How Things Work: The Physics of Everyday Life Review

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How Things Work: The Physics of Everyday Life ReviewI'm a professor of engineering, and decided to use this book as the primary textbook to give a basic idea, for humanities and liberal arts students, of what engineers do. What a great decision! The first part of the book sweeps neatly through basic physics, which is also, as it turns out, basic engineering. Statics, dynamics, friction, thermo--it's all there, neatly encapsulated in a way that humanities students can easily understand what's going on. The text then moves on to the types of things that really float my boat as an engineer--how refrigerators, car engines, and microwave ovens work. Even though I've been involved in engineering for years, and am a licensed professional engineer, I still learned interesting and helpful new ways of thinking about devices and how things work from this book. Moreover, I think this book helps give non-science and non-engineering students the kind of broad-ranging education they *should* be receiving in a university level. Engineering students, after all, have to study at least a modicum of subjects that relate to world history, English, psychology, and so forth. But humanities students can graduate from college without even having the faintest idea about the workings of the technology that can make their lives so healthy, pleasant and liveable. Call me biased or part of the great NASCAR unwashed, but I think it's just as important for a student to be aware of the essentials of how their refrigerator and car work as it is for them to understand the nuances of Shakespeare. Understanding of the fundamentals of technology also leads to students having a better understanding of the tradeoffs involved in good stewardship of the environment.
Dr. Bloomfield has an extensive list of thoroughly researched demonstrations available through his website. I use some of these demonstrations almost every class day, and students really like them. (I couple the demonstrations with active learning exercises and cooperative learning activities, which helps keep them awake and motivated. I also combine use of Bloomfield's book with readings from Henry Petroski's "Success through Failure, and with short film clips from the National Association of Manufacturers.)
In a study I am working on, I've found that universities that use this text as the backbone of physics courses for non-scientists and non-engineers generally seem to have huge enrollments. That speaks of the giant educational need this book seems to fill.How Things Work: The Physics of Everyday Life Overview

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