Modern Physics for Scientists and Engineers (Saunders Golden Sunburst Series)
June 30, 2010 by Actaphysica
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Modern Physics for Scientists and Engineers (Saunders Golden Sunburst Series)
Comprehensive, contemporary coverage and a strong emphasis on applications make this a superior text for physics, engineering, and science majors. The modern approach incorporates a flexible organization, numerous examples and problems, and cutting-edge topics such as superconductivity. Unique “Special Topic” boxes containing up-to-date applications of interest to physicists and engineers show the relevance of modern physics to the real world and look more in depth at particularly engaging topic
Rating: 
(out of 12 reviews)
List Price: $ 97.75
Price: $ 96.01
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Review by for Modern Physics for Scientists and Engineers (Saunders Golden Sunburst Series)
Rating:
I used this book as the text in my modern physics course last fall. I chose the book because it seemed to cover the material at a level appropriate for the students, there were some good examples, enough homework problems, and there was enough material for a two semester course. Unfortunately, problems were apparent within a week of the beginning of class. These problems include serious typos in the text and homework problems, different printings producing different problem numbering in different texts (i.e. one student’s problem 29 was another’s problem 31), and poorly worded homework problems (to the point of being nonsensical). Some of the student’s texts, about 40%, had missing or illegible pages. In addition to the physical problems, there were some problems with the content. The explanations tended to be a bit terse and unclear. In summary, this book has a good layout and thoughtful organization but the devil is in the details. The detailed handling of various topics and the general production of the book make it a poor choice for an introductory modern physics text.
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Review by for Modern Physics for Scientists and Engineers (Saunders Golden Sunburst Series)
Rating:
Andy Rex, one of the text’s authors, was in my Physics Department when I attended the University of Puget Sound, so I naturally used this textbook when I took Modern Physics (taught by another professor). The book is not good for students who are in the process of learning the material it presents for the first time. It is history- and derivation-heavy, but nearly devoid of analysis and ignores “the big picture.” It was a wonderful reference when I was doing graduate work — I already had a very solid background in Calculus, dimensional analysis, Quantum Mechanics, and so forth — but it is not a good textbook if you are learning the material for the first time.
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Review by Al B. for Modern Physics for Scientists and Engineers (Saunders Golden Sunburst Series)
Rating:
I’m about to finish the on-line course taught by one of the authors, Steve Thornton (University of Virginia).
The book lends itself to self-study and the 3rd edition is partly the result of Dr. Thornton’s teaching an on-line course for several summers. Many of the students are traditional physics and engineering undergraduates, but many others are career high school physics teachers that give Dr. Thornton feedback from a teacher’s viewpoint.
The publishers publish a Student Solutions Manual which shows worked out solutions for about 25% of the problems which I recommend. Answers to many other end-of-chapter problems are listed (without explanation) in the back of the text book. Dr. Thornton’s course web site has additional worked out problems, streaming mini-lectures, syllabus, and simulations — see .modern.physics.virginia.edu. There’s also a Yahoo discussion group, “modern_physics” for the course (you have to be a student in the course to actually post questions).
Many of the end-of-chapter problems have a simple “twist” to them that requires some thought; you can’t just mindlessly “plug and chug” your way through equations.
Previous reviewers have panned earlier editions for allegedly sloppy editing and errors. I’ve worked probably 200 examples and end-of-chapter problems and caught zero typos. The web site’s errata page for the 3rd edition shows just 2 typos. That’s about as tight an editing job as I’ve seen in any large science or engineering textbook.
This book can be used by any smart student that’s had freshman physics and calculus. Where multivariable calculus or differential equations are needed, the authors walk readers through the mathematical calculations more thoroughly and with greater explanation.
I highly recommend the book, the solutions manual and the on-line course.
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Review by alyssa for Modern Physics for Scientists and Engineers (Saunders Golden Sunburst Series)
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The history is nice, but that’s something the professor should be interjecting. Also, this book is poorly manufactured. I bought it brand new and several pages had fallen out of the binding just weeks after purchase.
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Review by Roger D. McGinnis for Modern Physics for Scientists and Engineers (Saunders Golden Sunburst Series)
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I used this book as my first book covering Modern Physics. Though other reviewers stated the book has typos, that’s not what I remember about it. What I do recall is just how clearly these authors were able to present some of the difficult topics in modern physics. I have shared the book with other students preparing for boards, and they too felt like it was an excellent text that was very well written and easy to understand!
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