Sales boost for the physics book found in Tiger's car

(Getty Images)

Tiger Woods may be known for his brilliant golf, but few people would have guessed that he was also a fan of physics. Photographs of his battered Cadillac Escalade revealed that he was reading Get a Grip on Physics by veteran science writer John Gribbin.

A paperback copy had fallen onto the floor of Woods' SUV among the fragments of glass caused by the back windows being smashed during the incident outside his home near Orlando, Florida last Friday.

The book deals with the basics of physics, from its earliest developments to cosmology – although there is no mention of what happens when you shunt a heavy SUV into a stationary fire hydrant.

"This is one of my older and lesser known books – a guide to new physics for non-scientists. I can only guess that Tiger has been interested in the various stories about the Large Hadron Collider, and wanted to learn more. Several of my books have been doing better than usual this year," Dr Gribbin said yesterday.

The book was 2,268th position on the Amazon sales list, up from 396,224th the previous day.