<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: For those who REALLY want to know physics!
Review: An outstanding book! Although I've only read about half of it, I've been thoroughly impressed with each and every chapter. The authors don't just tell "what", they tell "why", the latter often constituting the greater part of any discussion. Every significant equation, concept, or what have you, is fully derived and explained, usually along with a brief history of each. Rich in theory, the content is engaging, and should please those with even the most insatiable curiousities about physics. What strikes me most, though, is the authors' obvious enjoyment of and devotion to the subject. It became pretty evident to me after just a few pages! I do, however, sympathize with other readers' criticisms of the end-of-the-chapter exercises; they are often far more difficult than any of the examples in the chapter, and on more than one occasion I've had to run screaming to my professor for help. A good working knowledge of calculus is absolutely essential to solving most of these problems. But I have to say, after solving nearly two hundred of them, my understanding of the subject has improved tremendously. In short, the problems themselves are excellent, despite being of a slightly higher caliber than the chapter prepares you for. I strongly recommend this book to those who desire a solid understanding of physics, as well as to those who enjoy studying physics just for the sake of studying physics. Though not perfect, it's an excellent guide to a most difficult subject.
Rating:
Summary: Comprehensive and Challenging: Excellent for Self-Study
Review: As a doctoral student studying Clinical Neuroscience, I have studied a lot of statistics and data analysis methods, and I wanted to learn more about physics. With a knowledge of math up through differential equations and the luxury of self-study time, I wanted a comprehensive and calculus-based introduction to physics text that I could learn from on my own, with plenty of examples. I orginally began studying Halliday-Resnick-Walker, which provides many excellent examples, but teaches physics in rather a "cookbook" fashion. Having now completed 6 chapters of text and odd-numbered exercises in Fishbane et al. 2nd ed. Extended, I would say that Fishbane et al. is more detailed, rigourous, and comprehensive; it can be challenging at times to understand some of the concepts presented and one needs to take some time and think deeply about what they mean, but that is the nature of science. Many of the exercises can be challenging, but once you figure them out and complete them, you feel that you really know something solid. Fishbane et al. came bundled with LOGAL's Physic's CD, which is absolutely outstanding as an interactive learning tool; the "experiments" with function parameters and the animation really bring the physics concepts and mathematics to life. I feel that Fishbane et al. teaches physics in a thorough and thought provoking manner. I only wish that they would have kept in all those derivations from the last edition.
Rating: 
Summary: What was the author thinking?
Review: I am a college student who have taken basic calculus courses. I was extremely suprised that the book can give such a full account for every topics, from the classical, fundamental one, to the newest technological development. It don't just derive formula, but also emphasize the physical importance of the theory behind. The book is certainly better than many "First Aid Exam Kit" available in the market, if you really want to understand the theory of Physics. In another word, as entitled, the book is dedicated for potential scientists and engineers.
It seems that the writers try to illustrate all the theory in an enjoyable way. And this, to a certain extent, make the taste of the book a bit boring. And if you don't have much interest at Physics, it would be a nightmare to read it.
I also thinks that the odd number answer of the book's question is the worst point of the book. And for the prospective owner of the book, I would recommend them to do the excercises of the book. It's because some of the sub-topics of the book is embeded in some of its excercies. But after all, it is the best Physics book I have ever read.
Rating: 
Summary: not meant for learning physics
Review: I had the author of this book as my professor for Physics. We used this textbook and it was just really, a waste of our money. The textbook did nothing to help us learn physics in any way at all. It just confuses you more when the author takes the most complicated path to teach you a concept when it could be explained so much simpler. I had already taken a college-level physics class before this, and there are so many other better textbooks out there than this one. I have to say that they do have colorful and detailed illustrations which sometimes help, but the wording needs much help.
Rating:
Summary: WORST TEXTBOOK EVER
Review: Of course I haven't read every textbook ever written; the title of this review is hyperbolic (in the semantic sense). But seriously, I don't know what the target audience for this book is, but it couldn't possibly be undergraduates trying to learn physics. The following are the flaws which come to mind most immediately: 1) Definitions of terms are moving targets. No term that is defined in this book is used in the same sense twice. You can expect at least three "definitions" of a term over the course of one chapter, and even more over the course of several chapters. This has made it very difficult for me to retain any of the information presented.
2) It's extremely cluttered. Ninety-nine percent of the book is devoted to very specific problems rather than giving lucid explanations of general principles which would lead to a clear understanding of the general principles. It's very difficult to solve specific problems without a clear understanding of the general principles that can be applied to achieve a solution.
3) The author's derivations of equations are frequently very confusing. My confusion generally is caused by one of two things:
a) very large steps are frequently made without any explanation of what math was being done to get from one line to the next.
b) typographical errors are plentiful, so I never know if it's some math that I haven't done between the steps or if it's actually an error.
In the end I'm frequently immobilized by baffling conclusions that the author draws seemingly out of nowhere. To sum this all up, I might wish this book on my worst enemy after it goes through another five editions.
Rating: 
Summary: Decent book
Review: This book is an ok book. Ive seen better, but I believe that you must have a THOROUGH knowledge of advanced calculus for this book. That means a very good understanding of vector calculus in 3-dimensions. My only real gripe with this Vol II version is that the book constantly refers to equations and examples in the Vol I, so if you dont have Vol I then you are missing out. Other then that I think the book does a pretty good job of explaining the concepts.
Rating:
Summary: not meant for learning physics
Review: Unfortunately, more than half the intro students at university are not up to the calibre required by university. These are the type of students who wouldn't like a CALCULUS RALTED introductory to physics textbook (or course for that matter). If you are well versed in physics and calculus from highschool, you should find this book to be very good. It gives u proofs for everything. If you're into plugging formulas into numbers and just solving problems using simple algebra, I suggest you take a look at the WILSON BUFFA textbooks on COLLEGE PHYSICS. If you up to the task of tackling university, this book is very good.
<< 1 >>
| 
