Customer Reviews

Principles of Physics (Saunders golden sunburst series)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

I doubt many who have written reviews here are actual college students. Physics is probably one of the most challenging courses one can take. Nevertheless, it can also be an exciting field of study - this book doesn't do it justice though. It has the potential of scaring off newcomers.

While the book's overall visual presentation is nicely done, the theory behind various mathematical laws is poor. Often, it takes two or three paragraphs of rambling before getting to the point on a topic.

Each chapter has its own set of word problems to solve. While some of the problems are generally a piece of cake, most contain subtleties and assume you know far too much prior knowledge outside the book. It would be a nightmare solving these problems without the answer/studyguide book handy. That guide is almost as large as the textbook and sells for almost $70 alone. Even with the studyguide, some of the demonstrations are illogical and don't necessarily reflect the material you learnt in the current or previous chapters. I've even seen plenty of cases where the math contradicts what the material in the chapter stated!

Although the book says it is a calculus-based text, there really isn't a whole lot of it in there. This might be a blessing to some but isn't always practical in the real world. My Calculus textbook covered physics problems better than this textbook! The authors tend to brush basic differentiation/integration in the theory portions but they're never really used in actual problems.

The PhysicsNow online study tool has some neat diagrams and interactive problems but is still generally useless. Good luck getting your account activated when registering online! I had to call customer service several times before I could actually login to the site.

I could conclude in saying that this book does make a great reference book to people who already have knowledge in physics. However, I'm sure there are better textbooks out there that can teach you the basics if you're new to the field. Many fellow students in my physics classes have shared the same grunts about the book as much as I have and agree that this book can make physics frustrating to the newbie.

Serway and Jewett have made a remarkable first step in changing physics pedagogy for the better:

1) They cover all topics of physics (including modern physics) in 31 chapters, more easily coverable in 2 semesters. To accomplish this, they removed some utlitarian aspects found in more traditional texts. I think Einstein would have liked this. Some utilitarian aspects are best left for (and in fact better covered by) engineering courses anyway.
2) They combined Newtonian relativity and special relativity into a single chapter and moved it to chapter 9, to be covered in first semester.
3) They introduce ALL fundamental forces in chapter 5 and apply a global approach to energy conservation in chapter 6. This allows them to implement a recommendation by the American Physical Society to present the first law of thermo as delta E = Q + W. Finally! Thermodynamics convention is in line with classical mechanics convention.

True, many staunch physics professors may not like the "prettiness" of the book, but I think this is a "walked ten miles to school in the snow" response. The following features make calc-based general physics more learnable for the first year college student:

1) Context overlay: the book is divided into 8 context sections that are associated with current challenges in our society. Chapters 2 through 11 are placed within the context of a mission to mars. This layout does not force the instructor to follow the context, but provides the student with things to think about while studying the material.
2) Pitfall prevention: marginal notes that tell the student what NOT to think or do with a concept or equation.
3) Modeling explained: THIS IS A BIG DEAL. In chapter 1, the authors explain how physicists use models to represent reality. They then reveal throughout the text the models that are used in the development of subject matter. This helps the student to actually learn about the philosophy of physics, and not just how to solve problems. But make no mistake. This approach actually helps the student learn how to solve problems. This is very important to the physics major, but also helps the engineering major understand the origin of the fundamental equations they use.
4) Mathematical level: Calculus is introduced gradually, since most students are taking first year calculus and physics concurrently. Most steps are shown when basic equations are developed, and references are made to mathematical appendices at the back of the text. Vector and scalar addition is introduced in chapter 1 to support kinematics in chapters 2 and 3, but the dot product is introduced in chapter 6 with work and energy and the cross product is introduced in chapter 10 with rotational dynamics.

There is more that can be done to improve the state of our general physics textbooks, but this is a great start. So I rated them "5 stars."

This book makes a mockery of physics. It does not go into detail in any of its explanations. All I ever get from the book are very superficial comments on the equations the authors present. Too many pictures, not enough teaching through explanation. This book will leave you in a daze, asking questions.

This is the worst textbook I've ever had to use.

The writing is terrible, the book is poorly organized and edited, and the authors often completely neglect to address critical ideas central to the subject at hand. When they do, the text reads like the authors are deliberately trying to confuse the reader or like it was the work of some cocksure 5th grader trying to put another physics book "in his own words."

Here is an excerpt from the book:

"Finally, once the carbon dioxide was released from the lakes, it stayed near the ground because carbon dioxide is denser than air. Therefore, a layer of carbon dioxide gas spread out over the land around the lake, representing a deadly suffocating gas for all humans and animals in its path."

THE WHOLE BOOK READS LIKE THAT.

While I was taking my first semester of freshman physics, I was fortunate enough to have a copy of Sears and Zemansky's textbook. It is vastly superior to Serway and Jewett's. My luck ran out during second semester when my class began to cover thermodynamics, though, since I had a "special edition" of that text that omitted the four chapters covering it.

Save yourself frustration and look for Sears and Zemansky's University Physics instead.

The book uses great pictures and diagrams to help explain principles and theories in physics. However, the InfoTrac website doesn't work anymore, so it is worthless to buy it with an InfoTrac code.

This book i felt was not that well written. As another guy said, if you have to use this for a college level physics class its not too great.

If you like to dabble in physics and look at shiny pictures and feel smart then this is the book for you.

Otherwise it is really difficult to understand and the problems are incredibly frustrating and difficult because there are a lot of little "tricks" that are not obvious at all, and that most teachers and T.A's wouldnt be able to figure out if there wasnt a solutions manual for it....

I'm not a bitter student either, I scored at the top of the curve in most of my physics classes at UCLA, in spite of this book. Thank goodness we have excellent physics professors here

This book just throws formulas and examples at you without explaining the "Principles of the physics" I was forced to purchase this book for a class but I learn most of the material from other peoples notes on the internet.

Unless you have to I would not purchase this book.

I am currently using this book for my last quarter of Physics. The subject matter itself can be difficult and confusing but this book makes things even more confusing and difficult at times. Sometimes it's frustrating because even though this book is a requirement for my classes, the professors explain things differently(and better) than how they are explained in the book because they do not agree with the book's method and do not like the book very much. I have to agree with them. This book does a lousy job at explaining the concepts of Physics to the average college student, with no prior experience in the subject matter.

The Principles of Physics text book arrived in great condition and was shipped quickly as promised. An absolutely perfect transaction. I bought this book for my son who is attending University of California this summer. I would buy from this seller again without any worries. Thanks!

This is by far, the biggest nightmare that could happen to a science student in a physics class. The book is loaded with jargon, and the attempt to explain the topics with sophisticated language and lengthy explanations can frustrate students even more. There is a great lack of organization throughout the book. Simple concepts are made to sound closer to rocket science than an introductory physics class. The calculus used is watered down to a simple algebraic formula, when this could have been introduced in the first few sentences, rather than provide the derivation of such using calculus. The example exercises relate minimally to the real weight of the topic in consideration, and the space is utilized to derive even more formulas algebraically. I had to supplement the book with approximately five others to understand simple topics such as the differences between acceleration, velocity and speed, for example. The best book so far was College Physics by Buffa and Wilson. The exercises at the end of the chapters have so much wording injected into each, I simply had a hard time filtering out what was relevant and what wasn't. The solutions manual is similarly a pain to follow. There is nothing positive to be said about this book, other than the artwork is very well presented and nothing else. Unluckily, Serway monopolizes Physics when it comes to textbooks just as James Stewart's Calculus book reigns in every course relating to this topic. Ironically, both books are worthless and simply not geared towards students. Both books instill fear to the beginning student, but unfortunately they are being used year after year. After Calculus by Stewart, I would rate this Physics book to be one of the worst and badly written textbooks that have been in my hands. Professors should reconsider using this book if they truly care about their students, but most will never know that this book hinders rather than helps.