Great supplement to a course in physics
599170
Well written, and well organized. Great supplement to a course in physics, however it is important to note that the differences between this edition and the previous are minimal at most. Otherwise excellent text.
2873969
I bought this book as it was recommended for the Physics 7B class at UC Berkeley. This volume is the second one of a three-part series of physics study guides and consists of exercises related to electricity and magnetism. The nice thing about this book is it provides many example problems and detailed solutions that students can use to hone their skills. There are also several practice exams at the end of the book that students can use to prepare for their actual exams. Sure, the book is kind of bulky as it's printed on somewhat thick pages, but it is otherwise an invaluable resource. I would definitely recommend the Portable T.A. for anyone who is studying undergraduate physics.

-- TL;DR version --

Pros: Lots of practice problems; weighs less than an actual T.A.
Cons: It's a little bulky
Bottom line: Despite being an inanimate object, the Portable T.A. makes a great study partner.
Final verdict: 4.6 stars (rounded up to five)
4281726
It is just what I needed for my physics course. It is detailed and within as well as at the end of the chapter, the material provides a summary log of the important equations used. I recommend this textbook for studying
3277614
The book I wish I had had when I was studying Maxwell's equations in graduate school.  This book is a great supplement to any textbook which is covering Maxwell's equations.
4205355
The text is easy to read and full of well explained equations and color illustrations.  I took regular physics in college, but I haven't used it much since then.  This book was a good review and very helpful for answering questions from a curious pre-teen.  The biological applications were fascinating, and since she had just had an MRI, that section was especially interesting to her.  The vision section was my personal favorite, but the entire text was quite good.  If you need some basic physics and have a biological bent, this is a highly recommended text.
692631
Simply stated, I don't consider this "the book" on the subject, but it is a most-have.  It begins by developing some of the mathematical foundations needed to solve the problems; followed by some Newtonian mechanics (basic concepts: force, energy, motion in 1D-3D, and many examples and applications), and ends with special relativity.  The topics are presented in a clear and straight-forward manner, although some of them were too simple and not as thorough as I wished.

This book corresponds to a regular 1st semester in mechanics.  It should be complemented with the second book (Classical Mechanics) which deals with non-inertial reference frames, systems of particles, rigid bodies, Lagrange equ. and Hamiltonian Theory.

I give this book 4.5 stars (I'm a tough grader)
2353863
I am very pleased with this edition of the Feynman Lectures on physics. Perfect for the Feynman enthusiast. Great for supplemental learning.
3586534
This book was a great supplement to my course in cellular and molecular biology. If there was ever a part of my lecture that felt a little fuzzy, I could easily reference this book to fill in all the holes. I really appreciated the diagrams, because sometimes the concepts can get a little wordy and hard to follow.

I should also note that this is not a soul-suckingly-dry read. You get some real tries of patience being a biology major, but this did not require copious amounts of caffeine and barren isolation to read.
4358181
I read this book for a physics class and I was really scared that I wouldn't understand anything. I also did not know how physics would be applied to things in outer space. I was very happy to find out that it lacked complicated equations and attempted to explain in simple terms things like black holes, the p-brain, galaxies, the possibilities for extraterrestrial life and other physics related topics. Simple language was used for the most part and when more complex things were introduced, many pictures were shown. In fact the pictures make the book. The author has a sense of humor with several jokes that lighten up the reading as well.

One of my favorite parts of the book was probably the first chapter that gives a biography of Einstein. He then references Einstein and Newton throughout the book explaining their different theories and discoveries. The black hole section was also very interesting learning the physics of how they exist and work. Now I understand a little better the physics behind Star Wars and other sci-fi movies.

It was a fun book to read that I would recommend to anyone looking for a lighter physics read where they want to learn a little more about things that they have always heard about, but were afraid to research because they might only find things that were over their head.
4798191
People with a scientific background, and working far from physics (as me), will find this textbook very interesting. A quick but also deep survey of what physicists are currently doing, in which students of _some_ years ago can recognize subjects whose birth they happened to study. Being my M.S. thesis about Boltzmann equation, I found very fascinating the chapters about diffusion theory, particularly the search for dendrytic solutions of diffusion equation. But whatever the thesis field could have been, the wide variety of described subjects is able to meet interest of every person who happened to study Physics in his/her education.
2332705
I found this book to be extremely useful and clear. Griffiths goes through the math and subject material in a clear and concise manner. I believe that he has found a good balance between equations and text in this book. In physics and math you may often encounter books that are too unfriendly to pick up and read by yourself but Griffiths' book is not one of these ones. I would not only recommend this to a friend, but I'd also recommend his E&M book "Introduction to Electrodynamics"
174980
I have a physics background, and I found this book to be an ideal introduction to the physics of stochastic processes. The newest edition has a dedicated chapter for the Langevin equation, which might be a reason to favor it over older editions. I think that this book is appropriate for any student who has taken a linear algebra course (such as with Strang), but I find myself referring to this book constantly even in graduate school. This is one of the essential books in my personal physics library.
3679051
Great way to teach electromagnetism to students
4521337
The textbook is well written because it explains Physics easily and it also provides an interesting view of Physics in life.
4543708
As an undergraduate I studied physics, each course a separate entity and no one put it all together as it were. At least until I read Professor Carroll's From Eternity to Here. The text and the ideas presented are very accessible, and I found myself nodding "yes" to the topical discussions and growth of the discussion of entropy from thermo to black holes. For me the discussion unified many past theories I have learned, and brought in some new ideas that I want to study. I still don't know why we have the arrow of time, but it is time for me at least to go back to school.
2930879
This outline series is generally excellent, and Quantum Mechanics is no exception. Co-authored by Hecht, one of the great physics authors of our time, this book provides a efficient overview of all the fundamentals of QM. One should, by no means, take this material as a substitute for a lecture, or textbook, but rather truly a supplement to the course being taken at the time. Many of the solved problems were found to parallel the homework problems given by the professor, which can be useful in a course where professors often fail to give first order examples which can be very useful to a student. I also found that the solved problems involving derivations were particularly helpful to gain an understanding of the material.
I used this book for two semesters of quantum, and will likely refer back to it for useful formulas.
Helped me get my A in an otherwise difficult two semesters of Quantum! =]
3979692
An excellent text for a sound course for both physics majors and other majors.(speech and hearing and music, for example).