Rating: 
Summary: Good introduction to physics.
Review: In all fairness to the book, it's not as bad as I made it out to be below. It is a little upsetting to be given tons of equations without any proofs. But the proofs really are beyond the scope of the book. I've looked at other books of the same level since I wrote the original review, and this one has turned out to be better than all the others. The book would've been better if they mentioned a few extra things like how its treatment of electricity and magnetism should be taken as only working in an absolute frame, and is only an approximation to the full treatment.All in all, this book covers so many topics, that no matter what physics you are doing in the future, you'll always be able to find some information in here that won't be mentioned in your other book. It covers everything you need to know for a first mechanics course, a course in waves and modern physics, a first course in electricity and magnetism, plus a lot more that is never touched in class. Calculus is not needed for the mechanics course, but it is used in the book. If you know calculus, then you'll benefit. If you don't, you can skip the "calculus equations", and the rest of the mechanics part of the book will still all be comprehensible.
Rating: 
Summary: blehhh
Review: Like the other reviewer from UCB, I had to use Giancoli for two semesters of physics, and this book did not help me one bit. All it did was make me feel completely helpless. The explanations of most concepts are pretty clear and concise. The problem is when you get to the problems. Most of the practice problems at the end of the chapters are much harder than the level at which the actual text covers the physics. As another reviewer said, this book may be good if you've taken a rigorous Honors Physics or AP Physics class in high school, but not everyone has. If your high school only offered a regular college-prep physics class (non-calculus based at that), you will suffer from all the knowledge that it is assumed you can automatically derive or figure out (as if it were common sense) on your own. I highly regret not looking for other, better, physics textbooks at the time I took my introductory physics classes. I urge anyone who doesn't feel like they already have a good solid background in calculus-based physics, and is assigned this book, to go and find one that explains things in a more in-depth way. Physics is all about the problems, if you can't do the problems then you're screwed in the class. This book does not help you figure out how to solve problems.
Rating: 
Summary: Decent Book, but...
Review: then again I had an excellent instructor.
My professor has a Ph.D from MIT and he knew everything there was to know about Engineering level Physics. The book was OK in that it covered the basics and then some, but the problems in the book required a little more effort to solve. Look at it this way, imagine the book as the CIA feeding info to soldiers being dropped into a hot LZ. The CIA tells them where to find the hostages, and where the terrorists are, and what weapons they have. After finishing a chapter, you should imagine the entire platoon stranded in the middle of nowhere with the enemy surrounding them. The book gives you an example and you THINK you understand the concept. The author then throws a lot of curveballs and you're not prepared to handle them. I found some of the more difficult problems VERY puzzling and we had to ask the instructor for help many times.
Rating:
Summary: Extremely good intro
Review: This book is a very well explained and logically presented introduction to college level physics. Although Giancoli does not give the most rigorous examples in the text, the sheer number of end of chapter problems will satisfy anyone looking for practice. I understand physics in a much better way after reading this book: Ginacoli explains concepts in an excellent manner, leaving the reader in doubt as to the implication and application of what he has just read. Physics ceases to be just point objects rotating and flying through the air. This is a good book...anyone with some common sense can do well in physics with this book and attendance of lectures
Rating:
Summary: Extremely good intro
Review: This book is a very well explained and logically presented introduction to college level physics. Although Giancoli does not give the most rigorous examples in the text, the sheer number of end of chapter problems will satisfy anyone looking for practice. I understand physics in a much better way after reading this book: Ginacoli explains concepts in an excellent manner, leaving the reader in doubt as to the implication and application of what he has just read. Physics ceases to be just point objects rotating and flying through the air. This is a good book...anyone with some common sense can do well in physics with this book and attendance of lectures
Rating:
Summary: Not for the physicist
Review: This book is very bad. It includes lots of false physics theories which are just copied from other textbooks. It looks as though the authors do not have a good understanding of this subject. It hardly includes any proofs for most of their assertions. This was the first physics textbook I ever bought and I have worked hard to prove many of their theories wrong, to later find out that they are not the correct theories that more advanced textbooks teach in the first place. I seriously do not recommend this book for anybody who has a love for physics and truth. But of course, most other college level textbooks such as this one are pretty much the same. But this sort of introduction to physics is definitely not necessary for a clear understanding. I suggest you skip straight to the next level. By getting books by Griffiths or Kleppner. But if you insist on getting an introduction of this sort to physics, then it is still a good tool for the general topics discussed at college level physics.
Rating:
Summary: excellent book
Review: This book is very easy to understand and fun to study from. Very helpful for beginners.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: This book is well organized, fairly rigorous, and contains lots of useful examples and problems. This text requires, at very least, a semester of calculus for an excellent understanding. 3 semesters of calculus will allow the reader to have a truly complete understanding of the text. The organization is mainly by color/font and is self-explanitory. The text is calc-based and the level of this material is the hardest that is actually covered in any freshman physics course in the country. (This is based off the info that that this text is used at MIT, which has one of the most difficult and best physics programs in the U.S.) The examples in this text really top it off; they lead the reader through the text and make all the problems at the end of the chapter feasible. The main difference between this book and Serway's calc-based text (Serway's larger set ISBN: 0030317169) is that Serway's is slightly harder. (One review believed the Serway text to be easier, but I am guessing this was one of Serway's non-calc texts. Serway's calc-based text covers more than what is needed for the AP Phys-C Exam.) Topics covered: Classical Mechanics, Oscillations/Waves, Fluids, and Thermodynamics. THIS BOOK IS EXCELLENT FOR SELF-STUDY.
Rating:
Summary: better than serway's text
Review: When i started to use Serway's text for AP physics C, i felt that's a great book. But as i progress, i found Serway's text is so vague and lacked rigor, problem solving, solutions, detailed proof, as appropriete for the level of AP physics C. After using Serway's text for self study for two month, i switched to giancoli's text by friend's recommandation, and i found that it was much better than serway's text in respect that more problem solving, detailed proof are included. I regret that i wrote i review for Serway's text so good.
if you are studying calculus-based physics, i recommand you also buy an outline.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Freshman Physics Textbook
Review: You are blessed if your professor adopts this book as your textbook. This book presents the physics concepts with rare clarity. It abounds with great number of examples and problems. The overall difficulty level of this book is more challenging than other popular college physics textooks that are available today. A good foundation of senior high school honor Physics and AP physics is certainly helpful. Some selection of topics, such as Coriolis Effect, should capture the imaginations of young minds. This book is currently adpoted as textook at UC-Berkeley (Physics 7 series) and MIT (physics 8.01).
| 
