College Physics
This book is an excellent comprehensive text for a 200-level algebra-based physics course. It explains all relevant physics concepts in a clear and consistent manner. The book also has a chapter on the “Frontiers” of physics which distinguishes it from other texts on the market.
The authors provide many biological and medical examples which makes it an ideal textbook for pre-med and bio-oriented students. In most 200-level physics courses the majority of students are interested in pursuing a medical career. Using this book as a course textbook will most likely motivate many pre-med and biology students to be more interested in understanding the basic concepts of physics.
Each chapter has its own glossary of terms which makes it easier for students to read the chapter before attending a lecture.
End of chapter problems include integrated concept and unreasonable results problems. In “integrated concept problems”, students are tasked to apply several concepts to find a solution. In “unreasonable results problems”, students need to analyze the solution and evaluate how likely the result is. For the instructor a manual is provided which contains both problems and solutions. This makes it easy to integrate examples into a lecture. More than 4,000 end-of chapter problems are available in WebAssign, an affordable online homework system. A student solutions manual is also available.
The book has very good appendices and is equivalent to other college physics text books.
In general, the contents can be considered accurate and unbiased. An exception to this statement is the title of chapter 32:”Medical Applications of Nuclear Physics.” In addition to medical applications, the contents of this chapter also includes food irradiation, fusion, fission, and nuclear weapons. These topics have nothing to do with medical applications of nuclear physics; therefore the title is not accurate. A more appropriate title would be “Applications of Nuclear Physics.”
The concepts described in the book will not change. Applications as well as links to external websites will need to be updated and kept current.
Concepts are explained in a logical and consistent manner. All relevant terms are defined briefly in the glossary at the end of each chapter. The text contains many examples. Solutions to problems are well explained and follow a coherent step-by-step approach throughout the book. The book is well written and easy to read.
The chapters are organized in a consistent manner.
Each chapter is divided into several sections. The modular version of the web view of the book allows to re-organize the chapters, create new modules, and add images. This is only possible on the legacy site of Connexions. A personal work-space is provided in which the user can create a collection of modules that match the instructor’s needs. A PDF file of each chapter can also be created. Unfortunately, this has not yet been implemented for the new online version of the book at the time of this review.
The book follows the traditional approach used in most college physics text books.The topics are presented in a logical and clear fashion. Each chapter starts with the learning objectives followed by an introduction to the basic concepts with examples, and ends with applications.
The user interface with the browser version of the book is easy to navigate and well designed. The font is sans serif and very small. This is not a problem, if the user reads the book online or downloads the PDF file and reads it on a computer screen. All browsers and Acrobat Reader offer the possibility to zoom in on the text. However, the printed version of the book is difficult to read.
I did not notice any grammatical errors.
As this is a physics text book, the text is culturally unbiased. Images are inclusive of different ethnicities and show a mix of gender.
I highly recommend OpenStax's College Physics book to all instructors of introductory physics courses. I will use it in my summer courses.