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Making physics out of the ordinary
This 720-page book contains nearly everything I have ever written about how things work. It is the culmination of a lifetime's worth of tinkering with everyday objects and a fifteen-year mission of trying to teach what I've learned to ordinary people.
Unlike other "what-makes-it-work" books, How Everything Works goes well beyond structure, engineering, and history; it also examines the real scientific foundations behind the myriad objects and activities it explores.
As I hope you can already see from this web site, I work hard at expressing serious scientific issues and insights in ways that are accessible to anyone. How Everything Works is the result of thousands of hours of careful writing and it is meant to be read like a novel, not put on the shelf or table as an exhibit. I am not a magician, I am a physicist, and my goal has always been to give away all the secrets. If you, the reader, can't follow or understand what I have written, then I have failed. I hope that you will take a look at How Everything Works and find that I have met my goal.
There is much hand-wringing in this country (USA) about how far behind we are in science and math. But talk is cheap and action is what counts. Here is my attempt at doing something about scientific literacy in this country and elsewhere. Whether you're 10-years old or over 80, reading this book will teach you an enormous amount of physics and physical science. And most importantly, you'll discover that science is truly part of your everyday world.
— Lou Bloomfield, Professor of Physics, University of Virginia
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