Physics for Entertainment
by Yakov Perelman · first published 1962
85% recommend15% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Playful, experiment-driven popular science that turns everyday physics into puzzles and tricks, sparking lasting interest in how the physical world works. It is remembered as a childhood favourite.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Yakov Perelman is to recreational physics as Martin Gardner is to recreation mathematics. Mr. Perelman. As the author said - The aim of this book is not so much to give you some fresh knowledge, as to help you "learn what you already know". The book is an easy read but hard to stop once you start reading. The book covers the topic of mechanics, light, sound, heat . In the foreword, the book’s author describes the contents as “conundrums, brain-teasers, entertaining anecdotes, and unexpected comparisons,” adding, “I have quoted extensively from Jules Verne, H. G. Wells, Mark Twain and other w
Affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
Related books
2011–2026Mathematics Can Be Fun
Yakov Perelman
Recommended by 10 · mentioned by 1010 recommend · 10 mention10 recommend · 1010 recommend
Yakov Perelman's
Yakov Perelman
Recommended by 1 · mentioned by 41 recommend · 4 mention1 recommend · 41 recommend
2009–2022Mathematics, queen and servant of science
Eric Temple Bell
Recommended by 2 · mentioned by 22 recommend · 2 mention2 recommend · 22 recommend
Mathematics
A. D Aleksandrov
Recommended by 26 · mentioned by 3026 recommend · 30 mention26 recommend · 3026 recommend
2008–2026Problems in general physics
I. E. Irodov
Recommended by 7 · mentioned by 107 recommend · 10 mention7 recommend · 107 recommend
2008–2025Mathematics
Andrei Nikolaevich Kolmogorov, M. A. Lavrentʹev, A.D Alexsandrov
Recommended by 12 · mentioned by 1512 recommend · 15 mention12 recommend · 1512 recommend
2008–2026Fundamentals of physics
David Halliday, Robert Resnick, Jearl Walker
Recommended by 10 · mentioned by 1610 recommend · 16 mention10 recommend · 1610 recommend
2008–2026Nonlinear dynamics and Chaos
Steven H. Strogatz, Steven Strogatz
Recommended by 24 · mentioned by 2924 recommend · 29 mention24 recommend · 2924 recommend
…mother was a mathematician (and my father was a mathematician and a computer scientist, but they divorced). Still the only “math immersion” I got was Perelman books, scattered around our apartment, like Physics for Entertainment and Algebra for Fun: https://www.amazon.com/s?i=stripbooks&rh=p_27%3AYakov+Perelm... They are both challenging and entertaining and very simple - on the surface. Some were written in 1913 or so. Each…
…were printed and bound domestically. For non-fictional books, I can recall several excellent children books that were published in Russian that were my inspiration when I was young. In the Russian side, Physics for Entertainment by Yakov Perelman was the one book that I would read and read again. On the Chinese side, One Hundred Thousand Whys is another series of books that were surprisingly well written. They have many of those…
on “The Artful Propaganda of Soviet Children’s Literature” ↗Immediately reminded me of this "Bottomless well" article that explains this exact scenario: https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.261068/page/n7... Spent many hours with this 2-volume book "Physics for Entertainment" by Ya Perelman as a kid, and now I'm motivated to go back and read it all over again! A lot of these Russian science/math/fiction books were available at very low cost during the '80s in India.
on “What would happen if you fell through a hole to the center of the Earth?” ↗…the physical book just for the way it was designed, let alone the content. The authors used in their translated works were equally exceptional in their translation. I fondly remember reading their "Physics for entertainment" by Perelman as a translated work in good old days and it actually made me fall in love with the text book physics taught at the school level. Given that this was an artifact when USSR made it even more…
on “The World is Built on Probability [1988/2023]” ↗…books and some have solutions we can figure out by using a computer, but in general, they are really cool. My personal favorite that has an English translation available, although it's not on Maths is "Physics for entertainment" by Perelman -- you can get it on Amazon right now. It was published 100+ years ago and problems are still relevant now. It discussed questions such as "When you jump out of a train, should you jump forward…
on “Seven Puzzles You Think You Must Not Have Heard Correctly (2006) [pdf]” ↗- Yakov Perelman's "Physics for entertainment" was fun, and repeating an experiment at work once almost got me fired - "Made to stick" by Chip and Dan Heath - "The Dissapearing Spoon" got me curious about chemistry -"Uncle Tungsten" by Oliver…
on “Ask HN: What books got you curious and inspired about fields other than CS?” ↗…to Indian languages and still maintain high quality print and typeset. Unlike now in those days English language was not accessible so all the education and learning was in the child's mother tongue. Physics for Entertainment -- Yakov Perelman [1] is one such book. [1] https://www.amazon.in/Physics-Entertainment-Book-Yakov-Perel...
on “Soviet children’s books became collectors’ items in India” ↗1. Physics for Entertainment (aka Physics for Fun), Mathematics can be Fun, Arithmetic for Fun, Algebra for Fun etc. all by Yakov Perelman (aka Y.I.Perelman) and published by Mir Publishers in the erstwhile USSR. These were absolutely…
on “Ask HN: Books that made you fascinated to learn more mathematics?” ↗In no particular order and off the top of my head; The Sherlock Holmes canonical stories - The importance of logical reasoning and brain over brawn. Instrumental in teaching me to think. Physics for Entertainment (and other books) by Ya. Perelman - Beauty and understanding of Science. Instrumental in giving me a lifelong interest in Science/Technology. Structured Computer Organization by Andrew Tanenbaum - Instrumental…
on “Ask HN: Which book has had the most meaningful contribution in your life?” ↗Brings back childhood memories. Enjoyed reading about these and the accompanying illustrations as a kid from the excellent book Physics for Entertainment by Yakov Perelman. Nirantara Chalana Yantralu they were called in Telugu translation.
on ““perpetual motion” device is clever [video]” ↗> Physics for Entertainment by Yakov Perelman I read the same in Malayalam! That book was one of my earliest introductions to practical physics. He deconstructs pretty much all the early "perpetual machine" designs in the book.…
on ““perpetual motion” device is clever [video]” ↗This one is new to me. I still have my copies of Physics for Entertainment and Mathematics can be fun by the same author - Yakov Perelman. I owe my superfast stereogram decoding skills ( < 2 seconds most of the times ) to him :) Here's an interesting tidbit from his wikipedia…
on “Geometry for Entertainment (1950)” ↗…of Melodrama, Humour, Vivid descriptions etc. which draw you in and keep you engaged. Here is a good essay on his narrative technique - https://www.lsj.org/literature/essays/dickens Non-Fiction: 1) Physics for Entertainment by Yakov Perelman - You can get scans of all his and other Soviet authors books at - https://mirtitles.org/ In those days (80s in India) American/British books were generally not available and too costly…
on “Ask HN: What book had a big impact on you as a child or teenager?” ↗…When to Trust Them) by Tom Chivers and David Chivers - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Read_Numbers Finally, the old Soviet books by Yakov Perelman (https://mirtitles.org/?s=Yakov+Perelman) named Physics for Entertainment, Mathematics for Fun etc. also fall under the same category and are a good read. Bonus: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Back-of-the-envelope_calculati... Follow other links like "Guesstimate" from the…
on “Hacking physics from the back of a napkin (2020)” ↗…Scientifically i.e. in terms of Physics/Chemistry/Mathematics/Biology is to start with the classic Soviet era books by Yakov Perelman - https://mirtitles.org/?s=yakov+perelman Specifically; start with the 2-vol Physics for Entertainment (the breadth of coverage is really good) followed by Mathematics can be Fun, Algebra can be Fun etc. Note: Do not be misled by the words "Entertainment"/"Fun" etc. in the title. As is typical of Soviet…
on “The Problem of Teaching Physics in Latin America (1963)” ↗