way.

Chapter 1 was on Motion on the earth (teaching about speed, acceleration, velocity, Galileo, Aristotle, etc.). Chapter 2 was on Laws of Motion (teaching about force, friction, Isaac Newton and his three laws of motion, etc.). Chapter 3 was on Gravity (teaching about Johannes Kepler and his three laws of planetary motion, Newton's Law of Gravity, etc.). Chapter 4 was on Simple Machines (teaching about levers, pulleys, inclined planes, wheels, axles, Archimedes, etc.).

Chapter 5 was on Energy (teaching about mechanical energy, heat energy, kinetic energy, potential energy, James Prescott Joule, James Watt, etc.). Chapter 6 was on Heat (teaching about heat capacity, measuring temperature, conduction, convection, radiation, entropy, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Laws of Thermodynamics, Daniel Fahrenheit, Anders Celsius, etc.). Chapter 7 was on States of Matter (teaching about solids, liquids, and gases, Robert Hooke, Blaise Pascal, Robert Boyle, Daniel Bernoulli, etc.). Chapter 8 was on Wave Motion (teaching about wave length, frequency, velocity, speed of sound, wave waves, sound waves, amplitude, echoes, Doppler effect, etc.).

Chapter 9 was on Light (teaching about prisms, color, the human eye, optical illusions, mirrors, telescopes, etc.). Chapter 10 was on Electricity (teaching about electrical fields, conductors, batteries, resistance, voltage, Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Morse, etc.). Chapter 11 was on Magnetism (teaching about magnetic fields, magnets, electromagnets, William Gilbert, Michael Faraday, etc.). Chapter 12 was on Electromagnetism (teaching about radio waves, microwaves, infrared waves, x-rays, gamma rays, Rudolf Hertz, James Clerk Maxwell, Albert Einstein, Arthur Holly Compton, etc.). Chapter 13 was on Nuclear Energy (teaching about the parts of an atom, nuclear fission, nuclear fusion, nuclear power, etc.). Chapter 14 was on Future Physics.

I received this book as a review copy from the publisher.