Book Review of The Physics Of Everyday Things by James Kakalios

I like understanding how scientific concepts apply to common things in everyday life. For example, no science lesson sticks out in my mind more than the time my AP Bio teacher gave an in-depth explanation of how a hair dryer works. I don't know why, but I've always found that sort of thing fascinating. So, it was without hesitation that I requested a free review copy of The Physics of Everyday Things: The Extraordinary Science Behind an Ordinary Day by James Kakalios. And I thought I was in for a real treat--an entire book about what I'd loved so much from that class session. From the cover design, I surmised that the book was fun and pithy, possibly full of wordplay, and definitely jam-packed with full-color illustrations and diagrams to help readers understand the concepts being explained.

Nope. That couldn't be further from the case. The Physics of Everyday Things took a reader who was excited to learn about science and turned that opportunity into a snooze. There were no color illustrations of any sort within the book. The only diagrams were boring and very minimalist. Kakalios' idea of an "ordinary day" is somewhat asinine, except for a high-powered employee of a Fortune 500 company--I'm pretty sure that isn't going to be the demographic for this book. The pages within are mostly wall-to-wall print, thick with long scientific terms. And Kakalios does little to temper this dry material and information-dense text (most of his efforts therein come in the form of awkwardly using second person POV, which completely does not work in this application).

All in all, I truly have no idea who would want to read this book. Readers who would willingly slog through all of the scientific terms with a complete lack of visual interest would be better served by more advanced book, or an actual textbook, and would probably be annoyed with the second person usage and tired scenarios used to present the information (You Go To The Doctor, You Go To The Airport, You Take A Flight), which come across as ill-contrived as a pizza delivery at the beginning of a bad porn film. And readers who might feel buried underneath all of the scientific terms and hungry for the brightly-colored pictures and helpful diagrams the cover design promised would probably just give up and stop reading well before the end of Chapter One. Not recommended.