Descrizione
A Word to the Reader
There are many science books on the market in general, and no shortage of physics books in particular. But unless you consider yourself a hard-core science nut, you may not even wander down that aisle in the bookstore to see them, much less enjoy reading them.
Where’s the physics book for the hard-core car-nut? The book for people who were curious at a young age about why a car worked. Who weren’t satisfied with being told you turn the key, the engine starts, and the car goes. Who kept asking why? What made it go?
In early 1983, when I was finishing my Master’s degree, I started asking myself where that book was. Having read the popular car magazines since I was ten years old, I had pieced together how an engine ran, the effects of gearing, etc. But until I took physics, in high school and in college, I had no way to judge whether an idea or product that an ar-ticle was touting was better than a previous or competing design. Once the physics began filling the gaps in my understanding, I could usually figure out when someone was blowing smoke.
At that point, I figured the ideal physics book would combine a gear-head’s knowledge of cars with the physical explanations for how they work. Familiar car examples could make the physics practically obvi-ous, and the physics could explain why designs end up the way they do (as well as why they don’t end up differently).
So this is the book for those same people who kept asking why? And who still want to know more today.
