This book introduces physics concepts and principles at a conversant but non-technical level. It also explores technology, with particular focus on two overarching themes that largely define modern life: our intensified use of energy and digital information. These themes take up several entire chapters (“Human Use of Chemical Fuel,” “Computers,” and “Light and Telecommunications”) and substantial parts of several others (e.g., sections on satellites and GPS, telegraph and telephone networks, generators and transformers, nuclear power, and solid-state technologies). The themes of energy and information highlight the pertinence of physics and facilitate a big-picture understanding of how life today differs from that of two hundred or two thousand years ago. The book grew out of lecture notes for a one-semester college physics course for non-science majors, so it could be useful to instructors and students of similar courses. The abundance of material offers some freedom in the design of such a course. However, the author hopes that the combination of conceptual depth and informal tone will appeal to a more diverse audience united by a genuine curiosity regarding science and technology. That audience might include pursuers of continuing education as well as physics majors looking for a lighter conceptual supplement to give context to their more technical coursework.

Michael Anderson discovered a love of physics as a college student at UCLA and continued to a PhD in physics at UC San Diego. There, his research focused on longitudinal waves in plasmas consisting of a single species of charged particle. Dr. Anderson has been a lecturer at the University of San Diego since 2009. His favorite courses to teach are Thermal and Statistical Physics and The Physics of Modern Life; the former is (to his mind) the most under-appreciated branch of physics, and the latter is a course he developed so that students outside of the sciences may understand the role that physics plays in their everyday lives. At USD, he has also contributed to the development of the physics laboratory curriculum, and he serves on the committee that oversees the college's core curriculum. In his spare time, he enjoys surfing and exploring tide-pools with his wife and their two boys.