What Makes Nature Tick?

Roger G. Newton

    Physicists will love [this book] and the physical tinkerers, classifiers, problem-solvers and conceptualizers will rejoice...If you really want to know how physicists tick and what keeps them happy, I can think of no better way than sitting down and reading [What Makes Nature Tick?].
       --David Hughes, New Scientist

    Newton has directed his book to anyone with a modest background in basic science who wants to understand why and how our current view of nature has developed. He blends ideas such as symmetry, causality, action at a distance, and time's arrow (among others) into the body of knowledge that has been developed over the past three centuries. The influence of imagination, intuition, and an appreciation of beauty are skillfully woven into the story of those who have created the physics of today...Not just a history of physics, the book uses current areas of interest such as chaos, quarks, and superconductors to illustrate how physicists apply, expand, and refine their understanding and how that understanding is constantly evolving. An outstanding presentation, highly recommended.
       --Choice

    This is an excellent and useful book.
       --Euan J. Squires, Times Higher Education Supplement

    [A] marvelous work.
       --Peter S. Sheridan, American Scientist

    Newton's book is, quite simply, a masterpiece. I wish that I had written it.
       --Sheldon Glashow, Winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics, 1979

  • Cover: What Makes Nature Tick?
  • A photo of the author

author photo: Indiana University Media and Teaching Resources

Roger G. Newton is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Physics at Indiana University.