Physics Books

The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives

Leonard Mlodinow

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Total reviews: 35 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Amazon Guest Review: Stephen Hawking
Published in 1988, Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time became perhaps one of the unlikeliest bestsellers in history: a not-so-dumbed-down exploration of physics and the universe that occupied the London Sunday Times bestseller list for 237 weeks. Later successes include 1995's A Briefer History of Time, The Universe in a Nutshell, and God Created the Integers: The Mathematical Breakthroughs that Changed History. Stephen Hawking is Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge.

In The Drunkard's Walk Leonard Mlodinow provides readers with a wonderfully readable guide to how the mathematical laws of randomness affect our lives. With insight he shows how the hallmarks of chance are apparent in the course of events all around us. The understanding of randomness has brought about profound changes in the way we view our surroundings, and our universe. I am pleased that Leonard has skillfully explained this important branch of mathematics. --Stephen Hawking

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Physics

John D. Cutnell, Kenneth W. Johnson

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Total reviews: 29 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Improving the Game

When it comes to teaching and learning physics, most pedagogical innovations were pioneered in Cutnell and Johnson's Physics--the number one algebra-based physics text for over a decade. With each new edition of Physics, Cutnell and Johnson have strived to improve the heart of the game--problem solving. Now in their new Seventh Edition, you can expect the same spirit of innovation that has made this text so successful.

Here's how the Seventh Edition continues to improve the game!

AMP Examples (Analyzing Multi-Concept Problems)

These unique new example problems show students how to combine different physics concepts algebraically to solve more difficult problems. AMP examples visually map-out why the different algebraic steps are needed and how to do the steps.

GO (Guided Online) Problems in WileyPLUS

These new multipart, online tutorial-style problems lead students through the key steps of solving the problems. Student responses to each problem step are recorded in the grade book, so the instructor can evaluate whether the student really has mastered the material.

WileyPLUS

WileyPLUS provides the technology needed to create an environment where students can reach their full potential and experience the exhilaration of academic success.

WileyPLUS gives students access to a complete online version of the text, study resources and problem-solving tutorials, and immediate feedback and context-sensitive help on assignments and quizzes.

WileyPLUS gives instructors homework management tools, lecture presentation resources, an online grade book, and more.

Visit www.wiley.com/college/wileyplus or contact your Wiley representative for more information on how to package WileyPLUS with this text.

The World in Six Songs: How the Musical Brain Created Human Nature

Daniel J. Levitin

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Subjects -> Entertainment -> Music -> Theory, Composition & Performance -> Appreciation

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Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

The author of the New York Times bestseller and Los Angeles Times Book Award Finalist This Is Your Brain on Music tunes us in to six evolutionary musical forms that brought about the evolution of human culture.

An unprecedented blend of science and art, Daniel Levitin's debut, This Is Your Brain on Music, delighted readers with an exuberant guide to the neural impulses behind those songs that make our heart swell. Now he showcases his daring theory of "six songs," illuminating how the brain evolved to play and listen to music in six fundamental forms—for knowledge, friendship, religion, joy, comfort, and love. Preserving the emotional history of our lives and of our species, from its very beginning music was also allied to dance, as the structure of the brain confirms; developing this neurological observation, Levitin shows how music and dance enabled the social bonding and friendship necessary for human culture and society to evolve.

Blending cutting-edge scientific findings with his own sometimes hilarious experiences as a musician and music-industry professional, Levitin's sweeping study also incorporates wisdom gleaned from interviews with icons ranging from Sting and Paul Simon to Joni Mitchell, and David Byrne, along with classical musicians and conductors, historians, anthropologists, and evolutionary biologists. The result is a brilliant revelation of the prehistoric yet elegant systems at play when we sing and dance at a wedding or cheer at a concert—or tune out quietly with an iPod.

Fundamentals of Engineering Thermodynamics

Michael J. Moran, Howard N. Shapiro

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Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Improve the fundamentals - Dump the PC editorializing 3 out of 5 stars.
2 of 4 people found this review helpful.

This is a fairly good text; however the authors have found it necessary to include silly "Bio-Connections" and "Environment" editorals at 5 to 10 page intervals. These are nothing more than warm-fuzzies for bio-engineers who may be taking a thermo-class, and PC "global warming" editorials that have little technical benefit to teaching the core material. It became particularly infuriating when you see a 3/4 page silly "bio-connections" editorial on fluorocarbon global warming and they in the same section neglect having an explanatory figure on the P-v vapor dome. Or they devote 3/4 page on a "bio-connections" essay on storing bananas in zip-lock bags (trying to connect bio-chem with thermodynamics), and give short shrift to the Kelvin-Plank statement (and only supply a very skimpy 2"x2" figure for the explaining Kelvin-Plank).

The editorial board and tag-along sub-authors damaged this text. Stick with engineering and the fundamentals - and for crying out loud if you want to add "bio", "nano-nano" and carbon credits DON'T do it at the expense of Kelvin and Clausius.

I like the text's general concise-ness, and the problem sets and example problems are pretty good. The Cengel text gives better explanations, but is more wordy.

Editorial Review:

Now in a Sixth Edition, Fundamentals of Engineering Thermodynamics maintains its engaging, readable style while presenting a broader range of applications that motivate student understanding of core thermodynamics concepts. This leading text uses many relevant engineering-based situations to help students model and solve problems.

College Physics

Raymond A. Serway, Jerry S. Faughn, Chris Vuille

Amazon Price: $130.24 List Price: $187.95 Usually ships in 1 to 3 weeks By: Brooks Cole Amazon Marketplace: 16 new & used starting at $130.24

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Editorial Review:

While physics can seem challenging, its true quality is the sheer simplicity of fundamental physical theories--theories and concepts that can enrich your view of the world around you. COLLEGE PHYSICS, 8e, provides a clear strategy for connecting those theories to a consistent problem-solving approach, carefully reinforcing this methodology throughout the text and connecting it to real-world examples. For students planning to take the MCAT exam, the text includes exclusive test prep and review tools to help you prepare.

This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession

Daniel J. Levitin

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Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Psychology & Counseling -> Neuropsychology

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Total reviews: 106 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

In this groundbreaking union of art and science, rocker-turned-neuroscientist Daniel J. Levitin explores the connection between music—its performance, its composition, how we listen to it, why we enjoy it—and the human brain. Drawing on the latest research and on musical examples ranging from Mozart to Duke Ellington to Van Halen, Levitin reveals:
• How composers produce some of the most pleasurable effects of listening to music by exploiting the way our brains make sense of the world
• Why we are so emotionally attached to the music we listened to as teenagers, whether it was Fleetwood Mac, U2, or Dr. Dre
• That practice, rather than talent, is the driving force behind musical expertise
• How those insidious little jingles (called earworms) get stuck in our heads

And, taking on prominent thinkers who argue that music is nothing more than an evolutionary accident, Levitin argues that music is fundamental to our species, perhaps even more so than language. This Is Your Brain on Music is an unprecedented, eye-opening investigation into an obsession at the heart of human nature.

The Black Hole War: My Battle with Stephen Hawking to Make the World Safe for Quantum Mechanics

Leonard Susskind

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Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

What happens when something is sucked into a black hole? Does it disappear? Three decades ago, a young physicist named Stephen Hawking claimed it did-and in doing so put at risk everything we know about physics and the fundamental laws of the universe. Most scientists didn't recognize the import of Hawking's claims, but Leonard Susskind and Gerard t'Hooft realized the threat, and responded with a counterattack that changed the course of physics. THE BLACK HOLE WAR is the thrilling story of their united effort to reconcile Hawking's revolutionary theories of black holes with their own sense of reality-effort that would eventually result in Hawking admitting he was wrong, paying up, and Susskind and t'Hooft realizing that our world is a hologram projected from the outer boundaries of space.
A brilliant book about modern physics, quantum mechanics, the fate of stars and the deep mysteries of black holes, Leonard Susskind's account of the Black Hole War is mind-bending and exhilarating reading.

Physics: Principles with Applications

Douglas C. Giancoli

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Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

outstanding 5 out of 5 stars.
18 of 19 people found this review helpful.

I used Giancoli as my primary text in high school, and found it to be a superb text. I think those complaining of a lack of worked problems are missing the entire point of this text and the essence of studying physics. This book is about understanding physics principles and the equations you use to solve physics problems. You will find that with this understanding (certainly provided by this excellent text), the need for mindless ploughing through physics problems is lost. You will be able to solve physics problems on the basis of your conceptual understanding of the problems. So many students rely on rote learning and repetition by doing hundreds of questions. Sure, you might be able to attack similar problems for the next week or so, but as soon as you stop practicing, the skill is lost. True mastery of physics comes from appreciation of principles, not mere recognition of patterns in problems...this text will help you achieve such an appreciation.

Learn to Run Before You Can Walk with Giancoli's "Physics" . . . 3 out of 5 stars.
4 of 7 people found this review helpful.

While I wouldn't call this a bad book, I find myself rather frustrated with it. It seems to me to be most ideally suited for those who either have a natural inclination for physics or those who have plenty of spare time in which to contemplate solutions for the problems. (Unfortunately, I have neither.) The chapters themselves are actually fairly well done, but, in my opinion, not well enough to provide all the necessary information and insights to successfully solve the problems. I've opted to discontinue my attempts to work through this book in favor of Cutnell and Johnson's text of the same title.

Fundamentals of Fluid Mechanics

Bruce R. Munson, Donald F. Young, Theodore H. Okiishi

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Total reviews: 22 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Master fluid mechanics with the #1 text in the field!

Effective pedagogy, everyday examples, an outstanding collection of practical problems--these are just a few reasons why Munson, Young, and Okiishi's Fundamentals of Fluid Mechanics is the best-selling fluid mechanics text on the market. In each new edition, the authors have refined their primary goal of helping you develop the skills and confidence you need to master the art of solving fluid mechanics problems.

This new Fifth Edition includes many new problems, revised and updated examples, new Fluids in the News case study examples, new introductory material about computational fluid dynamics (CFD), and the availability of FlowLab for solving simple CFD problems.

Access special resources online

New copies of this text include access to resources on the book's website, including:
* 80 short Fluids Mechanics Phenomena videos, which illustrate various aspects of real-world fluid mechanics.
* Review Problems for additional practice, with answers so you can check your work.
* 30 extended laboratory problems that involve actual experimental data for simple experiments. The data for these problems is provided in Excel format.
* Computational Fluid Dynamics problems to be solved with FlowLab software.

Student Solution Manual and Study Guide

A Student Solution Manual and Study Guide is available for purchase, including essential points of the text, "Cautions" to alert you to common mistakes, 109 additional example problems with solutions, and complete solutions for the Review Problems.

Enhanced College Physics (with PhysicsNOW)

Raymond A. Serway, Jerry S. Faughn, Chris Vuille, Charles A. Bennett

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Still Waiting 1 out of 5 stars.
1 of 11 people found this review helpful.

I still have not received my book and it has already been 4 weeks.
I also don't have a tracking number so I cannot even go to the post office to locate the book.
I am very disappointed.

Still a good, sound text for college general physics... 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Updaated: Fall 2008. Still using this text. Still no complaints, verbal or otherwise, from students. Will continue using it for another year. Gave it five stars, because of the other review here about amazons slow delivery. Didn't order mine from amazon, so I can't comment about that, just the quality of the text. But I have noticed that all my orders from amazon seem to have been slow in arriving this Summer. (4 to 6 weeks - but then I don't use a charge card or have an account.)

Updated: Fall 2007. Still using this text. The new enhanced version is better. More mediacal and biological examples. Still no complaints, verbal or otherwise, from students.

Updated: Fall 2006. I've been teaching from this text (ed 7) for two years now. Still no complaints from students on my reviews, nor any verbal complaints, about this text. We are changing to the "enhanced" version next year since this version is no longer available from the publisher. The enhanced edition has more MCAT and biological applications, so we're looking forward to it. (One thing I've done is rewrite the PowerPoints to support this text and put them online locally, as well as other support materials.)

Previous Post: We changed from the Cutnell text. We use it in a two (2) semester (15 weeks each) course in "general physics." The text is much better than many of the reviewers suggest. It is a college level text - which means you should have some previous experience with physics (high school or fundamental ?) and you must have the math background - trigonometry and college algebra (through exponentials, logarithms and analytic geometry). The topics are presented and organized well, and the examples and problems complement the content. The conceptual questions are, for the most part, easy and very direct. While some problems are difficult, (most color coded blue and red), others play from the numerous, contemporary and historical examples. Photos and diagrams are well done with portraits of historical figures included. There are many biological applications and each chapter ends with a summary of equations, units and important concepts. The modern physics chapters are particularly interesting - relativity, atomic and nuclear physics. (If too much time is spent in the early chapters, you'll miss this in the last five.) No complaints about the text, like some mentioned here, were received from students on my reviews. (About half my students did ask frequent questions about solving problems in my discussion sessions, as expected, but about half required little or no help at all.)

Many of the negative reviews here apparently come from some who may not have the math background for this text. Many are "one title" reviewers who may have not read other similar texts in detail like those by Gimabattista, Walker, Cutnell, Sears and Haliday and Resnick. It's interesting that most of these texts have an average rating only between 2.5 and 3.5 stars out of 5. What this may show is that some reviewers just don't have the math backround for physics and so unfortunately try to rely on "concepts." This is not a "conceptual physics" text - it applies algebra and trionometry to problem solving in physics as it relates also to other sciences. One reason why a course in physics is required for most science majors.

I've also logged into the supporting web site as a student to check the claims made by some that "personal information" is apparently required to use the "free" site. The only "personal information" requests I saw were for name, email address and an answer to a security question selected from a list of options, to use in case you loose your password. These are typical questions asked for creating and maintaining user accounts on many such similar websites.

Editorial Review:

Open the door to the fascinating world of physics! The most fundamental of all natural sciences, physics will reveal to you the basic principles of the Universe. And while physics can seem challenging, its true beauty lies in the sheer simplicity of fundamental physical theories--theories and concepts that can enrich your view of the world around you. ENHANCED COLLEGE PHYSICS, VOLUME I gives you a clear and logical presentation of the basic concepts, and with its integrated media resources, you have the maximum opportunity for success! Each new text includes access to PHYSICSNOW, the ultimate web-based homework and tutorial system! This interactive learning system tailors itself to your needs in the course. It's like having a personal tutor available whenever you need it!