Thinking about Physics

Roger Newton believes that his fellow physicists might be too comfortable with their roles as solvers of problems. In this text, he argues that physicists should spend more time thinking about physics, and if they did they would become even more skilled at solving problems and "doing" science.

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Physical scientists are problem solvers. They are comfortable "doing" science: they find problems, solve them, and explain their solutions. Here, Roger Newton argues that physicists should spend more time thinking about physics. If they did, he believes, they would become even more skilled at "doing" science. Newton points out that problem solving is always influenced by the theoretical assumptions of the problem solver. Too often, though, he believes, physicists haven't subjected their assumptions to thorough scrutiny. Newton's goal is to provide a framework within which the fundamental theories of modern physics can be explored, interpreted, and understood. This is a thought-provoking book about those concepts and theories that underlie the study of contemporary physics. Readers will find that they will become better-informed physicists and, therefore, better thinkers and problem solvers too.