Customer Reviews

Head First Physics: A learner's companion to mechanics and practical physics (AP Physics B - Advanced Placement)

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This book is as good any of the Head First books I have purchased and used. In this case I used it to tutor some kids in the mechanics portion of physics. However, be sure to read the ENTIRE title - "Head First Physics: A Learner's Companion to Mechanics and Practical Physics". Thus the emphasis is on the mechanics portion of physics and the tone is practical in nature. There is enough rigor there, but the tone is conversational as in all of the Head First books by O'Reilly.

If you are looking for a tutorial on optics, acoustics, electricity and magnetism, and the rest of what composes a college freshman two-semester sequence on general engineering physics prepare to be disappointed - very disappointed. However, that is not what the author is selling you. I wouldn't recommend this as a stand-alone text - I don't think it is rigorous enough to be that. However, as a supplement to a standard college physics text on the mechanics portion of physics, I think it does a great job. It turns the incomprehensible into something that a good student willing to put forth some effort can understand and turns all of the talk of vectors and forces into an approach to mechanics problems that the student can use to attack most mechanics problems. For that purpose I highly recommend it. The student doesn't need to know calculus. The highest mathematics used is trigonometry. The following is the table of contents that is currently unavailable in the product description:

Chapter 1. think like a physicist
Chapter 2. making it all MEAN something
Chapter 3. scientific notation, area, and volume
Chapter 4. equations and graphs
Chapter 5. dealing with directions
Chapter 6. Displacement, Velocity, and Acceleration
Chapter 7. Equations of motion (part 1)
Chapter 8. Equations of motion (part 2)
Chapter 9. triangles, trig and trajectories
Chapter 10. momentum conservation
Chapter 11. weight and the normal force
Chapter 12. using forces, momentum, friction and impulse
Chapter 13. torque and work
Chapter 14. energy conservation
Chapter 15. tension, pulleys and problem solving
Chapter 16. circular motion (part 1)
Chapter 17. circular motion (part 2)
Chapter 18. gravitation and orbits
Chapter 19. Oscillations (part 1)
Chapter 20. Oscillations (part 2)
Chapter 21. think like a physicist
Appendix A. leftovers
Appendix B. equation table

'Head First Physics: A Learner's Companion to Mechanics and Practical Physics' is a wonderful book for anyone that wants to learn physics in a fun and practical way. This book is geared toward new learners or basic ones that want to learn without knowing they are doing so. Instead of a bland 1,500+ page book with just text regarding Newton and the other great minds, you get a USABLE book that is FUN FUN FUN. I love the Head First books because they present subject matter in a way that is DIFFERENT. Written by an experienced academic, Heather Lang writes in a format that is truly a delight. If you are looking for a masters Physics book you will be disappointed. If you are young, in high school or just an adult that wants to learn more in a BETTER way this book is a gem.

***** HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

If you're in high school or college and struggle with physics concepts, HEAD FIRST PHYSICS is a recommended pick. It provides a lively connection between physics theory and the world we live in, examining basic concepts, using the latest research in learning theory to enliven presentations, and covering math and physics concepts using lively black and white drawings, photos, and large-size graphs. An outstanding physics survey evolves.

A superb book for practical physics. Written in a clear and easy to understand way. Definitely a help.

I own several books in the Head First series. This is one of the best I've read. Each topic is discussed with meaningful examples that drive the points home--something many courses or teachers have difficulty with. If I had a tool like this in my arsenal back in school I'd have felt much differently about physics.

This huge tome gives the best presentation of Physics I've seen: Clear explanations, real-life examples, and even labs! I found it useful as a teacher to draw upon in the classroom. The size of it precludes it from being convenient to carry around, but it is what it is.

Using as a review prior to a certification exam, very applicable, written in a easy to follow format, like the practical applications of physics

This book is advertised as a "learner's companion to mechanics and practical physics." The key parts of that phrase are "companion" and "mechanics." It is not a text book. The scope of the book primarily involves Newtonian mechanics, and the background you need to understand the topic. That includes significant amounts of solid geometry and algebra. Many other areas of introductory physics such as electricity, magnetism, wave-particle dualism of matter, and basic atomic theory are not discussed. The index is quite comprehensive, the appendix lists important mechanics equations for easy reference.

It is cleverly written, and emphasizes learning by doing, there are many thought problems, and dialogs that attempt to lead the reader to clues that will aid in problem solving. For the person not interested in getting bogged down in a general text, it would be a fun exercise to go through the book at a leisurely pace, reading the dialogs, solving the problems, and letting the physics of Galileo and Newton slowly percolate through one's gray matter.

However, I must admit that I don't know the audience for the book. It is not complete enough to be a text. A glance at two texts, one a college text, the other an advanced high school physics text show page counts between 900 and 1100. This book has a page count of 895. I can't imagine a busy student working through not only the information in their assigned text but the additional material that covers mechanics in this book, enjoyable as that might be. If it is not a book for students taking physics for credit, then the other two groups that come to mind are teachers of physics, who might learn some worthwhile techniques to pique student interest, and the casual learner no longer in school, who wishes to pursue the pure enjoyment of learning or relearning mechanics. If either of those descriptions fits your interest, take a look.

Head First Physics is an excellent book within its scope--doing well on AP Physics Mechanics and solving mechanics problem sets both graphically and with a minimal of calculations.But, the scope seems much more limited than other Head First Books like Head First Statistics Head First Statistics (Head First) and Head First Software Development Head First Software Development (Brain-Friendly Guides)---these not only showed how to solve and work with a number of elementary problems throughout the field they cover, but also successfully give an overview and intuitive feeling for approaching the whole field and what its tools and methods are good for. I was also a little surprised that a introductory Physics text wouldn't discuss electricity, magnetism, waves and particles, fields, and atomic phenomena. As I said this book is excellent within its purview but the scope is limited to doing well in the problems of Basic Mechanics Course, not even covering the operation of simple machines like pulleys, levers, gears etc.

In short this text will show you what you need to do well in Mechanics for AP Physics, or a College Course in Mechanics, with intuition and a minimum of effort, but it will not give you a well rounded conception of what the entire field of physics is about, or how to apply these principles in a wide range of engineering problems in electronics, robotics, etc.

The graphic presentation of the subject matter is cluttered, scattered and confused. The layout is awful. I will not purchase any of the other "Head First" books.