After years of work, my first book, Getting Physics: Nature's Laws as a Guide to Life, is finally available. I will almost certainly never devote more time to any single project than I did this one. It is a labour of love, and I am so happy to share it with readers all around the world.
The link to purchase it through Amazon is here: GETTING PHYSICS.
I am not sure what else to write in this post. This blog is the place where I learned how to write about physics. Some of the contents of this book include paragraphs I wrote in 2010, the year The Engineer's Pulse was launched. I am feeling incredibly nostalgic right about now. The only thing that makes sense to me is to simply copy/paste the acknowledgement section of Getting Physics here:
Acknowledgements
Momentum for the manuscript began when eleven Vanier College students volunteered to read through a chapter or two and provide detailed comments. I want to thank Bastienne D.C., Peter D., Kamil C., Maria-Sara F., Quassandra D., Daniel M., Carolynn B., Will E., Alin B., Aashiha B., and Myriam L., because their feedback improved the book immensely.
There are two more
experienced authors that helped point me in the right direction early on as I
navigated the journey that is ‘publishing a book’. Thank you, Alex
Rosenblatt and Brahm Canzer.
I must also thank
Kristie Stuckey, whose keen eye and countless iterations led to the lovely
figures contained herein.
Pearl Levine provided
a round of editing that was much appreciated (she also bakes amazing brownies). Stef Caron used a fine comb and did a final,
skillful pass through.
I have more colleagues
at Vanier College to thank for their feedback and moral support along the way
than I can fit here. I want to give a shout out to the Vanier College
Physics Department, whose combined wisdom helped refine the lens through which
I see physics. I also wish to thank
Nicholas Park, Jean-François Brière, and Sameer Bhatnagar for reviewing portions of the book.
Similarly, I have been encouraged to write about physics by many friends, like
Jon, Corey, Lorne, Peter, Tom, Rob, Jer, Christian, and Jeff to name a few.
I have had the honor
of teaching more than 1,500 students. My interactions with them helped
shape me as an educator. Their curiosity and resilience through adversity
inspired me to keep pushing forward in my career.
I would have little
connection to academic content, nor any practical skills without the teacher
interactions I had as a student. My fundamentals in math were solidified
in college thanks to Denis Sevee and Frank Lovasco. Professor Andrew Higgins
served as a model for how to communicate physics with gusto. Gerard
Carrier and Alpha Ross showed me the ropes in the space industry, upping my technical
engineering game. Finally, my mentor, Professor Arun Misra, taught me
most of what I know about physics and engineering. He introduced me to
orbital mechanics, space elevators, space conferences, and how to write
technical papers; most importantly, he personified how to approach one’s career
and human interactions with integrity. He has been my Mr. Miyagi.
Before any of this
could happen, Mom, Dad, Jamie, you gave me a foundation upon which to build a
life. I was brought up in this nurturing family, even though my mother is
not exactly sure where her science author son emerged from.
Val. We were kids and then we grew into ourselves side by side. You are my anchor in this life. At this point, I suppose you get physics whether you like it or not.
