The book is divided into five parts: mechanics, thermodynamics, electrostatics and circuits, waves, twentieth-century physics. Each part gathers numbered chapters and closes with problems and reflections. The order is designed for a linear reading, but nothing stops you jumping from one chapter to another by following the links: many ideas (energy, the oscillator, fields) run across several parts.
To search for a specific topic or method, the text provides several tools.
- General index (at the start): lists all chapters and sections, useful for orienting yourself at a glance.
- Analytic index (at the end, if present): search by keyword, for example conservation or Doppler.
- Index of methods: a collection of standard solving procedures — the free-body diagram, dimensional analysis, and so on — referenced in the problems with the corresponding tag.
- Final formulary: a compact summary of all the key formulae, for quick reference.
- Bibliography: references to textbooks and historical sources, useful for further study.
In this hypertext version the indexes become navigable: the parts and chapters are folders, each concept is an atom linked to the others, and searching by keyword or tag replaces the printed analytic index.