Why Balloons Rise and Apples Fall: The Laws That Make the World Work

‘Everything we do is touched by physics. Whether we’re on the motorway, at the beach or in the pub, its laws tell us what happens in our world and why.’

From the big stuff (life, the universe and everything) to the small stuff (the mind-bending world of quantum physics), here is an accessible guide to the fascinating, awe-inspiring and sometimes downright weird world of physics.

Learn about why heavier things don’t fall faster, why you have more energy when you’re sitting upstairs, and why time slows down as you speed up, and consider such philosophical questions as whether you can be invisible, and what happened to Schroedinger’s poor cat.

If you don’t know your conduction from your convection, or your wormholes from your Ohm’s law, this is the book for you.

Jeff Stewart was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, and moved to England as a child. He graduated from Cambridge University and currently works as a journalist and web designer.