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Rating: Summary: Will make your physics concepts crystal... Review: I have used this book in my A level (High School). I think its simply fantastic. I has detailed explainations. I don't know how could my friends who are at college level find this book unuseful. But it demands strong mathematics, that very few people have. If you have strong maths, then you are ready to use this book. But if you haven't this book might be the toughest for you.
Rating: Summary: Will make your physics concepts crystal... Review: I have used this book in my A level (High School). I think its simply fantastic. I has detailed explainations. I don't know how could my friends who are at college level find this book unuseful. But it demands strong mathematics, that very few people have. If you have strong maths, then you are ready to use this book. But if you haven't this book might be the toughest for you.
Rating: Summary: Great book for learning physics while abstracting from math Review: I liked this book a lot. It has a lot of information, presented very clearly, about topics in physics that are often not studied in undergrad programs like fluid dynamics, physics of sound waves and musical instruments and thermodynamics. The illustrations are stunning!! One can really understand a lot of physics by reading this book - from mechanics to electromagentism, waves and modern physics. I do think that the book is somewhat superficial in all the above topics. It uses only modest math, and so does not reach the complexity level of the Berkely physics course series (which I am familar with). As I said, the strengths of the book are its breadth and simple explanations of the less complicated topics. If one wishes a more in depth understanding of physics, it is easy to move from this text to more advanced texts on mechanics, magnetism or quantum mechanics (assuming appropriate knowledge of math). I would still recommend starting with this book in order to get a clear and broad view of physics while enjoying the process. It is annoying that this book has an outrageous price. It is not so different from the 10th edition, and so you can get a new or used 10th edition copy for a fraction of the price $150 (I got a new 10th edition hardcover (with modern physics) under $40).
Rating: Summary: A disappointment Review: I use this book for my college physics class and I can honestly say this book is crap. The questions are confusing at best and difficult to understand. There is a lot of worthless junk. The solutions to the book are even worst. It jumps straight into a equation without stating which one did it used.
Rating: Summary: Best Physics Text Book Written Review: I used the ninth edition of this book (1995, an older sibling's) to study for the MCAT and found it absolutely invaluable. Virtually every problem in the book is solved, which is exactly what is needed in order to understand a concept. This book is the closest thing I have seen to an unabridged textbook, and will have detailed information on everything from kinemtics to astronaughtics. Every concept is explained in detail, with numerous solved problems and examples. Best textbook I have ever read for any subject.
Rating: Summary: This book is one of the worst texts I've read. Review: It starts off confusing from Chapter One and continues in that manner. Multiple times I was unable to work homework problems from the sections using only the text in this book, relying instead on the internet or a friend's old physics book to help me figure out the matieral that was either glossed over or not covered in this book.
The wording is often imprecise, misleading, or generally obfuscated. Useful tables were few and far between, and the math was a confusing mix of Pre-Calc through Complex Analysis (though they never seem to quite spell out exactly what they are getting at, so I feel sorry for anyone using this book before at least Calc II).
The book is paced so that it can be taught to students currently enroled in Calc 1, so if you know more advanced math you should skim it at least once before your class starts to figure out where the material is.
If you have to suffer through a class that uses this wretched book like I just did I strongly recommend getting another calculus based classical physics book to actually explain things, using this book in loose association with your real reference. Note that this book has a love of polar vectors.
If you bother to read through this book as a learning tool, I recommend taking notes as you go because the book is a horrible reference.
The only reason I give this book two stars is I did not spot any actual errors in the book. I give them a point for at least knowing the subject. They however should not be writing textbooks.
Rating: Summary: a lot of hard questions, not enough explanation Review: The book does not go indepth into a lot of physics problems. It will solve one question on one topic and then give the student a bunch of other questions at the end of the chapter that are different and harder than the solved example problems. Everyone who has taken college physics knows that there are a lot of variations to different questions, and there are conditions and exceptions that must be taken into account before a problem is solved. If you have a crappy physics professor, like I had, this book will make physics a nightmare for you.
Rating: Summary: Superb book for the beginning Physics student Review: This book is the best book out there that I have seen for the beginning Physics student. It is a bit wordy as some of the reviews have said, but I think the authors have done their best to bend over backwards to explain each Physics topic in a simple, clear, and unassuming way for the neophyte. Even as reference, this textbook is invaluable, because it explains concepts down to the nitty gritty detail; unlike a book like Physics by Halliday, Resnick, and Krane which just drops you onto your head expecting you to have some understanding of the subject already. This book is unpresumptious, unpretentious, and yes for some; unsophisticated, but when you're just starting out in Physics, no one expects you to be an Einstein or Feynman right from the start.
Rating: Summary: Fair at best Review: This book is too bulky and too wordy. The authors purport to bend over backwards to guide the student through some difficult subject matter, but they end up making it more confusing. And then there are the corny jokes. Who has time for this nonsense? Were it not for the very good illustrations, I would give this a lower rating. My advice: Go to the lecture, do the problems but don't waste time reading this textbook.
Rating: Summary: Big in size, not on useful content Review: This textbook is undeniably heavy and bulky. You do not want to carry this thing on your back for the whole days. It has almost 2000 pages! The content is okay, but I recommend a supplementary text (not the study guide, its horrible). I find that these new textbooks are just crammed with too much information you don't use or don't need. Cut to the real stuff, already!
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