The Handy Physics Answer Book

Gr 8 Up—Modeled on P. Erik Gundersen's 1998 edition, this thoroughly revised set offers a broad view of physical principles and how they are applied in technology and everyday life and to our current understanding of the universe. Gathered into general chapters such as "Momentum and Energy," "Electricity," and the subatomic realm ("At the Heart of the Atom"), the more than 800 questions cover topics from simple machines to quarks and from Newton's Laws to why the word "Ambulance" is printed backwards on the vehicles. Though they are usually detailed enough to satisfy older, serious students, some answers are oversimplified—the author's discussion of "weightlessness" includes a misleading claim that a gravitational field's force can fall to zero with distance, for instance. Also, answers to specific questions tend to be clearer than those to more subjective ones such as, "Are nuclear power plants safe?" Though Zitzewitz occasionally admits that scientists continue to be baffled by some phenomena, he underplays gaps in knowledge by relegating a limited set of "Unanswered Questions" to the end of the book. Furthermore, though the presentation is occasionally lightened with, for instance, a discussion of a unit of caloric measurement called the Jelly Doughnut, the overall tone's dryness is only reinforced by a spare selection of small black-and-white photos and gray breakout boxes. Too scattershot to support systematic study and unlikely to keep the attention of casual browsers, this title may have trouble finding an audience.—John Peters, formerly at New York Public Library