Physics for Scientists and Engineers (with PhysicsNow and InfoTrac) Description:

Physics for Scientists and Engineers (with PhysicsNow and InfoTrac) review:
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 color printing. Most of the color pictures are a waste of space; I think about all of the superfluous pictures and verbose text whenever I lift this heavy book. On the plus side, the quick quizzes are helpful. I bookmark the answer page and check my progress of understanding as I read the chapter.
2 stars (Not really that great for an introductory physics course) - This book is by the far the worse physics book for a introductory college course. It states in the introduction that it is the best introductory physics book out there that will help anyone who has not taken physics. However, I disagree. The examples are very limited, and the problems are by far difficult. If one improvement was suggested to author, I would ask him to write in plain laidpack English before getting technical with much of the terms. In other words, Mr Serway please write it in plain English for just not the really bright people to understand, but also for the ones who have absolutely no experience in physics before. Plus, add some humor into the book to excite the studuent and keep the student interested. The jokes should be related to physics, of course but if you were to write another book I suggest you grab Mr. Paul Hewitt to help you write the conceptual part. He's examples are very clean and in English. He included comics for the student to see it more clearly.



Overall, this book is not really that great... the problems are harder than the book saids.