Don't Try This At Home! The Physics of Hollywood Movies by Adam Weiner

If you're a movie buff and a physics geek, then this book might just be for you. If you're a nit-picker who frequently asks "Is that even possible?" when watching a movie, then this book might be for you. If you're studying physics and find it boring, but like action movies, then this might be for you. If you don't particularly care about physics, nor do you care whether a movie is realistic, then I'd say you'd find this book incredibly boring.

Pros

Cons

As a movie buff and physics geek, I became enamored with this book as soon as I heard about it. It begins with Kinematics, moves on to Newton's Laws, and then moves on to some Thermodynamics and energy conservation. Throw in some fluid and gas mechanics, electrostatics & electromagnetism, and light/sound, and end with some modern physics, and you get a fairly expansive overview of the realm of physics - all presented through the prism of analyzing movies (primarily action sequences) in the following movies:

• Speed
• Spider-Man
• Superman
• Batman (and Batman Begins)
• The Core
• October Sky
• Mission: Impossible
• Titanic
• Close Encounters of the Third Kind
• Apollo 13
• XXX
• ... and many others

Each analysis provides the theoretical and mathematical concepts required for the analysis in clear language. The author, a teacher of physics and AP physics, does an excellent job at using the information at hand to explain why the climactic chase sequence in XXX would require Indy 500-level speeds, or why Batman should be seriously injured when using his batarang to stop his fall.

While knowledge of the films are certainly helpful, the fact is that the book is so comprehensive in the topics covered that it could be used as the basis of an introductory physics course. Each chapter ends with a series of "Additional Questions" that can be used to extend understanding of the concepts presented in that chapter.

I think this book has a lot of potential as a supplement to a physics course, providing examples which can be printed off and distributed to a class, or perhaps worked on at home by a diligent student looking for additional help and concepts that they can get their head around.