author : David J. Helfand

This is the course guidebook that accompanies the 24 lecture “Great Course” of the same name. It is essentially an abbreviated transcript of each lecture, a few pictures, and some related reading. (I watched the lectures, which is what I am reviewing here, and am using the book simply as an aide-memoire.)

The idea here is to learn physics by learning how it is used to date historical events (and a few other uses). This is mostly about atoms, covering the uses of (mainly) nuclear physics for dating with isotopic abundances and radioactive decay. Later on we move from human history, back through the history of the solar system, the galaxy, and the universe.

The actual physics is at a fairly elementary level (I believe this is a course for non-scientists), but even if you are already familiar with the concepts, what is interesting and very well done is the set of example applications, and the intuition-priming explanations. So non-experts and experts alike can learn from this.