Customer Reviews

Physics for Scientists and Engineers (with PhysicsNOW and InfoTrac )

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

 

 

This was the required text for a course I TAed. I found the text useful for preparing my own lectures, as it often reminded me of ideas I would have 'taken for granted' among my students, although I found derivations often uncompelling and examples often glossing over subtle points. Also, examples and homework problems seemed predominantly to explore only straightforward applications of course concepts. I imagine, however, that many students at this level (freshmen bio, geo, and non-science majors) would prefer this kind of treatment, which is why, considering also this text's clarity and simplicity of presentation, I gave the above four star rating.

Students who consider themselves more analytically inclined would be wise to consult instead Purcell. In fewer words Purcell describes E&M more clearly and more completely, with interesting examples and homework problems which evoke a fuller understanding of the theory.

This book has its ups and downs.

Like another reviewer mentioned, this book is very verbose and unnecessarily full of pictures that are not helpful.

Concepts are often very poorly worded. Just because I'm an EE undergrad doesn't mean I like to decipher sentences that appear to be paragraphs at first glance. After 4 commas, two dashes, and a colon, I no longer have any interest in net-torque on a cylinder. A subtitle of "for scientists and engineers" is not an excuse to write in indecipherable technical terms.

There are easier ways to explain things.

Ultimately, I think this book fails for the same reason most physics books and professors fail: it is written by and for people with a natural gift for physics. For the other 98% of the world, it might as well be greek.

While a thorough reference and good guide for physically-inclined folk, this is a very difficult book for first year undergrads to use.

I would opt for a different textbook if I had the chance.

When Serway and Jewett confuse me, I read an older Physics book that I have. For an expensive scientific textbook, I would expect less ambiguous writing. Perhaps I am too critical when reading.

A quick example in chapter 20: " . . .we explore more details about heat as a means of energy transfer and consider two other transfer methods that are often related to temperature changes - convection ( a form of matter transfer) and electromagnetic radiation." At first, I thought convection and radiation might be another form of energy transfer that is not heat nor work. I really don't know what they are trying to say. Latter in the section they say radiation is the transfer of energy.

I waste hours in each chapter trying to decipher the ambiguity. Also, The mixture of text with resolving equations is tedious. I would rather have the concepts explained and then have the equations derived. I would rather spend less money and receive less color printing. Most of the color pictures are a waste of space; I think about all of the superfluous pictures and verbose text whenever I lift this heavy book. On the plus side, the quick quizzes are helpful. I bookmark the answer page and check my progress of understanding as I read the chapter.

Wow. The book was so illustrated and so colourful, I got distracted. And, boy, do they like to write...I guess it also combats illiteracy!

I foresee a crucial change in forthcoming editions: the style of the guy's pants in the elevator will go out of fashion and they will have to issue a new edition (it will cost more, however, because printing technology will allow you to see the guy in 3D).

I personally find the "features" in these American-style textbooks to be nothing but distractions. Besides, the level of physics students went down, not up, as physicists will tell you. So how are the pedagogical "features" helping? Accordingly, in truth, the level of the books went down. The reality is that they're targeting a certain niche market here, keep that in mind. Granted, this book has been around. But, for real, it's overpriced and if that is what they made you buy, well, I'm sorry. On the bright side, you could be using Halliday's, in which case you'd be even worse off. Seriously though, this book is representative of a slew of books that are full of fluff and overpriced.

If you feel adventurous, get yourself something with less colour and more math, straight out of the 70s, like Alonso and Finn, or McKelvey and Grotch. I garantee you will get to calculate the apparent weight of fishes in elevators. Besides, come to think of it, hey, all the good math and physics books from Springer and Kluwer are in black-and-white!

This book is by the far the worse physics book for a introductory college course. It states in the introduction that it is the best introductory physics book out there that will help anyone who has not taken physics. However, I disagree. The examples are very limited, and the problems are by far difficult. If one improvement was suggested to author, I would ask him to write in plain laidpack English before getting technical with much of the terms. In other words, Mr Serway please write it in plain English for just not the really bright people to understand, but also for the ones who have absolutely no experience in physics before. Plus, add some humor into the book to excite the studuent and keep the student interested. The jokes should be related to physics, of course but if you were to write another book I suggest you grab Mr. Paul Hewitt to help you write the conceptual part. He's examples are very clean and in English. He included comics for the student to see it more clearly.

Overall, this book is not really that great... the problems are harder than the book saids.

I'm currently in the middle of my physics course with this book, and I find I am continually frustrated. I happened across a fourth edition of the same book, and am absolutely amazed at the difference in clarity. The newest author, Jewett, has systematically gone through each and every chapter of the book and editted each to ensure a complete lack of clarity and sense. I am wholly impressed with Raymond Serway's book, but am completely frustrated at Jewett's insistence on cluttering simple straightforward ideas with jargon. I'll agree that some jargon is unavoidable, but while learning a topic I find it only hurts my understanding of the topic.

To wit:

"Physically, the reason for large-amplitude oscillations at the resonance frequencey is that energy is being transferred to the system under the most favorable conditions. This can be better understood by taking the first time derivative of x, which gives an expression for the velocity of the oscillator. In doing so, one finds that v is proportional to sin(wt+o) [note: no access to greek symbols here, sorry]. When the applied force is in phase with the velocity, the rate at which work is done on the oscillator by the force F (or the power) equals Fv. Since the quantity Fv is always positive when F and v are in phase, we conclude that at resonance the applied force is in phase with the velocity and the power transferred to the oscillator is a maximum."

versus:
"The reason for large-amplitude oscillations at the resonance frequency is that energy is being transferred to the system under the most favorable conditions. We can better understand this by taking the first time derivative of x in equation 15.35, which gives an expression for the velocity of the oscillator. We find that v is proportional to sin(wt+o), which is the same trigonometric function as that describing the driving force. Thus, the applied force F is in phase with the velocity. The rate at which work is done on the oscillator by F equals the dot product F*v; this rate is the power delivered to the oscillator. Because the product f*v is a maximum when F and v are in phase, we conclude that at resonance the applied force is in phase with the velocity and the power transferred to the oscillator is a maximum."

I'll let you guess which one is from the newest edition. My opinion? If you have to use this text, make sure you find an older copy, and bug other students for the homework problems. You'll more than make up the effort in the learning curve.

I'm appauled at the low reviews of this tomb. I tutored, at one time, two dozen students in Physics, both for Engineering certified students [requiring Calculus and a textbook of this caliber] to General Physics for Business, Biology, and other non-calculus majors.

This is an excellent product. I won't waste the time espousing the added value Feynman's Lectures on Physics Volumes I,II & III would have been useful to my undergraduate days in Mechanical Engineering--they were released by the time I was passed my Applied Mechanics with Calculus requirements.

However, most of these reviews about self-taught and lack of deep examples wreaks of people who hate applied mathematics and actual theoretical physics with practical application--engineering.

This isn't a textbook for the non-engineering/non-physics/non-applied mathematics majors.

This is a textbook for those who thank themselves they understood this material before they take their Strength of Materials, Thermosystems, Heat Transfer, Dynamic Systems, Kinematics, Machine Design, Power Systems, Analog Circuits, Optics and other higher level classes focused on a specific sub-discipline within applied physics.

This is an excellent example of Scientific Work.

What I am appauled at is the Regular Price for the most recent releases. I picked up Volume 6 for < $10. That was a steal and a half. Current prices today are astronomical. > $100? That's highway robbery. To pay prices > $70 for any textbook is a publisher's way of robbing the public blind.

The Calculus of Mechanics has not changed in over 100 years. The various applications has grown as our overall understanding of the Universe has grown. This pricing with stuff like PhysicsNOW and Infotrac are overkill to anyone who actually grasps the theory of applied Calculus in the physical sciences.

Learn Calculus I, II, & III prior to Physics with Calculus and it becomes a simple application. Learn this with Calculus I and it becomes a real pain. That's life.

Slow your demand to get out in 4 years down, get your Calculus out of the way and then take some of your General University Requirements [GURs] during summer sessions to get through it all.

If you are doing this for self-study and later application, you have no excuse to learn Calculus first, at your own pace, then learn this book--you're not paying to hire a lecturer to walk you through it in detail.

If you learn single and multivariable calculus [up to 3 dimensional integrals], Sequences and Series of Integrals and non-Diff-equations, then this textbook should be straight forward.

You will have learned your Linear Algebra [Matrix Theory] and Calculus beforehand so that Gauss's Law, Electromagnetic Field Theory, Optics, Modern Physics, Dynamics of 4 variables and more shouldn't be a problem.

To step into the end game before you learn to walk and then punish the authors for not giving baby steps makes no sense.

For my undergrad calculus based physics classes, I studied in books by three different authors: Serway, Halliday-Resnick and Tippler. Even though the contents and explanations are about the same, the great feature about Serway is that it usually provides more examples than Halliday-Resnick and Tippler.
I do not think that Serway differs significantly from the books that are used most often in universities. No book will give you an A+ without spending some. My advice is that you should study from different physics books to prepare yourself as best as possible for a test or a quiz. Yet, I cannot dismiss that Serway has done a great job compiling all the topics and providing excellent examples and illustrations. If you are interested to learn undergrad physics, Serway, Halliday-Resnick and Tippler are the way to go. Choose the book whose cover picture is the one that you like.

I ordered this book on Amazon and it just came in the mail today. The book is in really great condition considering I only paid $12.99 for it! My high school was charging $152 for a new copy of the book, and $91 for a used copy. I saved almost $80 and still got the book in almost new condition. Thanks so much!!

I really am impressed with this textbook. It is one of the most organized texts I have ever used in college. The authors and publisher do an excellent job of "formatting" the topics. All equations are very well marked and numbered. Many other texts throw an equation in the middle of a paragraph and you can never find it when you need it. Not so in this book! You will always find just what you are looking for.

They also do a great job of explaining the topics, with many many examples in each chapter. They provide "quick quizzes" in each chapter with answers at the end of the chapter that allows you to see how you are doing. They make liberal use of colors and illustrations which all help to ease the strain on the eye, and help the mind follow along.

Overall, VERY GOOD BOOK! This book will never leave my library reference collection.