The Story of Physics [Illustrated] [Paperback]

Overall, this is a well-written and beautifully illustrated book. It outlines the whole history of physics in an easily readable format with abundant illustrations. The layout, typeset and binding are of very high quality for a paperback and the material is mostly accurate and well edited. Because of this high quality it is difficult to understand how some significant mistakes made it through editing without being corrected. On page 120 the caption to a picture of a rocket lifting off says: "Space rockets use nuclear power to generate the enormous amounts of energy they need." Since this picture is in the section about atoms and the nucleus it is hard to explain away as a misinterpretation. Rockets of the type pictured are powered by chemical energy which is orders of magnitude less than nuclear energy.

Another substantial error occurs on page 201 where the photon is described as being "virtually massless". It is mysterious what is meant by this phrase, but if the photon is not in fact exactly massless then both Relativity and Quantum Mechanics are in trouble. In the same sentence the W and Z Bosons are described as having "about 100 times the mass of the photon". In this case it is obvious that "proton" was intended rather than "photon", but taken together with the the first statement about the photon the entire concept is left completely muddled.

The other mistakes I detected are more minor. On page 159 Kepler's Third Law is stated correctly but the exponents are switched in the numerical example. This will again cause confusion in anyone trying to understand the principle by following the example. On page 177 in a sidebar about Tesla it says he had "squabbles with Marconi and Eddington". Clearly, it should have said "Marconi and Edison".

In a book presenting a highly technical subject directed to a general audience it is particularly important for the information to be accurate. Someone who already understands the material can spot such mistakes and overlook them, but others will go away with misconceptions that can put in doubt the rest of the knowledge gleaned.

In spite of these flaws the book is otherwise of such high quality that I would recommend it to anyone looking for a clear and well-written overview of Physics.

Prtobably wel written, just not my cup of tea. I have put it aside and will try again later as I have several other books about the brain that have my attention. Who knows, perhaps when I finish these I may well go back to it.