Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Daily Howler: Today's New York Times describes the progress of an admirable parent

I read the Daily Howler for politics, and recently for his education coverage. So it was unexpected to hear him talking about pop physics books

Hurrah! Normally, reviewers feel they have to pretend that books like this are amazingly readable. In fact, most modern Einstein-made-easy type books are, in large part, incoherent. But reviewers typically rush to say that the books are quite easy to manage.
This rings so true. I've had the challenge of explaining modern physics to my daughter, starting from an early age. So I've tried to find accessible texts, and clear explanations for various obtuse physical truths. It really is not easy. Rocket science would be easy. Explaining special relativity? Two choices: incoherent or unintelligible.

I did hear about this very cool "open" e-book physics text that I can't wait to share with my kids: Motion Mountain, "The Free Physics Textbook" Looks promising...

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