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In this neat little book the authors aim to provide the minimum amount of knowledge you need about classical physics (that is, everything except quantum mechanics) to gain some real understanding of the world or to proceed to "the next level," which would be freshman physics. They do so with great success, and in the process they pull the rug out from under the all too common attitude that, while a physicist who doesn't appreciate art is a philistine, an artist who doesn't appreciate physics is only doing what comes naturally.

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Which brings me to the audience for the book. The book most definitely hits the spot for the kind of mature, committed "nonacademic" that the authors have in mind. Equally, it is certainly not for the dilettante science-watcher happy with the kind of "pop science" accounts that deal as far as possible in words and images without worrying about the equations—not that I am knocking such books; I write them myself. But it is also just the right book for a much younger audience than the mature people with careers behind them who filled the classes at Stanford. It is spot-on for any young student of science to read before heading off to college to study physics seriously, and I shall certainly be recommending it in that connection. "The Theoretical Minimum" should also be required reading for our politicians and lawmakers—but that is probably hoping for too much.