Customer Reviews

College Physics (7th Edition)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

There are countless physics books out there and I've probably gone through at least a dozen Intro Physics ones. I took AP Physics in high school and then a full year of Honors Physics in college. I've also TA-ed and tutored physics for three summers (at different colleges). Each time, I was given a different textbook to work from and as good as some of those were, I still found myself coming back to this one.

This is appropriate for those who are taking either the Calculus-based or Non-Calculus based course. It does contain Calc-related derivations but since this is supposed to be an introductory textbook, chances are you won't need to know them for your course. But it's still nice to have them there in case you were interested in a more in-depth analysis of how the final equations came to be (instead of just blindly memorizing them). Personally derivations help me to better understand the concept and in case I suddenly forget the equation during a test, I can at least attempt to arrive at it again by working through the earlier steps.

My favorite aspect about the book is its rather no-nonsense approach to the subject matter. It doesn't attempt to pique your interest with humorous or interesting anecdotes, distract you with pages of colorful images or plague the margins with frivolous graphics. I suppose many people might consider that a fault but that's actually what I love most about it. It gets right to the point: 1) concept 2) equations 3) examples. And when there are images, they are usually pictorial diagrams that are relevant to the concept being discussed (one of my favorites is the optics section).

Even though the language is spartan and straight-forward, I would still consider it "intermediate-advanced" and think it would probably cater best to someone in an honors level course (especially if you're in high school). If you hate physics and think it's really boring and need extras (bright colors! funny stories!) and are just trying to get by with a passing grade, then this book is probably not for you. If you're a serious student who cares only about learning the material and acing the course (whatever your motivations are), then this might be the stone-faced companion that you're looking for.

I used this book to prepare for IIT-JEE in India. It is an excellent book! Two-enthusiastic thumbs up!

This book is a prime example of textbooks that don't offer complete explanations of the subject. The author has complete sections with no example problems, just writing. There is nothing wrong with this, but the questions at the end of each section do not match the information that AUTHORS provided for that section. DO NOT RELY ON THIS BOOK IF YOU REALLY WANT A FIRM UNDERSTANDING OF COLLEGE PHYSICS. I CANNOT UNDERSTAND WHY ANY COLLEGE/UNIVERSITY WOULD USE THIS BOOK. Do not rely on this book for anything except a paper weight. This book is a complete joke!

Found this book to be rather lacking in clear elucidation of fundamental physical topics, but the pictures were good