The Mechanical Universe

Rating:
Summary: One of the best books of All time
Review: I came across the Mechanical Universe telecourses after my third year of College and really liked them.

One day I discovered this book, and then had to buy its sequel.

They are awesome in their storytelling ability and in the clarity they bring to some very difficult concepts. The depth of content is simply HUGE, from Integration and Differentiation to Thermodynamics and Quantum Mechanics.. I can't wait for the telecourses to come out on DVD.

In the meantime, Annenburg also sells the series on video tape to consumers, and any books by Goodstein and Apostol who contributed to this book are similarly astounding.

Consider this a recommendation for casual reading, I already had my grades for the college courses and developed my fanaticism "after" school was out.

Trust me these are to Physics and Mathematics, what "Cosmos" was to Astronomy.

Rating:
Summary: An clear presentation of mechanics
Review: I saw the excellent Mechanical Universe Television series while I was in high school and I recently purchased this book. I've just finished reading this book and am simultaneously doing problems in Schaum 3000 Physics problems. This is a great reader to use as it puts the physics in the historical context and traces the reasoning these great scientists used in inducing their conclusions in the first place. The explanations are mostly very clear. Some of the historical interpretations are questionable but they do not detract from the overall value of the historical approach. This is how all physics should be taught.

Rating:
Summary: Weak and full of mistakes
Review: This book as a basic physics textbook is weak in content - its similar to Halliday-Resnick's textbook. In its supposedly main goal, to give a historical approach to physics, it not only fails but is full of historical mistakes. In the references are cited works such as Drake's study on Galileo and Cohen's on Newton, but exactly the opposite of what you find in such works is presented in the textbook. Cohen and Westfall, for instance, explains that stating that Newton delayed 20 years his discoveries is completely wrong, since Newton did not have the law of gravitation in its final account on his hands until very soon before the publication of Principia. However, this is exaclty what you find in this textbook : "Newton delayed 20 years ... ". This is just one example....