Modern Physics for Scientists and Engineers

Rating:
Summary: great book if you already know the material
Review: Andy Rex, one of the text's authors, was in my Physics Department when I attended the University of Puget Sound, so I naturally used this textbook when I took Modern Physics (taught by another professor). The book is not good for students who are in the process of learning the material it presents for the first time. It is history- and derivation-heavy, but nearly devoid of analysis and ignores "the big picture." It was a wonderful reference when I was doing graduate work -- I already had a very solid background in Calculus, dimensional analysis, Quantum Mechanics, and so forth -- but it is not a good textbook if you are learning the material for the first time.

Rating:
Summary: Great Introductory Book on Modern Physics
Review: I used this book as my first book covering Modern Physics. Though other reviewers stated the book has typos, that's not what I remember about it. What I do recall is just how clearly these authors were able to present some of the difficult topics in modern physics. I have shared the book with other students preparing for boards, and they too felt like it was an excellent text that was very well written and easy to understand!

Rating:
Summary: Poor editing and production ruin potentially good text.
Review: I used this book as the text in my modern physics course last fall. I chose the book because it seemed to cover the material at a level appropriate for the students, there were some good examples, enough homework problems, and there was enough material for a two semester course. Unfortunately, problems were apparent within a week of the beginning of class. These problems include serious typos in the text and homework problems, different printings producing different problem numbering in different texts (i.e. one student's problem 29 was another's problem 31), and poorly worded homework problems (to the point of being nonsensical). Some of the student's texts, about 40%, had missing or illegible pages. In addition to the physical problems, there were some problems with the content. The explanations tended to be a bit terse and unclear. In summary, this book has a good layout and thoughtful organization but the devil is in the details. The detailed handling of various topics and the general production of the book make it a poor choice for an introductory modern physics text.