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Contents 1 Suggestions for new images and films 2 Suggestions for better explanations 3 Suggestions for new topics and tables 3.1 General 3.2 Volume 1, Galilean physics 3.3 Volume 2, Relativity 3.4 Volume 3, Electromagnetism, optics and the brain 3.5 Volume 4, Basics of quantum physics 3.6 Volume 5, Life, nuclei and material science 3.7 Volume 6, The strand model 4 Suggestions for better design and document properties

Suggestions for new images and films

• for online-readers: add flip-film from vol. 1, p. 24ff as animated graphics in the appendix (CS: good idea!)

• for online-readers: add flip-film from vol. 1, p. 195ff as animated graphics in the appendix (CS good idea!)

Suggestions for better explanations

• Vol 1 to 5: Add the results by Friedrich Herrmann on the good way to teach physics. This will sharpen the ideas and shorten the text. See http://www.physikdidaktik.uni-karlsruhe.de/

Suggestions for new topics and tables

General

• Add more aphorisms by Zarko Petan and Samuel Johnson.

• Add challenges for exam preparation.

• Check each volume with formula collections.

• via Ed Cryer: Add from Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, Book 10, Chapter 7, the very end:τὸ γὰρ οἰκεῖον ἑκάστῳ τῇ φύσει κράτιστον καὶ ἥδιστόν ἐστιν ἑκάστῳ: καὶ τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ δὴ ὁ κατὰ τὸν νοῦν βίος, εἴπερ τοῦτο μάλιστα ἄνθρωπος. οὗτος ἄρα καὶ εὐδαιμονέστατος. (1178a whatever is proper to each is naturally best and pleasantest to him: such then is to Man the life in accordance with pure Intellect (since this Principle is most truly Man), and if so, then it is also the happiest.) ὁ κατὰ τὸν νοῦν βίος the life in accordance with pure Intellect - I love that phrase, especially in Greek.

Volume 1, Galilean physics

Volume 2, Relativity

Volume 3, Electromagnetism, optics and the brain

Volume 4, Basics of quantum physics

Volume 5, Life, nuclei and material science

• Add acousto-optical imaging.

• Explain caesium clock working.

• More topics pertinent to medicine: see topics in books on medical physics, e.g. wikipedia on medical physics.

• Add more on semiconductors.

• Add the Mössbauer effect.

• Add more on nuclear physics.

• Add more topics on power generation by chemical means.

• Add polarizability curve of matter from 10^8 to 10^18 Hz.

• Introduce UV / VIS / IR spectroscopy.

• Explain single molecule FRET.

• Explain NMR and ESR, explain pulse sequences in laser spectroscopy.

• Add mass spectroscopy, MALD-TOF, ESI.

• Add crystallography, X-ray, neutrons.

• Analytical ultracentrifugation.

• Inelastic electron scattering (for biomolecules).

• Search for more topics in physiology on biophysics.org.

• Explain metal conductivity; by HD.

• Explain superconductivity.

• Add explanation on artificial eggs, artificial tomato, artificial shrimp.

Volume 6, The strand model

Please add them on this page: [1]!

Suggestions for better design and document properties

• Use a professional designer for cover, back cover, and illustrations; also change them to the quality required for offset printing.

• Reduce pdf size by removing photoshop/illustrator metadata. Either pre-process ps before distilling with awk/perl or use commercial application 'pdf enhancer'. Saves 14.1MB (CS: I need a way to do this on the mac offline, for all files in my image directory; just let me know how to do it, while keeping the original eps files editable with Illustrator.)

• Convert all videos to one common codec. Use h.264 in case that by the time of the next book release Windows Media Player ships out of the box with this codec. Should save an additional 7MB & ensure future compatibility and playability across platforms -- once all major platforms come with this codec. (CS: ok, but how do I change codec?)

Perhaps consider the VP8 codec http://www.webmproject.org/

CS: my foremost issue is that I do not even know how to convert a video from one codec to another...

I may be able to help with this. I emailed you as I have been having issues with the videos but didn't get a reply.

CS: we emailed, and it is a pity you cannot help; maybe somebody else can help here?

The best way I know is with Avidemux. Download it from http://avidemux.berlios.de/download.html drop your file in it, in the left column change video to MPEG-4 AVC (another name for H.264) audio to AAC and format to MP4, then save the new file.