A History of Physics in Its Elementary Branches, Including the Evolution of Physical Laboratories Book

This book was some heavy going, but it was worth the effort. It's a physics textbook with much of the math stripped out (a relief for me). Physical principles are presented by illustrating their applications in everyday objects. The writing style is pretty casual, which is another welcome change.

It's rare for me to read a book that I want to re-read after finishing a couple of chapters. This book is so dense with useful knowledge that I know much of it has already leaked out of my ears. Over the course of the year or so that it's taken me to read this tome, I've incorporated my learning into a dozen or more lunch conversations. Time has dimmed much of what I learned, so I want to read it again. My book queue has accumulated a fair amount of (literal) dust, though, so it may be a while before I get back to it. In the meantime, I'm sure that I will be encouraging friends and family to borrow it and to read it cover-to-cover. It is a fantastic survey of the modern marvels that we take for granted in our everyday lives.