CGGS Senior School

Learn how to think like a physicist from a Nobel laureate and "one of the greatest minds of the twentieth century" (New York Review of Books) with these six classic and beloved lessons   It was Richard Feynman's outrageous and scintillating method of teaching that earned him legendary status among students and professors of physics. Filled with wonderful examples and clever illustrations, Six Easy Pieces is the ideal introduction to the fundamentals of physics by one of the most admired and accessible physicists of modern times.   "If one book was all that could be passed on to the next generation of scientists it would undoubtedly have to be Six Easy Pieces."- John Gribbin, New Scientist

In Six Not-So-Easy Pieces , taken from Feynman's famous lectures, he delves into one of the most revolutionary discoveries in twentieth-century physics: Einstein's theory of relativity. The idea that the flow of time is not constant, that the mass of an object depends on its velocity, and that the speed of light is a constant no matter what the motion of the observer, at first seemed shocking to scientists and laymen alike. But as Feynman shows, these tricky ideas are not merely dry principles of physics, but things of beauty and elegance. Six Not-So-Easy Pieces is the ideal introduction to fundamentals of physics by one of the most admired and accessible physicists of all times.

A concise and accessible overview of fundamental physics concepts, ranging from gravitational fields and momentum to general relativity and quantum uncertainty. Employing straightforward diagrams and clear explanations to elucidate these topics, making it suitable for students and general readers seeking a jargon-free introduction to physics.

From the creator of the wildly popular xkcd, hilarious and informative answers to important questions you probably never thought to ask. Millions visit xkcd.com each week to read Randall Munroe's iconic webcomic. Fans ask him a lot of strange questions. How fast can you hit a speed bump, driving, and live? When (if ever) did the sun go down on the British Empire? When will Facebook contain more profiles of dead people than living? How many humans would a T Rex rampaging through New York need to eat a day? In pursuit of answers, Munroe runs computer simulations, pores over stacks of declassified military research memos, solves differential equations and consults nuclear reactor operators. His responses are masterpieces of clarity and hilarity, complemented by comics. They often predict the complete annihilation of humankind, or at least a really big explosion.

Unfazed by absurdity, the author consults the latest research on everything from swing-set physics to airplane-catapult design to clearly and concisely answer his readers' questions. As he consistently demonstrates, you can learn a lot from examining how the world might work in very specific extreme circumstances.

A humorous take on scientific solutions for everyday problems. Scenarios in the book include: How to jump really high, how to land a plane, how to dig a hole, how to get rid of a book and more.

A physicist explains daily phenomena from the mundane to the magisterial. Take a look up at the stars on a clear night and you get a sense that the universe is vast and untouchable, full of mysteries beyond comprehension. But did you know that the key to unveiling the secrets of the cosmos is as close as the nearest toaster? In Storm in a Teacup, Helen Czerski provides the tools to alter the way we see everything around us by linking ordinary objects and occurrences, like popcorn popping, coffee stains, and fridge magnets, to big ideas like climate change, the energy crisis, or innovative medical testing.

Most of us are clueless when it comes to the physics that makes our modern world so convenient. What's the simple science behind motion sensors, touch screens and toasters? How do we enter our offices using touch-on passes or find our way to new places using GPS? In The Physics of Everyday Things, James Kakalios takes us on an amazing journey into the subatomic marvels that underlie so much of what we use and take for granted. Breaking down the world of things into a single day, Kakalios engages our curiosity about how our refrigerators keep food cool, how a plane manages to remain airborne, and how our wrist fitness monitors keep track of our steps.

Whether pondering black holes or predicting discoveries at CERN, physicists believe the best theories are beautiful, natural, and elegant, and this standard separates popular theories from disposable ones. This is why, Sabine Hossenfelder argues, we have not seen a major breakthrough in the foundations of physics for more than four decades. The belief in beauty has become so dogmatic that it now conflicts with scientific objectivity: observation has been unable to confirm mindboggling theories, like supersymmetry or grand unification, invented by physicists based on aesthetic criteria. Worse, these "too good to not be true" theories are actually untestable and they have left the field in a cul-de-sac. To escape, physicists must rethink their methods. Only by embracing reality as it is can science discover the truth.

From the foundations of Newtonian physics to the complex mechanisms of atomic and nuclear theories, this comprehensive text is an excellent guide for learning physics. Students develop a better understanding of our physical universe, as well as the relationships between different laws of physics. This book is an essential overview of physical laws, principles, and approaches, elucidating multidimensional concepts of mechanics, statics and dynamics, as well as particle physics. Learn about kinematics and dynamics, statics and equilibrium, foundations of gravity, energy, work, sound and light, electricity and magnetism, basic principles of atomic physics, as well as heat and thermodynamics.

Dr. Thorne, the Feynman Professor of Theoretical Physics at Caltech, leads his readers through an elegant, always human, tapestry of interlocking themes, coming finally to a uniquely informed answer to the great question: what principles control our universe and why do physicists think they know the things they think they know?" "Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time has been one of the greatest best-sellers in publishing history. Anyone who struggled with that book will find here a more slowly paced but equally mind-stretching experience, with the added fascination of a rich historical and human component.

Caltech physicist and New York Times bestselling author Sean Carroll shows that there are multiple copies of you. And everyone else. The holy grail of modern physics is reconciling quantum mechanics with Einstein's general relativity - his theory of curved spacetime. Carroll argues that our refusal to face up to the mysteries of quantum mechanics has blinded us, and that spacetime and gravity naturally emerge from a deeper reality called the wave function. No book for a popular audience has attempted to make this radical argument. We're on the threshold of a new way of understanding the cosmos.

These seven short lessons guide us, with admirable clarity, through the scientific revolution that shook physics in the twentieth century and still continues to shake us today. In this short, playful, entertaining and mind-bending introduction to modern physics, Rovelli explains Einstein's theory of general relativity, quantum mechanics, black holes, the complex architecture of the universe, elementary particles, gravity, and the nature of the mind. In under one hundred pages, readers will understand the most transformative scientific discoveries of the twentieth century.

What if the universe wasn’t the only one?
An exploration of the different possible shapes and destinies of the universe, blending history, science, and imagination.

This Very Short Introduction introduces us to Islamic astronomers and mathematicians calculating the size of the earth whilst their caliphs conquered much of it; to medieval scholar-theologians investigating light; to Galileo, Copernicus, Kepler, and Newton, measuring, and trying to explain, the universe. We visit the 'House of Wisdom' in 9th-century Baghdad; Europe's first universities; the courts of the Renaissance; the Scientific Revolution and the academies of the 18th century; and the increasingly specialised world of 20th and 21st century science. Highlighting the shifting relationship between physics, philosophy, mathematics, and technology - and the implications for humankind's self-understanding - Heilbron explores the changing place and purpose of physics in the cultures and societies that have nurtured it over the centuries.

Here is the essential guide to physics, an authoritative reference book and timeline that examines the foundations upon which all scientific knowledge rests.

Acclaimed astrobiologist Caleb Scharf and artist Ron Miller guide us from the very edge of the observable universe, about 91 billion light-years away to the subatomic realm, where the fabric of space-time itself behaves in a way that confounds all the rules of physics we currently know. Gorgeously designed and visually inspiring, The Zoomable Universe takes a truly unique approach toward explaining our place in the universe, charting an unforgettable course through galaxies, black holes, solar systems, stars and planets, oceans, plants and animals, microorganisms, atoms, quantum fields, and much more.

As we humans have expanded our horizons to see things vastly smaller, faster, larger, and farther than ever before, we have been forced to confront preconceptions born of the human experience and create wholly new ways of looking at the world around us. The theories of relativity and quantum physics were developed out of this need and have provided us with phenomenal, mind-twisting insights into the strange and exciting reality show of our universe.

The Bedside Book of Physics is an entertaining and informative introduction to the world of physics, written with the curious beginner in mind. Covering history of physics from the early Greek thinkers to the modern international scientific collaborations.

Space and time - the unification of physics - Albert Einstein - Galileo Galilei - Isaac Newton - the fate of the universe; Quarks - radiation - stars_. Provides an introduction to today's scientific ideas about the cosmos and reviews past theories. Also covers black holes, quarks, antimatter, and other mysteries of physics.

The Physics Book sets out more than 80 key concepts and discoveries that have defined the subject and influenced our technology since the beginning of time. With the focus firmly on unpicking the thought behind each theory - as well as exploring when and how each idea and breakthrough came about - seven themed chapters examine the history and developments in areas such as energy and matter, and electricity and magnetism, as well as quantum, nuclear, and particle physics. Eureka moments abound: from Pythagoras's observations of the pleasing harmonies created by vibrating strings, and Galileo's experiments with spheres, to Isaac Newton's apple and his conclusions about gravity and the laws of motion.

Is there a God? How did it all begin? Can we predict the future? What is inside a black hole? Is there other intelligent life in the universe? Will artificial intelligence outsmart us? How do we shape the future? Will we survive on Earth? Should we colonise space? Is time travel possible? Stephen Hawking turns his attention to the most urgent issues for humankind. Wide-ranging, intellectually stimulating, passionately argued, and infused with his characteristic humour, BRIEF ANSWERS TO THE BIG QUESTIONS, the final book from one of the greatest minds in history, is a personal view on the challenges we face as a human race, and where we, as a planet, are heading next.

Space and time form the very fabric of the cosmos. Yet they remain among the most mysterious of concepts. Focusing on the enigma of time, Greene establishes that nothing in the laws of physics insists that it run in any particular direction and that "time's arrow" is a relic of the universe's condition at the moment of the big bang. And in explaining the big bang itself, Green shows how recent cutting-edge developments in super-string and M-theory may reconcile the behavior of everything from the smallest particle to the largest black hole. Explore the mysteries of space and time; asks questions about the nature of reality, dark matter, space warps and wiggles.

In a rare blend of scientific insight and writing as elegant as the theories it explains, Brian Greene, one of the world's leading string theorists, peels away the layers of mystery surrounding string theory to reveal a universe that consists of 11 dimensions, where the fabric of space tears and repairs itself, and all matter - from the smallest quarks to the most gargantuan supernovas - is generated by the vibrations of microscopically tiny loops of energy. Green uses everything from an amusement park ride to ants on a hose to explain the beautiful yet bizarre realities that modern physics to both illuminate and entertain.

In Search of Schrödinger's Cat tells the full story of how scientists reckoned with a truth stranger than any fiction. John Gribbin leads us into the ever more bizarre and fascinating world of the smallest particles we have discovered, requiring only that we approach it with an open mind. He introduces the scientists who developed quantum theory. He investigates the atom, radiation, time travel, the birth of the universe, super conductors and life itself.