Year: 2011
Across all languages, physics is the science with the worst textbooks. This project wants to change this, by producing a simple, captivating and up-to-date introduction to modern physics. 'Simple' means that concepts are stressed more than formalism; 'captivating' means that the reader is continuously entertained, motivated and challenged; 'up-to-date' means that modern research results are included. The subtitle of the text, The Adventure of Physics, sums up these three aspects.
Didactics
The text is written for self-study. It tells a story; it is not a commented formula collection. In its teaching approach, the project tries to satisfy several needs. First of all, the explanations are written in a way that should appeal both to people who prefer thinking in images and to those that prefer thinking in words. Furthermore, the content has been selected to attract both male and female readers. Next, the text is written to appeal to composer and to competitor characters. The text also tries to cater both for the experimentally and the theoretically inclined. In addition, the story should appeal to those who like the natural sciences and to those who like the humanities. Finally, the story should motivate, entertain and startle both beginners and experts in physics.
The approach starts with an uncommon, but clear definition of physics: physics is the science of motion. The project then takes the search for a precise description of motion as a guiding principle for an exploration of modern physics. This leads to a storyline which is somewhat different from the usual one. Nature's limits to speed, entropy, force, action and charge are central to the presentation.
