Customer Reviews

How Things Work: The Physics of Everyday Life

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I'm a professor of engineering, and decided to use this book as the primary textbook to give a basic idea, for humanities and liberal arts students, of what engineers do. What a great decision! The first part of the book sweeps neatly through basic physics, which is also, as it turns out, basic engineering. Statics, dynamics, friction, thermo--it's all there, neatly encapsulated in a way that humanities students can easily understand what's going on. The text then moves on to the types of things that really float my boat as an engineer--how refrigerators, car engines, and microwave ovens work. Even though I've been involved in engineering for years, and am a licensed professional engineer, I still learned interesting and helpful new ways of thinking about devices and how things work from this book. Moreover, I think this book helps give non-science and non-engineering students the kind of broad-ranging education they *should* be receiving in a university level. Engineering students, after all, have to study at least a modicum of subjects that relate to world history, English, psychology, and so forth. But humanities students can graduate from college without even having the faintest idea about the workings of the technology that can make their lives so healthy, pleasant and liveable. Call me biased or part of the great NASCAR unwashed, but I think it's just as important for a student to be aware of the essentials of how their refrigerator and car work as it is for them to understand the nuances of Shakespeare. Understanding of the fundamentals of technology also leads to students having a better understanding of the tradeoffs involved in good stewardship of the environment.

Dr. Bloomfield has an extensive list of thoroughly researched demonstrations available through his website. I use some of these demonstrations almost every class day, and students really like them. (I couple the demonstrations with active learning exercises and cooperative learning activities, which helps keep them awake and motivated. I also combine use of Bloomfield's book with readings from Henry Petroski's "Success through Failure, and with short film clips from the National Association of Manufacturers.)

In a study I am working on, I've found that universities that use this text as the backbone of physics courses for non-scientists and non-engineers generally seem to have huge enrollments. That speaks of the giant educational need this book seems to fill.

As a highschool physics teacher, I strongly recommend this book to every physics (and science) teacher. It can serve as a source for daily life examples of physics principles in your instructions. Even if you are an inquiry minded person, you are going to find well-designed explanations for the functioning of lots of tools, machines, etc. in the book. Really exciting, rich content, excellent book.

The impact of this book is extraordinary. As you walk through your house, you realize how many appliances are now familiar to you, in terms of how they work. This book makes me think in awe of the scientists and inventors that come up with all of these common, yet complicated tools. I have used this as a resource, valued above the encyclopedia.

Mr. Bloomfield describes ordinary objects in a way that appeals to all. I never had an interest in knowing how things worked until I read this book and realized how interesting many appliances that I had taken for granted are. I found the book very informative and interesting. The pictures really help to make the book more successful in relaying the important information. This book is definitely worth the money!

You don't need to be a physicist to understand this book. Take me for example, I took a year of Physics in college and this is enough for me to grasp the concepts presented in this book. What's so wonderful about this book is that it goes beyond the mere equations and formulas we desparately memorized before a physics test, it shows that how physics can be incorporated into our lives and improving the quality of our lives. This is a great book for those preparing for the physics AP test and those who simply want to keep themselves amazed.

"Physics" can sound scary, intimidating at the least, particularly to this homeschool family who had no background in any physics. How I found How Things Work: The Physics of Everyday Life is a convoluted story I hope you will not have to share. Believe me, this book is great for the homeschool who wants to build appreciation for the breadth and depth of this area of study. What How Things Work does is make physics fun and interesting, which might then motivate the student to look for more information elsewhere. It pull me in as the mentor, making me want to go back and learn "where does the force come from when I walk into a wall?" Such questions beg to be answered once one opens this book.

I highly recommend this updated version although the price seems high. We originally tried to use the older version to save money. This newer version clearly shows advancement in paper quality, print clarity, type readability, and editing! Bloomfield's "voice" is improved in this version. It speaks to the student, not down to the student. Likely this is because Bloomfield has matured in his approach since the first edition. Chapters have been merged and rearranged slightly to make it seem like less work (a point I shared with the student to encourage them to try it.)

The bonus: Louis Bloomfield has an amazing website of student work that corresponds to this book quite nicely. Students using this edition can log on and be a part of a great learning experience. The newer version definitely gave energy to our enthusiasm for the information.

For all of those people that are struggling over what to get their science-loving friends and family members, this is the best book you could get! Adults and teenagers alike will surely love reading this book and looking at the wonderful pictures. I am so glad that I got this book, because I have learned about the devices that I use everyday.

This is the book for you if you think you ar not into physics. Or even if you are. It explains the physics of how ordinary things that we use daily really work. It might even spark an interest in learning more. It starts with the practical and goes to the theory and you can go into it pretty much as far as you want to go. If you have any curiosity about science this is a great book by a master teacher.

I ordered this product a week before classes started and I received it a day early. It wasn't in perfect impeccable condition, but it's description said used. I expected it to look worse than what it did and was surprised when I saw that it was like new. Love the fact that I got it for 3.75 when the bookstore wanted 80 something dollars for the newer edition! Very pleased.

Client took care of my purchase with reasonable time and was very quick to help.