The book follows a single story line, the physics of the atom and how it was discovered, which allows coverage of much material that would be encountered anyway in the typical year-long introductory course, but with more intrinsic motivation. And there are interesting applications ranging from how ink-jet printers steer blobs of ink to how the scanning tunneling microscope works. The total course content should be reduced relative to the status quo. More on that later. The IUPP literature also identifies five background pedagogical issues.
Many stylistic features stimulate engagement and comprehension.
First and foremost is the sense of intelligent inquiry that permeates the book. Equally appealing for the student will be the droll humor. Here's one example from a section of the first chapter where the point is made that Einstein's theory of relativity will be important to understanding atomic physics. The consequences of this theory are necessary to understand the behavior of atoms or their components at high energies. This behavior is surprising and unfamiliar to beings whose experience with the physical world is limited to velocities much less than that of light.