Looking at education in and beyond school, Solomon considers the different meanings of energy and its effect on language and personality, the ancient and topical, cognitive growth and personal values, practical technology and abstract theory, the world of citizens and the world of schools. She highlights, through a range of practical examples, the difficultes in teaching about the concepts of energy and the problems facing school pupils who have to tackle the concept of energy in the everyday world and relate this to school text-book physics.