Extended , Fundamentals of Physics, 6th Edition

Rating:
Summary: Very helpful
Review: This student solution manual is very helpful and I often find it more useful than the examples in the book. Their explanations are clear and easy to understand. I use it every week when I do my Physics homework. However, I think it'd be nicer if all the odd number problems are in there instead of most of the odd ones. Besides the student solution manual, the Wiley high education website also offers other sources for students, such as problem hints, which are helpful as well.

Rating:
Summary: Solutions manual is essential
Review: Rating the solutions manual it's self, I would give it somewhere between 3 and 4 stars. It would be MUCH better if it left out fewer steps, and if it covered all the odds, instead of roughly 4/5 of the odds. That said, I did find this manual essential and there is no way I would make it through Physics without it. (QUITE a challenging text book) I also reccomend the Shaums outline for help understanding some of the concepts that are breezed over in the book.

Rating:
Summary: Good but shallow intro
Review: I've done extensive usage of this book lately together with Sears and Zemansky's "University Physics". So it has been natural to me to compare the books while using them day by day.
The result has been quite disappointing for me, regarding Halliday's book.
The book is very clear and well illustrated, and can be successfully used as an easy intro to the subject. It is also complete since you'll find all of the classical and modern Physics topics.
But ... but unfortunately in this case easy has meant shallow to me, since it often happened that for a given topic, concepts were given "as they were", with no explanation of the why or how scientists arrived to a given formulation or result. Take the case of Simple Harmonic Motion: x = Acos(wt+f). Although this formula presents no difficulties to me, I wonder where it does come from, how we (humans) first arrived to this conclusion. I had to read Sears and Zemansky to learn that the experiment that lead to this kind of formula includes a simple form of phasors.
The approaches sounds quite different to me: Halliday says "Take it for granted, be faithful", Sears and Zemansky say "This is the proper kind of formula, and you can see why by yourself if you do ...".
This is important to me, since I use to block myself on a concept until I fully understand it.
Another drawback of this book is the quantity of problems at the end of the chapter. In my humble opinion, an average of 65-70 problems are too few (considering you have the solutions of only half of them, i.e. the odd numbered ones).
So, this is my conclusion: easy and complete introduction to Physics, but too shallow to be really useful in a university course.

Rating:
Summary: I ordered it a week and a half ago and still have no book.
Review: I ordered it a week and a half ago and still have no book.

Rating:
Summary: For physicists in diapers only
Review: An incredible number of examples, some narrative, and lots of explanation! What more could anyone ask for? Umm...how about a real physics book. This book is good for someone taking physics simply to pass out of some requirement at college. And when somebody says that they received a 5 on an AP Physics exam after reading this book, you must realize that everyone and their mother gets a 5 on the AP Physics C exam. Having taken AP Physics myself in high school, and being one of only a few in the class who actually *understood* the material, I can attest to the fact that most who use this book will just know how to solve some of the problems that commonly appear on tests. There's a reason why all the top schools don't use any book this elementary. At MIT, where I attend, the mechanics book used is Kleppner/Kolenkow and the E/M book is Purcell. Other universities (Stanford I know of for sure) use the same combination of books. Unless you want pretty pictures and glossy pages, don't use this book. Don't even look at it. In fact, never say the word "Halliday and Resnick" near me. Like I said before, this book is great for someone who simply needs to pass out of a physics requirement, but to acheive a decent understanding of basic physics (which everyone should have), one needs to turn to books like Kleppner/Kolnekow and Purcell.

Rating:
Summary: A *really* bad book...
Review: This is not a good book from which to really learn physics. It's sufficient for passing out of an introductory class in college or studying to get a five on the AP Physics C exam, but your efforts (and money) are better spent elsewhere. This book will teach you how to solve some common problems. It will also subject you to the authors' unusual and unnecessary stories about being burned by liquid metal or having to walk across hot coals. Funny, but nothing anyone really cares about. I very much recommend Eugene Hecht's book "Physics: Calculus" over this one.

Rating:
Summary: This is the Best Physics Book Ever!
Review: Well I should say that I am not well versed in the world of physics texts but I did thoroughly enjoy Halliday. I had never taken physics before but this book was very clear, simple, and to the point. I really liked the "key ideas" approach to solving the problems. I also liked that there were lots of worked out problems in the chapters and some of the problems are really funny. I suppose its quite a challenge to come up with "fun and exciting" physics problems but Halliday goes beyond the mass on a spring type problems. For example there were problems about banana splits and tarzan. Now how does that relate to physics you might ask? Well you should just read the book to find out!There is not too much calculus in it, but the calc used is pretty simple. I should also point out that this book has been around for ages because my dad used it back in engineering school as did some of my professors in uni! I guess its just a classic.

Rating:
Summary: Satisfied
Review: I was in ap Physics C and I used Serway's book. That book was alright, and i got used to it. I also studied with Giancoli, Princeton Review, and Conceptual Physics. And about 3 weeks before the ap test, my teacher let me borrow his new Halliday book. This book really cleared up several concepts in mechanics. I went over a chapter every 2-3 days as my review. I don't know how the e/m section of the book is but I will be using Halliday for the fall E/m class. Either way, I think Halliday does a good job explaining concepts in Mechanics. I ended up getting a 5 on the test!

Rating:
Summary: I don't know what I would have done without it!
Review: Great supplement to the text. I don't know what I would have done without it. It helped me out tremendously! I understand physics better know!

Rating:
Summary: too hard to follow
Review: this book was too in depth for the fifth grade level. I failed all the test and struggled with the homework assignments. My teacher did not speak english and did not help much either. I would recommend taking chemistry instead.