Customer Reviews

Physics

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

While struggling with Giancoli's terrible book, I looked for a better textbook online, and found three other candidates. After buying them all and reviewing them, I returned all of them except for this one.

This is a great physics textbook for those preparing for the MCAT on their own, or for those in an algebra-based physics class. Compared to Giancoli's text, it is fantastic. Why?

1. Plenty of example problems while reading, fully explained in an intelligent and careful manner. Not two or three per chapter, but sometimes ten or more. Again, with exhaustive descriptions.

2. Clear, concise text that truly educates you as you read. Not a rehashed summary of familiar concepts, with important "givens" left out. Some text book authors are simply capable of writing text that teaches (Ege is a great example, for Organic Chemistry). Some should not be writing at all. To be good at physics problems, you first have to understand the concepts. Really understand them. This book explains them the way they need to be explained.

3. Excellent diagrams and tables. At first, I thought the ubiquitous graphics were just eye-candy, as they are (as always, refer to the worst example) in Giancoli's book. But every diagram is useful, and clearly explains a concept.

4. Student Solutions Manual. The most frustrating thing about physics seems to be the unavailability of solutions manuals to go with textbooks. Why this is so, for a field of study that relies so heavily on detailed explanations of problems, makes no sense to me. For all of the other sciences I've studied for preparation for medical school (including calculus), I've easily been able to get my hands on manuals detailing all problems and their solutions. In the realm of physics, though, there seems to exist an elitist attitude that only instructors should have these 'magic books', from which they will dole out a solution or two to desperate students. How colossaly stupid. This textbook is somewhat subject to this failing, in that the Student Solutions Manual contains answers to "selected" problems (roughly 21% per chapter). However, the fact that it has a solutions manual at all lifts it above the other offerings, especially -- you guessed it -- Giancoli's horrible book, which offers no manual to speak of (the "Study Guide" is a useless piece of garbage with no solved problems; don't buy it). In addition, though the solutions manual lacks all the answers, the ones it does have are well-explained and well-drawn, similar to what's in the text. Hopefully one day a physics textbook author will decide to stop treating students like monkeys and publish a great book that educates via giving as much information as possible, not rationing it. This is surely an antiquated practice whose time should end now.

For a fuller understanding of some of the concepts, I also recommend buying a calculus-based text to supplement this one. "Fundamentals of Physics" (same publisher -- Wiley) is a good (and popular) book. I like the 5th edition more than the 6th (it seems less cluttered), although the Student Solutions Manual for the 5th is out of print. If your calculus is rusty, there's hardly any in the first half of the book, and what is there is not complicated -- standard derivatives and integrals. It's a good book to have for gaining a very solid understanding of the concepts, although of a level above what's needed for the MCATs.

Finally, the best review book for MCAT physics is called just that: NOVAs "MCAT Physics". Schaum's outline for pre-Med physics is so lousy, it's amazing. What's even more amazing is how uneven the quality of education materials is. You really have to look around, unfortunately.

This is an excellent book for a high school level physics course or a less than rigorous Physics I course at the college level. It contains no math beyond algebra/trig. For a more rigorous treatment, the book to get is the Serway/Beichner text.

this comment only refers to volume one of the text, as i bought the two separately and just finished physics I. i hated physics in high school and almost failed it too. i got an A this time around, by studying the book. my professor in college wasnt of much help, so the class had to learn from the text.

for the most part, the concepts are very well explained, with sample problems throughout the text. there is also a very helpful website which has concept understanding questions, chapter tests and interactive solutions. there are more than enough review questions at the end of the chapter, with answers to odd problems at the back of the book.

the book is especially good for explaining kinematics in 1 and 2D, if that's a problem for some. conservation of energy, potential, gravitational potential and kinetic, is pretty good too.

if you spend your time with this textbook, use what resources are available to you, you should do fine.

a few complaints though:
- there arent any answers or explanations to even numbered problems, not even in the solutions manual. without a teacher/tutor working them out with you, they're pretty much useless.
- the book is a bit weak in momentum and torque, as sample problems exhibited most basic functions of equations, and concepts were just okay compared to the rest of the text.

Had to buy and use the book for a general Physics I course... Having taken physics before (in high school) I felt this book could have conveyed the information a little easier. The chapters are 70% examples, 30% of actual text/definitions/etc. Personally I would like to see a little more REASONING than just "heres an example, now you know how to do it". Some of the conceptual questions and end of chapter questions with high numbers are very difficult considering the audience this book is targeted for.

This has got to be one of the most useless textbooks I've ever encountered in any subject. Moreso than any other math or science text I've seen, the authors commit the cardinal sin of solving only the simplest possible problems in in their "explanations", leaving you to fit together the pieces on the other (often rather difficult) problems at the end of the chapters. And if you thought the solutions manual would save you, SURPRISE! It won't - it only solves every 6th problem or so and generally delivers strange and convoluted solutions to simple problems. As far as the text goes, its explanations are so watered down you'd think you were looking through a text intended for junior high school (or younger) students. It constantly touts some bogus web service called "WileyPlus", which seems to exist purely to make the lives of teachers easier at their students' cost (and which you have to pay EVEN MORE to access, even if you bought the book new!). To sum it up, this text is absolute trash and an insult to the subject matter it teaches. If some professor lists this text on his or her syllabus, pitch a fit.

It is curious to see how ratings on 'science-text-books' can differ from absolutely devastating reviews to the ones that tend to praise the same book to the skies. Goes to show that learning is a very individual experience subject to substantially different requirements.
Therefore it is my practice to buy multiple books on a subject. Preferably all different in approach and level. Nonetheless I scrutinize each book for adequate structure, transparency of approach and use, and overall quality. There simply is no 'one-book' that will cover all requirements and levels of detail. As for me, being Dutch, English is not my native tongue. Also I am very keen on visual presentation of the issues at hand. I basically do not like to read, unless the combination of wit and pictures is continuously stimulating to hold my interest.
Having said all that, I love this book on Physics. It covers most topics in a way that will enable anyone really interested in physics to form a substantial body of knowledge. Although on some issues the author(s) cut some really tight math-corners, anticipating the lack of higher-mathematics skills. The ends justify the means, I guess.
Structured-ness 90%, Ease of use and transparency 100%, Self explanatory pictures 100%, Completeness of Calculus 80% (book), Website examples on learning how to approach problems 90% (detail overkill for me, might be o.k. for others though). Really an asset to your book cabinet. All to the level of starting a university eduction I would say.

There are no answers given to the even-numbered problems at the back of the book. This renders half the problems useless for test preparation. How do you know if you have worked them correctly? So you buy a Solutions Manual, expecting that for another $44 you will be given solutions to the missing problems. Surprise! EVEN FEWER of the problems have solutions provided than in the text itself. How does Mr Cutnell expect us to check our work? WORTHLESS.

I taught physics (at least, I tried!) with this book for several semesters.

This book is specifically designed for students who major in social sciences, literature, and business etc. The authors deliberately avoided calculus throughout the text. You cannot see even a bit of calculus. They tried to explain 2D, 3D vectors, differentiation, integration etc. without employing calculus!!

Anyone who has studied science and/or engineering knows very well that it is almost impossible to learn (and comprehend) physics without calculus. The fathers of calculus, Riemann, Leibniz and Newton, invented it to attribute a mathematical sense to physics. This book completely ignores this historical fact! Therefore, it is very hard to use this book as an instructor as well as a student. It makes things more complicated and cumbersome unnecessarily. It is like trying to understand end enjoy English Literature, e.g. Shakespeare without English grammar, which is the skeleton of the language. Analogously, calculus is the skeleton of introductory college-level physics.

My humble suggestion to those who are (or thinking of) taking noncalculus-based physics is that you either take a calculus-based physics course and learn (and enjoy) it thoroughly, though it may require more sweat and toil, or not take physics at all. Because calculus is what makes physics more understandable (and fun!).

Also, the authors tend to launch new editions very frequently in order to make more money. I guess they think students should be able to pay, say $140, for a new edition, since they can pay $20.000 for tuition. What the heck, why not release a new edition? It is like the Rocky series, every now and then you see a new version. To be honest, the last few editions are not very different from each other. If you have an older edition, do not waste your money!

If you really want to learn physics, try Halliday & Resnick & Krane and/or Serway.

I am an honors student of this text at a Big Ten Institution. I personally have not felt that I have obtained much knowledge on Physics through studying this book by Cutnell/Johnson. It is too obscure and touches on an assortment of subjects without going in depth on any of them. Extremely thin and lacking in substance, I found myself turning to other supplements in order to gain greater insights and knowledge in the field of general Physics

This is the textbook we use in my HS honors physics class. Obviously, since this is an algebra-based physics book, it should be reviewed as such. For what it does, it's really good. The examples are definitely useful, the fundamental equations and theorems are stated succinctly, and the text is neither terse nor verbose. So it's good in this regard.

What I really find valuable, though, is the set of problems given. There are three levels: non-starred, single-starred, and double-starred. The non-starred problem are the ones representative of the tests in the test bank that the teachers use for the test (made by the textbook makers) and really give you a good understanding of the material. The starred and double-starred problems are fun for those who like challenges. If you can get those, you're practically guaranteed an A on any exam your teacher gives you (if he/she uses the included test bank, that is).

Anyway, I think the most valuable thing about this book is that it teaches physics as well as problem solving. Sure, some of the exercises are simply "plug 'n chug", but after a course using this book, you should be a lot more adept at mathematical problem solving as well as physics.