"The Pendulum: A Case Study in Physics" describes one physical system - the pendulum - and its manifestations in classical and modern physics. While being a technical work, this remarkable study is set within the context of the technological, historical, and cultural developments to which the pendulum has contributed.
The Pendulum: A Case Study in Physics is a unique book in several ways. Firstly, it is a comprensive quantitative study of one physical system, the pendulum, from the viewpoint of elementary and more advanced classical physics, modern chaotic dynamics, and quantum mechanics. In addition, coupled pendulums and pendulum analogs of superconducting devices are also discussed. Secondly, this book treats the physics of the pendulum within a historical and cultural context, showing for example that the pendulum has been intimately connected with studies of the earth's density, the earth's motion and timekeeping. While primarily a physics book, the work provides significant added interest through the use of relevant cultural and historical vignettes. This approach offers an alternative to the usual modern physics courses. The text is amply illustrated and augmented by exercises at the end of each chapter.
In this well-illustrated treatment of the study of pendulum, Baker (Bryn Athyn College of the New Church) and Blackburn (Wilfrid Laurier U.) provide fascinating information about the history of the pendulum and what scientists thought it did, the revolution wrought by Foucault, the special cases of the torsion pendulum, the chaotic pendulum, the quantum pendulum, and coupled pendulums, the effects of superconductivity, and the most familiar to most of us, the
pendulum clock. They include information on special interests in the appendices, such as the inverted pedulum and the longnow clock. SciTech Book News, December 2005.
