Seven Ideas that Shook the Universe, 2nd Edition

Rating:
Summary: This is an excellent layman account of physical development.
Review: The book "Seven Ideas that Shook the Universe" covers the developement in the field of physics in a very comprehensive way. The authors have divided these developements into seven periods which are termed as the seven ideas. The author have employed a descriptive aproach rather than mathematical expressions. The first idea is the "Copernician Astronomy" which covers the early developements of classical physics especially astrophysics. The second idea is the "Newtonian Physics" which covers the contributions made by Sir Isaac Newton and other scientists of his time in classical physics. Next comes "the concept of heat" which covers early developements in Thermodynamics. "Entropy" is the next topic which also covers the thermodynamics. Next is the "quantum mechanics" which was our fist approach towards modern physics. The sixth idea is the "theory of relativity" which covers the special and general theories of relativity as presented by Albert Einstein. This theory revolutionized the field of physics and laid foudation stones of modern physics. The seventh and the last topic is the "Symmetry and other Modern concepts" which covers the recent advancements in modern physics including field theory, conservation laws, symmetry, virtual quantas, fundemental atomic particles and Quark Model. The authors of the book give a very comprehensive review of the developements in physics in a story like manner.