PCC is a science-literacy textbook for college or secondary school students. It is based on the principle that, because industrialized democracies require a scientifically literate electorate, every citizen's education should include culturally and socially relevant physics. As the American Association for the Advancement of Science puts it in its report Science for All Americans, "Without a scientifically literate population, the outlook for a better world is not promising."

Because its readership includes nonscientists, PCC is conceptual (non-algebraic, but "numerate") rather than technical.

Besides presenting most of the great principles of physics, PCC emphasizes (1) modern physics (post-1900 topics occupy over 50% of the book), (2) philosophical implications such as scientific methodology and pseudoscience, and (3) social implications such as global warming and energy resources.

The first edition was adopted on over 85 campuses. A Chinese-language edition is being published in 2000 by the Shanghai Scientific and Technical Publishing Company.

An accompanying lab manual has been published: Art Hobson, Marie Baehr, Earl C. Swallow, Laboratory Manual for Liberal-Arts Physics (Prentice Hall, 1995).

Book reviews of PCC:

• Carl Kocher, "Post-use review," American Journal of Physic May 1996, p. 667.
• Paul Craig, Physics Today August 1995, pp. 55-56.
• D. J. Bate, Contemporary Physics 1996, number 5, pp. 413-415.
• John Roeder, STS Today June 1995, pp. 3-6.

Furthur information, from the Prentice Hall Publishing Company, including Table of Contents, examination copies, and purchase info.