Thomas A. Moore

One of my private students is taking a physics course that uses this textbook. I think it's part of the new wave of teaching that's moving away from professors standing up in a class and teaching things to students toward a model where professors do (???) and students learn on their own. That may be really helpful for some students who already have a solid grasp of math and science fundamentals, and it could be just that I see the students who are struggling and not doing well, but based on my experience tutoring, it doesn't work well for many.

This book seems to follow that model. It requires a lot of critical thinking from students without giving them necessarily a lot of information on how to solve problems. It's not difficult for me to use, because I have over 15 years of practice in doing these types of questions. I know what kind of assumptions to make and I have pretty much every physics equation glued into my brain. However, students who are just starting out with physics don't necessarily know all of the equations (which this book doesn't always provide), and they don't always feel comfortable making assumptions.

In addition, the book doesn't provide answers to any of the problems, only answers to the in-text exercises. It's very difficult to study when you can't tell if you're answering questions properly! Most books provide answers to odd-numbered problems in the back of the text with minimal explanation. This way students can work towards getting the correct answer while studying without getting spoon-fed the step-by-step instructions.

The book also uses a lot of irregular terminology, which is frustrating to say the least. I understand that we don't *have* to use any particular words to explain physical concepts, but the fact that we *do* use them means that I can talk to a physicist or engineer from the other side of the planet and we can understand each other.

I suggest to all of my students who take such a course to buy an actual textbook like Halliday Resnick & Walker's Fundamentals of Physics. It never hurts to have a backup, especially when this book does such a poor job for students who really need more of a step-by-step, hands-on approach to learning.… (más)