Beyond the physics texts I would recommend Thinking Physics from Lewis Epstein. It’s not that it’s a great primer, but I highly valued it, and it has some nice conceptual explanations and real world type problems that would probably appeal to the person in question. Of course I was trained in physics, so I may be wrong on what would appeal…when I taught High School physics I sometimes drew from it to ask questions from to the students... http://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Physics-Understandable-Practical-Reality/dp/0935218084