Interweaving modern and classical ideas of physics, the author offers students a presentation that emphasizes "how things work." He uses the connection between symmetry principles and conservation law as a unifying theme to order the subject of physics and to help students understand physics as more than just a series of topics. The author draws from the ideas of biology, medicine, geology, astronomy, meteorology and architecture to offer students a text that is both pragmatic and interdisciplinary. This book has been written for a short physics course for biology, pre-medical, architecture, heath, or environmental, earth or social science students. The only prerequisite is knowledge of college algebra/trigonometry.