Sometime commenter “Dr. Pain” asked, on a mailing list, for book recommendations for his son, who “wants to read up about physics, especially weird modern physics.” He adds some qualifications:
Kid’s books on physics are way too elementary for him, but the typical “naive adult” book is over his head. Does anyone have any good recommendations for something that would be an interesting introduction to physics at a young teen level?
I’m somewhat embarrassed to admit that I don’t know anything to recommend for this. Partly because it’s been so long since I was in middle school, and partly because I don’t have a good idea of what a “young teen level” would be, in this context.
Anyway, I’ve got this blog, so I might as well use it. What are some good physics books for bright middle-schoolers to read?
I think I’ve mentioned these before, but I really enjoy the Colin Bruce books using Sherlock Holmes. There’s one about quantum physics and there’s one on stats.
the old Asimov books were pretty good
There are some technical errors, but the level is decent and the enthusiasm palpable.
But they are quite dated now.
I read Fun with Maths and Physics (Y L Perelman) when I was 11 and I loved it…would that be too elementary? It was great because it touched upon so many topics and made me go look up stuff that it didn’t directly cover.
I also loved I. M. Rae and John Gribbin’s basic quantum physics books when I did get to them. I’d recommend those to anyone.
and more importantly, when is your definitive work on the subject coming out?
Two books I would recommend: For non-fiction I’d recommend the book by David Bodanis titled E=mc^2. If you haven’t read it yet, you MUST! I have a whole series of classes where I have my students read sections and discuss…they love it. For fiction I’d recommend by Carl Sagan the book Contact. More than Physics involved, but still true to science and an interesting, thought provoking, read.
Are the adventures of Mr Tompkins too difficult? I think I would have appreciated that one from about the age of 11 or 12, although I’m not sure.
What I can definitely say is that I liked _The Science in Science Fiction_: http://www.ansible.co.uk/books/sinsf.html
Parts of it are not so well written, but I read it several times at about that age. Of course it’s ancient and probably not so easy to find nowadays.
Through a CTY program, I ended up with a copy of Hewitt’s Conceptual Physics when I was going into 8th grade. I remembered thinking it was pretty good at the time, though I haven’t looked at it in probably 12 years so I could be wrong. The emphasis is on developing various physical ideas without delving into calculus. That sounds about right to me for this age bracket. I would look for an older edition that you could get used, as a quick Amazon check suggests that current hardcover editions will run you on the order of $100, which is obviously steep.
The Cartoon Guide to Physics It’ll probably be a little too hard, but he’ll grow into it.
There was a similar discussion at “Adventures in Ethics and Science” (linked to via my name). My suggestion was QED by Feynman, which is a great read that doesn’t use equations, but somehow manages to convey the essence of QED without dumbing things down. I read it in high school and found it an enthralling read….I think I read it all in one sitting.
In addition to the Asimov books and The Cartoon Guide to Physics mentioned above, I’d recommend Flatland. It’s more mathematics than physics, but still useful for envisioning four dimensions.
Thinking Physics by Lewis Carroll Epstein is fantastic. Young teens can definitely make a lot of headway in this book… though the more advanced puzzles are tricky enough to trap the unwary grad student. 🙂
As a middle schooler, I read all the Asimov popularizations I could get my hands on. I also was inspired by reading science fiction to pick up John Gribbin’s “In Search of Schrodinger’s Cat,” which is one of those “niave adult” books, and which was a little above my head, but which fascinated me nevertheless.
There’s a probably-out-of-print book called “Fantasia Mathematica” that really caught my attention at that age. It had stories by Robert Heinlein about four dimensional houses, and some by other big name SF authors, and also a story that introduced me to the concept of the Klein bottle, a “Flatland”-ish story about a man who visits the fourth dimension, another called something like “The Captured Cross-Section” about someone who manages to ensnare a four dimensional being who just happens to be crossing through our plane, some fun stuff with relativity and topology… It was and still is one of my favorite books.
I also loved “The I Hate Mathematics Book,” which is written for kids but is definitely not about arithmatic. It’s got stats and number theory and mathematical brain teasers and games, and it makes a good read even for grown-ups.
He might also like some of these “The Physics Of…” books. Star Trek, Star Wars, Buffy…
The Mr. Thompkins books are probably a good idea, too.
“One, Two, Three… Infinity” by George Gamow.
“The Left Hand of the Electron” by Isaac Asimov.
These are both pretty old but the basic thinking never goes out of date. Some of the details can be updated for them easily enough.
When I was around 11 I really enjoyed Russell Stannard’s books about relativity:
The Time and Space of Uncle Albert
Black Holes and Uncle Albert
Also, go to my aStore for Leifer approved books about quantum theory (yes the dog thing will appear there when it comes out). Adding a section for younger readers is a good idea that I will have a think about.
Note: The above are shameless self promoting amazon associate links. If you buy through them you will be giving me credits to buy more quantum physics books – yay!
I and some youngsters I’ve known enjoyed “A Brief History of Time” and such at that age.
I second the Thinking Physics recommendation.
I’d second “Conceptual Physics” by Hewitt. It really does give great explanations and requires, at most, a very basic understanding of linear equations. I remember there being a lot of humorous commentary, as well.
I really enjoyed Madeline L’Engle’s sci fi books in middle school.
Joy Hakim’s history of science series is aimed at middle schoolers.
The third book in the series, The Story of Science: Einstein Adds a New Dimension, is mainly modern physics.
A Short History of Nearly Everything (Bill Bryson) has a nice treatment of the basics and the entire book is IMPOSSIBLE to put down.
You can follow that up with The End Of Physics: The Myth Of A Unified Theory (David Lindley) which has a horrible title but does a good treatment of things. I read that in middle school and it lead me to books like Chaos: Making a New Science (James Gleick…thanks to Jurrasic Park) and another popular science book on string theory which slips my mind at the moment but was readily available in a public library ca. 1990-1994ish. I VERY distinctly remember a vivid description of a 4 spacial dimension creature reaching through our universe (spheres for the fingers coalescing into a BIG sphere for an arm, etc) by an analogy to Flatland and circles. Maybe someone else will know the book I’m talking about.
I wonder what people think about books like “Who Is Fourier?: A Mathematical Adventure” and “What Is Quantum Mechanics?: A Physics Adventure.”
The claim that these were supposedly written by a bunch of kids affiliated with a strange Japanese organization and the amateurish illustrations made me skeptical about the contents at first, but I thought they were pretty good. (It was a very long time ago when I read them.) They contain actual math, unlike many books for non-specialists. I think “Fourier” was better. Reading “Fourier” first should also help understanding “Quantum Mechanics.”
I didn’t encounter these books until I was already in college, but I wonder what younger readers would think.
When I was in 7th grade, I read Introducing Quantum Theory by J.P. McEvoy and Oscar Zarate, and I loved it. It’s a comic-illustrated book that introduces quantum mechanics by telling the story of how it was developed. It includes math at about the level an interested middle-schooler will likely appreciate, and the math is incorporated into the story well. It’s accessible but not at all dumbed-down; I don’t think was intended to be for kids. And it’s very exciting- It kicked off my love of QM, which has led me to a career in physics!
I also third “Thinking Physics” by Lewis Carroll Epstein.
(I’d have posted earlier but it took me three months to remember the correct name of the book!)