I'm looking for a good self-study book on physics.

[avi85]

It's for this course I have to take and I hate coming into a class completely unprepared and seeing as I've never studied physics...

 

[RGUN]

Do you have a class description? There are many many aspects of physics and to just ask for a physics book is not going to work.

 

[avi85]

Originally posted by: RGUN
Do you have a class description? There are many many aspects of physics and to just ask for a physics book is not going to work.

electromagnetism and mechanics, sorry

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Schaum's.... What book are you using. Giancoli?

E&M is pretty hard since it's not something you can easily visualize...

 

[DrPizza]

I'm kicking myself - I didn't save all my links at the end of the school year. I had dozens, hundreds of good links.

What I'd recommend, in addition to what you're reading about is to look for animations online, especially for mechanics. They really help clarify some of the concepts. I really haven't seen any texts that I'd describe as horrible. (On the other hand, I teach physics, and I don't use a textbook) Okay, I'll be one of the first to admit it: the reason we use textbooks is so we don't have to bother writing our own problem sets.

Here's an excellent resource for starters: Physics Education Technology University of Colorado at Boulder

 

[akubi]

http://www.amazon.com/Feynman-...cs-3-Set/dp/0201021153

 

[Eeezee]

Buy the textbook and get to work. The book is your best self-study guide.

 

[opticalmace]

How much math do you have? Any calculus?

 

[DrPizza]

Wow, I can't believe I didn't think of that. It's going to make a huge difference if he's taking a calculus based physics course.

 

[thepd7]

Originally posted by: DrPizza
Wow, I can't believe I didn't think of that. It's going to make a huge difference if he's taking a calculus based physics course.

he's screwed if he needs cal based physics and hasn't taken cal. hopefully it's mostly algebra based.

 

[FleshLight]

I would purchase "Vector Mechanics for Engineers: Statics and Dynamics " and read up on that.

 

[FleshLight]

Originally posted by: thepd7

Originally posted by: DrPizza
Wow, I can't believe I didn't think of that. It's going to make a huge difference if he's taking a calculus based physics course.

he's screwed if he needs cal based physics and hasn't taken cal. hopefully it's mostly algebra based.

Not really. It's simple derivatives using power rule or sin/cos derivatives that are easily memorized.

 

[Analog]

Here's an online downloadable Physics text for FREE: http://www.motionmountain.net/contents.html

I've posted this in hotdeals before.

 

[burr4392]

Go for the Feynman books. They are hands down the best physics books out there. Easy to read, understand and they still cover just about everything and they do it very very well.