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This clearly written and compelling look at physics and physicists offers "thousands of new ways to see our daily world more richly" (Douglas Hofstadter, author of Gödel, Escher, Bach).

For many of us, physics has always been a thing of mystery and complexity. K. C. Cole, an award-winning science writer, specializes in making its wonders accessible to the everyday reader.

This book uses lively prose, metaphors, and anecdotes to allow us to comprehend the nuances of physics: gravity and light, color and shape, quarks and quasars, particles and stars, force and strength. It also shows us how the physical world is so deeply intertwined with the ways we think about culture, poetry, and philosophy, and explores the workings of such legendary scientific minds as Richard Feynman, Victor Weisskopf, brothers Frank Oppenheimer and J. Robert Oppenheimer, Philip Morrison, Vera Kistiakowsky, and Stephen Jay Gould.

"An exemplary science writer... For readers without scientific background, Cole gracefully introduces relativity, quantum theory, optics, astrophysics, and other significant disciplines, never getting bogged down in unnecessary explanation. Thus, you may not learn all about thermodynamics from reading her chapter on it, but you will learn enough to think seriously about the entropy in your own life. Cole sprinkles her text with comments from famous scientists -- 'Space is blue, and birds fly in it,' said Heisenberg, and Faraday said, 'Nothing is too wonderful to be true' -- that are not only delightful in themselves but perfectly suited to her own text. No review of Cole's book could be too wonderful to be true." -- Booklist

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Price Summary

  • We started tracking this book on October 14, 2017.
  • This book was $9.99 when we started tracking it.
  • The price of this book has changed 182 times in the past 2,843 days.
  • The current price of this book is $9.99 last checked 9 hours ago.
  • This lowest price this book has been offered at in the past 90 days is $2.99.
  • This lowest price this book has been offered at in the past year is $1.99.
  • The lowest price to date was $1.99 last reached on April 24, 2025.
  • This book has been $1.99 44 times since we started tracking it.
  • The highest price to date was $14.43 last reached on January 16, 2025.
  • This book has been $14.43 one time since we started tracking it.

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Additional Info

  • Publication Date: July 18, 2012
  • Text-to-Speech: Disabled
  • Lending: Disabled
  • Print Length: 254 Pages
  • File Size: 84 KB

We last verified the price of this book about 9 hours ago. At that time, the price was $9.99. This price is subject to change. The price displayed on the Amazon.com website at the time of purchase is the price you will pay for this book. Please confirm the price before making any purchases.