Author: Alastair I.M. Rae
By Oneworld Publications

Helpful Book, 2010-01-17
I really liked reading the book, as it provides a deep insight in simple language, while not missing out on the depth of it, about Quantum Physics.

Author: Richard Parsons
By Coordination Group Publications Ltd

GCSE Physics Revision Guide, 2009-04-10
Useful source of reference for the participant. Concise summary, and use of colour graphics, which makes lasting impression on children, is good. Hopefully, this guide and those for Maths and Chemistry, will provide a sound basis for my grandchildren's revision.

John Hemsley

Author: Brian Cox, Jeff Forshaw
By Da Capo Press Inc

A hard subject to understand, 2010-01-21
This book is good, but you have to understand optics and mass in terms of both its meanings. I think you need a degree in physics to really get the idea of this topic and a good grasp of particle physics. Be aware of this if you find it tough going.If you find it hard you are not stupid in anyway. It is quite justified that you do.

Author: Keith Pledger et al
By Heinemann

Refreshing, 2009-08-29
The layout and coverage is better than in most other books covering the same syllabus, and many students would be able to use this book very effectively with very little teacher or tutor assistance.

Author: Stephen Hawking
By Bantam Books

Stephen Hawking, one of the most brilliant theoretical physicists in history, wrote the modern classic A Brief History of Time to help non-scientists understand fundamental questions of physics and our existence: where did the universe come from? How and why did it begin? Will it come to an end, and if so, how? Hawking attempts to deal with these questions (and where we might look for answers) using a minimum of technical jargon. Among the topics gracefully covered are gravity, black holes, the Big Bang, the nature of time and physicists' search for a grand unifying theory. This is deep science; the concepts are so vast (or so tiny) that they cause mental vertigo while reading, and one can't help but marvel at Hawking's ability to synthesize this difficult subject for people not used to thinking about things like alternate dimensions. The journey is certainly worth taking for as Hawking says, the reward of understanding the universe may be a glimpse of "the mind of God". --Therese Littleton, Amazon.com
Enjoyable read, 2010-02-25
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, its very well written and Stephen Hawking does his best to explain things to the layman. I think its suitable for anyone who has an interest in the subject. I especially enjoyed the chapters on Black Holes. I did find the last two chapters a bit difficult, so perhaps the general reader ought to buy his "Briefer History of Time" which I understand is an updated and easier to follow version. There are some very good illustrations in the later book too.

Author: Pauline Anning
By Nelson Thornes

Great - just what we needed, 2010-01-10
Excellent, just what it said on the tin, a good and clearly laid out guide

Author: Ralph Leighton, Richard P. Feynman
By Vintage

A series of anecdotes, such as are included in Surely You're Joking, Mr Feynman, shouldn't by rights add up to an autobiography, but that's just one of the many pieces of received wisdom that Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman (1918-88) cheerfully ignores in this engagingly eccentric book. Fiercely independent (read the chapter entitled "Judging Books by Their Covers"), intolerant of stupidity even when it comes packaged as high intellectualism (check out "Is Electricity Fire?"), unafraid to offend (see "You Just Ask Them?"), Feynman informs by entertaining. It's possible to enjoy Surely You're Joking, Mr Feynman, a bestseller ever since its initial publication in 1985, simply as a bunch of hilarious yarns with the author as know-it-all hero. At some point, however, attentive readers realise that underneath all the merriment simmers a running commentary on what constitutes authentic knowledge: learning by understanding, not by rote; refusal to give up on seemingly insoluble problems, and total disrespect for fancy ideas that have no grounding in the real world. Feynman himself had all these qualities in spades, and they come through with vigour and verve in...
Unique gem of a book, 2009-09-27
Great minds really know what they are talking about! It is this deep understanding that makes the difference between the genius and the average scientist or engineer. How sad it is to see that our universities completely fail to convey such spirit of scientific investigation and enthusiasm!! A great book.

Author: Vlatko Vedral
By OUP Oxford

Just Brilliant!, 2010-03-09
Inteligent, entertaining, informative, engaging..
Decoding Reality is the best popular-scientific book I've ever read about quantum information .
Professor Vedral debates about the world in terms of information.
He shows it's all about information, every aspect of science, life,economy..
The book has changed the way I see the Universe and the way I think about it.
Definitely a book to read!

Author: Roger Penrose
By Vintage

Read one and a half times, 2009-09-06
Unless your IQ is commensurate with the number of pages in the book (1100), do not read cover to cover. The "meat" is in chapters 17 to 34, so omit the exercises and chapters 2 to 16 for a first reading, accept that many terms will be unfamiliar but that everything which is presented can be verified. When you have three months to spare, re-read the book fully. Chapters 2 to 16 gradually introduce the mathematical concepts used, and you can verify everything presented in the rest of the book.

The book is similar to a mystery story with the last chapter removed, and you desperately seek that final chapter i.e. the book is well-titled "The Road (emphasised) to Reality": it describes the journey towards an understanding of the Universe, but it fails to provide a Theory of Everything.

Penrose gives more hints about what cannot constitute a Theory of Everything than what can. String theory, of ten or eleven dimensions, is a definite non-starter (Penrose is irritating in the number of times he tells us this.), and current quantum field theory must give way to something more like twistor theory in order to account for non-local interactions (and there is a tantalising suggestion that, by explaining wave-function collapse, it could partly demystify consciousness). Einstein's gravitational theory, however, is acceptable, and - good news for those of us who had difficulty comprehending 26 dimensions - four dimensions are the flavour of the month.

This is a heavy book, in both senses of the word, but if your heroes are Einstein, Dirac, Richard Feynman, and Stephen Hawking then buy it. If they aren't, buy it anyway - they will be.

Author: Leonard Mlodinow
By Penguin

history of statistics, 2009-12-05
the title is incorrect but is explained in the text comes from math not statistics. brilliant explanation of stats and how they affect lives around the planet. some nice personal anecdotes. assumes some knowledge of stats but enough detail for the lay reader. worth buying!