What’s the best way to brew the perfect coffee? What does physics say about love (and divorce)? How can you finally rid your garden of snails and slugs? Physics Around the Clock will answer these questions and many more.
Physics Around the Clock is a revealing and humorous journey through the science of everyday life. From how to cook amazing pizza to pouring the perfect glass of champagne, many aspects of life can be explained – and indeed enriched — with the help of physics.
Physics Around the Clock follows a typical day, beginning at breakfast and the morning routine followed by daytime activities before finishing off with typical evening pursuits such as having a take-away and enjoying a film.
Binding it all together is physics and what theories or experimental techniques can reveal regarding these everyday situations.
Physics Around the Clock will reveal the hidden science in our daily lives.
Physics Around the Clock will be published in the UK on 11 September by The History Press (buy here or here) and in the US on 7 April 2026 by Prometheus Books (pre-order here).
Praise for Physics Around the Clock
“This is one of those brilliant books where there is an amazing fact on every page showing just how much science underpins our everyday world.” – Mark Miodownik, author of It’s a Gas: The Magnificent and Elusive Elements that Expand our World
“A thoroughly enjoyable collection of physical curiosities that fill our everyday life from the volcano-like electrical activities of coffee grounds to bunching buses. Delightful.” – Brian Clegg, author of Ten Days in Physics that Shook the World
“Physics is all around us – even as we go about our seemingly mundane daily lives, as Michael Banks ably demonstrates in Physics Around the Clock. Whether it’s your morning coffee, daily commute, walking the dog, cooking dinner, playing Monopoly or Texas Hold ’Em, or debating whether it’s better for gunslingers to draw first while watching classic spaghetti Westerns, a physicist somewhere has studied it. And Banks is here to explain it all to you in a truly compelling read.” – Jennifer Ouellette, author of The Calculus Diaries
“Physics Around the Clock explains, in an easy and engaging way, how from morning till night, we’re surrounded by fascinating physics that hides in plain sight.” – James Kakalios, physics professor at the University of Minnesota and the author of The Physics of Everyday Things
Dr Michael Banks 