Customer Reviews

Physics

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The book I am reviewing ("Physics" by Marcelo Alonso and Edward J. Finn. Harlow, England. Addison-Wesley (1992). reprinted 1995-96. 1138 pages. ISBN 0-201-56518-8. paperback) is in my opinion the best first year undergraduate book (thankfully!) still avaliable in the US. Strangely, even though written by two American professors - one from The Florida Institute of Technology and the other from Georgetown University - this book became more famous abroad, especially in Europe. It was translated in several European languages including Dutch, Italian, German, Swedish, as well as Spanish and Portugese (i.e. also used in Latin American countries).

This book was originally published under a longer title: Fundamental University Physics (Reading, Mass., Addison-Wesley (c) 1967-68). It was divided in the following three hardback volumes: volume one: Classical Mechanics and Thermodynamics; volume two: Waves and Fields; volume three: Quantum and Statistical Mechanics). It was reprinted for several years until a new edition came in in 1980-83. This new edition left the book's strenghts essentially unchanged, and simply updated the earlier edition. The same way, this current textbook (Physics, 1992) leaves essentially untouched the classical as well as moderns strengths of its original predecessors. It is up to date up to 1992 - for example the chapter on space exploration has a lucid discission of the VEEGA Galileo mission based on information available at that time.

The strengths of this classic book are primarily classic themselves. First of all the book is characterized by consisting of a central backbone of mathematical equations that have been rigorously and carefully derived . Where other books say "it is obvious that eqn. 117 transforms into 121..." the authors here derive the fundamental equations of current physics from first principles as much as possible. It is obvious that rigorous analysis of physical models, systems, and empirical data requires the use of integral as well as differential calculus. While other authors either rely little on calculus, or never bother to use it at all, Alonso and Finn make effective use of calculus as the need arises. (Actually, there are physics texts out there that are not even calculus based... three hundred years of mathematical power and elegance ignored simply because college students today do not have a workable knowledge of basic calculus)

The organization of the book blends classical topics with modern ones in as natural a fashion as possible. For example, in Chapter 7 which deals with the the applications of the laws of motion, the fundamental concepts that govern rocket propulsion are laid out. In chapters 19-20 the special and (less so) general theories of relativity were discussed followed by an exposition of the pronciples of modern high energy and particle physics. One whole chapter is devoted to Statistical Mechanics (which no other introductory book dares or cares to include). This chapter then sets the stage for applications in transport phenomena, thermodynamics, etc.

In other words, the field of Theoretical Physics blends with that of Experimental Physics in this book. The 41 chapters cover the standard material (classical and modern physics) taught to bright students in their first year of university studies. This may seems both laborious as well as intriguing for the young but bright student (i.e. not below 1300 SATII). Once familiar with the basic anatomy of the book, the user should be able to locate modern physics material spread in the 1100+ pages. The book actually ends with a discussion of the attempts at unifying the forces, the success of the electro-weak theory, as well as future GUTs (Grand Unified Theory).

The number, nature and topics of exercices and problems are traditional and well chosen. This helps make the book compact; truly in its 1100+ pages it conveys more information more effectively than 1600+ page books (like the current book's original edition). Actually, pictures have been reduced in size as compared to the first two editions, and they are incorporated in-text, making the book heavily packed with standard physics information.

Naturally, the things that turn off a nontradionalist will turn on the tradionalist when choosing a book for a course or reference or other purposes. This book includes the "standard" information that should be contained in the first year of a physics major's curriculum. It spends proper time explaining key principles. For example it does not attempt to derive a form of Schrodinger's Equation but it uses quantum mechanical principles to illustrate the problem of the particle/s in a variety of wells (primarily in 1D). The in-text problems chosen to illustarate and emphasize physical principles are mostly classical, standard problems. Many have several parts which are designed to "bring up" the reader from first principles all the way to the ultimate applications in physics.

Further, the nontraditionalist may note that this thoroughly black and white paperback lacks the glamorous, color illustrations of current textbooks such as those from Beisner, Serway, Sears, Fishbane, Pasachoff, Giancoli, Halliday, Lea, Hecht, Rex, Nolan, etc. etc. (note: I am listing the above books based on a simple query on physics textbooks on amazon. And not all of the above texts are equally poor or dumbed down! Some, like Pasachoff are actually reasonable texts to teach or learn from).

Followed with a semester in mathematical physics (using texts such as the book by Mary L. Boas), the student of Alonso/Finn will be ready to compete against any students trained in fundamental physics by other authors. The student can make use of this book well after the first year, especially when reviewing general physics material for the GRE Physics Subject Text. Other advanced undergraduate books that are as comprehensive and pedagogically effective for the brighter students include the series on Theoretical Physics by Walter Grenier (e.g. Classical Mechanics II, Electrodynamics, Quantum Mechanics, Statistical Mechanics & Thermodynamics). This certainly seems to be the level of preparation of generations of European graduate students.

Clear, well-motivated, concise and focused. This is a masterpiece for sophomore-level physics.

Each topic starts off with a clear motivation and slowly leads the reader deeper into the topic through a logical path with just the right amount of mathematics. There are no gratuitous paragraphs or missing links, making the learning experience a focused one. A true testimony of economy of thought.

This book is fundamentally different from other undergraduate physics texts that dominate the market like 'Resnick and Halliday, Sears and Zemansky, Serway, Tipler, etc.' in that all topics are integrated into a coherent whole. A student does not simply read a chapter in Mechanics and forget about it when he advances into Electrodynamics. The later chapters make use of the foundational knowledge acquired in the prior chapters and builds upon it. This is unlike many other physics books that seem more like a disparate set of topics strung together with no apparent link.

No unnecessary examples are given and where they are given, they serve to illustrate and reinforce understanding of certain principles or ideas. This is also in contrast to other physics texts that profess a lorge number of unnecessary worked examples that serve to drive in the same point. There are no fanciful coloured diagrams or glossy pages. This book is serious about educating the reader in physics and it goes straight to the point.

A note however to beginning physics majors: this book makes unscrupulous use of calculus. But once a student has mastered undergraduate-level calculus, the learning experience is a rich one and the profits that he can reap from this book are immense!

As Physics should be! Alonso and Finn provide a vigorous treatise of the subject with a great deal of calculus. That is not necesarily bad as--contrary to the belief of fresher students--physics is about mathematics. Alonso and Finn's book has certainly made it into the category of Classical Physics Textbooks as much as the "Therory of Relativity" by Albert Einstein. It is ashaming that in the US the book did not seem to get the right credentials, but given the many translations of Alonso and Finn's book into European languages, this side of the Alantic the book has had a very positive resonance indeed. And just take a look at the very extensive list of reviewers of the book: This list tells the potential buyer of the book that really great minds have been working on it: Professor Tomas Bohr (Copenhague, Denmark), the late Professor Karl Luchner (Ludwig Maximillian University Munich, Germany), Professor William Poon (University of Edinburgh, Scotland) etc. etc.
All in all a very satisfiying book for first year physics students and beyond.

I bought this book years ago, after having read the three volume edition upon which this single tome is based. Sadly, I have to say that this is only the ghost of what those precious little books were.

On the plus side I appreciated the effort placed in rearranging the material, by letting 'modern physics' just be 'physics'. Perhaps the rearrangement has gone a little too far in electromagnetism, where electrostatics and magnetostatics have each been split in several chapters (interactions, currents, fields), forcing the student to flip back and forward too many times, but all in all it gives a fresher view of the discipline.

But cutting the number of pages to accommodate three volumes in one has had its toll on the book. It has become superficial, basing the explanations by focusing on the most elementary examples only. Only a fraction of the interesting derivations of key results has been retained. What's worse, a lot of stuff (especially from former tomes II and III) has been left out, and even the exercises (that in the three volume edition provided a lot of insight and were designed to guide the student in the -few, well... fewer- derivations of key results that did not find room in the chapters) have been trimmed down.

Following the new way Alonso and Finn (or their editors?) have chosen to explain physics, let me say that it can be demonstrated that this edition is too dumbed down to be useful to the serious student. The detailed demonstration, though, goes beyond the scope of this review.
And it's not even left to the reader as an exercise.

If you can find the three volumes of the previous version of this physics course, grab them. *Those* were nice Physics Books (especially the first and third).

I am privileged to have studied under Dr. Finn using an early version of this book. The rigor served me well. Forty-four years later, it is a rare day that I read any science or deal with an engineering problem that I do not recall something from the book.

The book is intended for serious students.

If you want to get one calculus-based general physics textbook for review or self-study, this is the one to get. No wasted space on glossy photos or fluff. Just good clear, concise diagrams, explanations, and worked out examples. There are plenty of exercises at the end of each chapter, review questions, and answers to some of the problems in the appendix. If you're prepared to work for it and make this book your bible, you will learn the material and have a solid foundation of understanding.

I agree with the previous review. This is a good book for the serious student of Physics or Engineering. The amount of math is just right, and the physics is presented lucidly. Lots of solved problems, and even more problems for you to solve. If you are a physics student and would like to see a second (much more idiosyncratic) opinion on one of the "classical" topics (up to the Sixties), consult the Feynman Lectures. These two books will give you a thorough grounding for everything else in Physics.

The Alonso & Finn book is a very extensive work on phisics. The language is hard to understand, but the information on that book, and the methos of teaching the subject is very good. The lessons are consistent, and deep in knowledge. It is not a book that you'll have fun with, instead it is hard, complex and cumbersome, but that's what you are looking in a book like this.

Tienen un servicio bastante eficiente y veraz.
El producto llegó mucho antes de lo esperado (una semana o semana y media), el libro estaba tal y como lo describieron (subrayado a lapicero, etc.).
Todo correcto ok.