Customer Reviews

Physics for Entertainment, Book 2

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book was extremely popular in India during 1970 till 1990. MIR publishers distributed highly subsidized copies of many popoular science books in India. After fall of USSR the MIR publishers availability stopped completely. This was one of most bought popular science books among my generation. A very well written book on physics as it applies to most common observations and phenomenon. What is amazing is description of "what if" scenarios around physical events. Great to see this available in reprint.

This delightful little book (final Russian edition, 1936) presents modern physics in a way that makes it accessible to adults and young people alike, especially because the author asks such whimsical questions as: "Can an invisible man see?" "Can Archimedes have moved the world?" "Who invented the word 'Gas'?" "How much does Lightning cost?" Why is a rabbit cross-eyed?" and "Is boiling water always hot?" Yakov Perelman, a Russian scientist who perished in the disastrous 900 day Blockade of Leningrad by the Germans during World War II, wanted people to think in "'physical categories'" and thus set up the book in chapters that reflect them. He however looks for examples of scientific phenomena in the world of fiction as well as of fact, particularly in works by Jules Verne, H. G. Wells, and even Mark Twain. His prose style appeals to both humanists and scientists. As an added bonus, its format (typesetting, etc) will give bibliophiles many hours of satisfying perusing.[ASIN:1401309216 Physics for Entertainment]

I have read both volumes of this book several years ago when published by Mir. Most of my friends had copies of these books and we had fun exchanging various ideas and topics in the book. I have even gifted these books to people whom I thought would be interested in reading them.

I was ecstatic to find the book on Amazon and ordered it immediately so I can give it to my 9-year old child.

I look forward to volume 1 of this book. Yes, it is available for downloading elsewhere, but printing a 200 page book is not very appealing to me. Honestly, in my opinion, book 1 is better than book 2. Book 1 covers perpetual motion machines... my favorite topic :)

If you or a member of your family or a friend is even slightly interested in any physics, don't hesitate to order this book.

I also ordered Astronomy for Entertainment by the same author and found it to be less entertaining than the physics book.

This book indeed shaped a generation of young indians - the spirit of scientific enquiry it sparked surely was a key formative influence for many around the world and also esp. in India which received large stocks of these books from erstwhile USSR.nice to see it reprinted.

As others have pointed out this is an old classic from 1930s that has been reprinted again in 2008. It sparks curiosity among the young and old with such questions as "Why do Bees buzz?", "How to tell a boiled and raw egg apart?" or teasers such as "Ice that does not melt in boiling water" and experiments one should not do "How to jump from a moving car". Prof Perelman explains how some of these questions are more complex than they appear. It is written in an informal and inviting style and yet covers many concepts with deep insights.

For example, in the icicles problem he discusses why icicles form, whether they're formed during thawing and freezing, the need for two different temperatures (one to thaw, one to freeze), the impact of the angle of the Sun, etc. In short, he makes everyday observations and questions them and introduces scientific concepts to shine better light on them.

The book is also available free in a PDF version. The PDF version that has been scanned by library in India and uploaded to archive.org at[...]
I tried the Kindle sample, but unlike in the PDF version, many of the PDF to Kindle converters did not handle the images well. Stick to the hard bound edition sold on Amazon if you decide to buy this and skip the Kindle version.

It was a big surprise to found such information in a book wrote in 1930's. You will be surprised every other page. I would be in the line for buying other volumes if the editors discover them as the current book is the volume two of the Russian original edition.

If you like science,certainly you will appreciate this volume.

MIR was the publication in India if one wanted quality science books at affordable prices. This book is one of the few books that are sort of legends in India even now, when the reprints of the American books are quite cheap and available everywhere. The style of writing is very non-invasive and it lets the reader dabble with a problem and explore the solution or the outcome with the author.

I just feel sad that MIR is out of business. I ordered this book for my son as soon as I saw this available and must laud the publisher for making it available.

A great read from the get go. For an older book it is fun and gets the points across. Great fun.

A very entertaining and interesting book, although a bit on the simple level. It is exactly what the title implies, "for entertainment". The first volume of the book is quite interesting also but apparently not available in English. I did read it in Spanish.

Normally, even though he sellers say that the delivery of the book will take many days, it will be delivered in about 10 days. This books really took 23 days for me to receive. It was something they mentioned as other sellers also mention.

Except for the delay, no problems with the delivery. The book was in good shape.