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Physics for Scientists and Engineers with PhysicsNow and InfoTrac

2 stars (Mixed Reception) - 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. 3 stars (Verbose and not precise writing) - 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 col...
Brooks Cole :: Science & Physics :: Science&Mathematics :: Science :: Physics :: John W Jewett :: Raymond A Serway :: :: Physics for Scientists and Engineers (with PhysicsNow and InfoTrac)

 

College Physics- Volume 1 with PhysicsNow

1 stars (Not in my worst nightmares...) - I have hated textbooks before, but this one takes the cake. It is quite possibly the worst one that my professor could have chosen. The authors use such a wild mixture of mind-numbingly simple content and obscure, abstract concepts that the picture that they paint is, to put it bluntly, incoherent. They dance around the definition of vocabulary words, always coming close to defining stuff (but never actually coming out and *saying it*), contradict themselves repeatedly, and assume that the reader understands half the concepts before they are even introduced. Perhaps the most irritating thing about this text is the fact that there is *no* glossary to speak of--if the reader doesn't understand the sketchy definition in the chapter or chapter summary, too bad, because that's all you get! Steer clear of this book, if at all possible. 3 stars (Decent book in combination with class) - I'm currently using this book in a high school physics course, and have found it to be fairly non-technical. The exercises at the end of each chapter vary in difficulty, from the very straight forward to the very difficult. While this book has many strengths, it should not be used by its self. This book requires equations to be derived in class, as they are simply presented at the beginning of the chapter in the book... Overall, this is a great textbook if you have the mind to be able to derive equations and properties yourself. ...
Brooks Cole :: Science & Physics :: Science&Mathematics :: Science :: Physics :: Jerry S Faughn :: Raymond A Serway :: :: College Physics- Volume 1 (with PhysicsNow)

 

College Physics with PhysicsNow

1 stars (Incredibly useless) - I feel sorry for anybody who relies on this book to get a good handle on physics. I am an A student, but I am spending obscene amounts of time trying to comprehend the material. This book (and the accompanying solutions manual) do a lousy job of walking you through the steps to solve many of the problems. The one I am particularly frustrated with is Interactive Example 3.7 (page 66), which tells you at one point to solve for time by using the quadratic formula. They do not bother to show you how they got the answer! The appendix to which it refers you for this particular example, is seriously not helpful. I am spending upwards of 25 hours per WEEKEND studying for physics, and this text does NOTHING to elucidate any of the concepts. I cannot wait to give my input to the department at the end of the semester. 1 stars (Warning) - Do not purchase. The company advertises that the price includes free website access. Once you purchase the book, the company responds by asking a list of personal questions when you attempt to access their site. The book includes an access code but no password. They refuse to give a passcode until you have answered personal questions.What if you dont want your personal info in someones database? Thats too bad. Apparently the web site / software isn't quite free once you have purchased the book. Boycott this book until they stop asking personal questions that are none of their business. Their excuse is that they need this info to list a student in their database. Do you really think college students should be bullied into giving up personal data? If sales falls off, perhaps they can figure out how to create a unique number in each book so that account numbers are unique. This would mean all a student would need to do would be to choose a unique password and sign on the web site. Do Not Purchase 5 stars (excellent) - great quality, pretty quick shipping for a standard option, within less than 12 weeks, good pack...
Brooks Cole :: Science & Physics :: Science&Mathematics :: Science :: Physics :: Charles A Bennett :: Chris Vuille :: Jerry S Faughn :: Raymond A Serway :: :: College Physics (with PhysicsNow)