College Physics Serway 8th Edition gets bad rap and as much as i thought i'd be here righting a bad review, I find myself agreeing with Mr Nevin's review. College Physics Serway 8th Edition is actually good.
So anyway, glancing through College Physics Serway 8th Edition without reading will scare you because everything will look like greek. Read it and it is the best thing. i don't even read everything, mostly the parts where it introduces formulas and i work along the examples. If you're having problems with the examples, because i feel like the author has it broken down to the last bit, then you need an pre-algebra refresher. I got introductory physics as a second language to help me break down College Physics Serway 8th Edition and to be honest, College Physics Serway 8th Edition helped me break down the mechanics chapter in the physics as a second language book. I know i read one of the reviews here on amazon where the author wrote that parts of the book has been rewritten so my review only applies to the 8th edition only and not previous editon.
First of all, concepts are very well explained,i take physics online and show up to lecture sometimes to sit in and i primarily study from College Physics Serway 8th Edition because my instructor moves so fast i don't know what he's doing on the board. Each concept is followed by a worked example, a quick quiz and a question as well as a do it yourself example that's similar to the worked example. The book has tons of examples, i mean worked examples in the book and other examples that require you to do the work and compare your answer to the answer provided. The best part, ALL the answers so far, i'm on chapter 14, are right! No errata, yet. I took a physics course back 2004 that the college dropped and i remember looking at that textbook and not knowing what the author was talking about. This one makes you get the basics. Physics isn't my favorite subject so i'm the type who just needs to know the basics to rock my exam. If you're passionate about physics, you'll love how the author has those little boxes that relate stuff to real life. if you're like me who needs just the basics to get through the MCAT, College Physics Serway 8th Edition will be perfect. it has a little MCAT study in it that points you to which parts of the chapter and questions to focus on. I found the MCAT study guide very HELPFUL. Turns out, you don't need to know a lot of stuff.
Granted, there are few times i look at an example and go where did he get this (in those cases, i had to look again more closely till i figured out what the author did. I think there is one problem in chapter 12 that i don't know how the author got to one step) but overall, it's a good physics book. I just completed physics 1 and i don't think i coulda had a better textbook. if you need a physics book you can self study out of, this is it. Know your trig and algebra, basically log function.
Product Details
* Hardcover: 1104 pages
* Publisher: Brooks Cole; 8 edition (February 19, 2008)
* Language: English
* ISBN-10: 0495386936
* ISBN-13: 978-0495386933
* Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.7 x 0.8 inches
College Physics Serway 8th Edition