Understanding Physics

By Colm O'Sullivan and Michael Mansfield

Book Overview

This unique book places emphasis on the understanding of the material presented by adopting a reflective approach towards the scientific method used. Knowledge of algebra, geometry and trigonometry is required however, the authors introduce more advanced mathematical methods in the context of the physical problems which are used for analysis. Modern physics topics, including quantum mechanics and relativity are introduced early and are integrated with more "classical" material from which they have evolved.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0471975540
• ISBN13: 9780471975540
• Release Date: August 1998
• Publisher: Wiley
• Length: 776 Pages
• Weight: 3.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.7" x 1.7" x 7.5"

Customer Reviews

Not a wasted word and that's good

This is one of those rare physics books where every word has the physical information of ten pages of american textbooks. I must confess, I DETEST american introductory physics textbooks such as the ones written by Giancoli, Serway or Freeman something. All those books have three things in common. 1. They're big and fat and spend about 50 pages per chapter. 2. They are written from a purely commercial viewpoint instead of trying to write a decent textbook. When was the last time you saw one of these titles that didn't come with a student solutions manual, study guide and a ton of other crap meant to make spend your annual bookbudget on a single title. 3. They all give answers to only odd numbered exercises which run into more than hundred. After spending all that money on a book the least they could do is give me the ability to check the answer after spending all that time and energy trying to solve it. And this is where understanding phsyics comes to the rescue. It's thinner than all introductory physics textbooks you ever saw. The exercises never number more than 20 and each and every one of them is meant to teach you something useful instead of rehashing skills you learned in high school, which brings me my next point. This textbook actually assumes you had physics in high school. It picks up right where you left at graduation and builds on it. In less then 740 pages it teaches you stuff most 1200 page textbooks never come by. Stuff you thought you would only get in your second or third year is explained in a way you can understand. Best of all, this book is meant to fill the heads of students instead of the wallets of the authors. There are no student solutions manuals, study guides, or other useless nonsense meant only to line the pockets of the writers. All the answers to exercises are given. Like one reviewer said this book only uses black blue and gray, which is a good thing. You're paying for all those pretty pictures, and in the end they don't advance your understanding anyway. Besides all those colours make the pages busy and difficult for me to concentrate. To sum up, buy this book if you want to learn real physics instead of relearning what you learned in high school.

Excellent book

A great book, I just love it!

An excellent book

This is a super book. I found it particularly useful in refreshing my memory!

Concise and easy to understand

I find this book to be a terrific reference for those who are new to the field as well as for the seasoned physics student. It takes an unorthodox pedagogic approach which is very effective, giving a comprehendible and surprisingly comprehensive presentation. It is helpful both as a quick reference for finding equations and definitions of terms and as a text to read from beginning to end.