3,000 Solved Problems in Physics

I never bought this book, because every time I looked at it on the shelf I quickly flipped through it, and every time decided it was full of too-simple problems, essentially just the plug & chug variety, not really much to be gained by a physics student. But my dad had bought it to study for some engineering problems he was working on, and he didn't need it, so I grabbed it, and tucked it away for a few months. Then I gave myself the goal of working through all 3000 problems, about 25 each night. I had hoped it would help me get better at doing these kind of problems in my head and improve my accuracy, which desperately needed improving. Here's the deal with this book ... YES it does start with problems so simple that a high-schooler can do them, and then it drills those concepts over and over, but while that's happening, Halpern gradually increases the difficulty of the problems. For all of those people that insult this book as not challenging, I'll wager they would have a hard time with many of the problems by chapter end, at which point Halpern has developed an increasingly complex problem set. And amazingly, after working all the exercises, the problem-solver can handle many or most of them. It's like that old movie Karate Kid, where the Ralph Machio character gets mad at his teacher for making him paint the fence all day, and then his teacher shows him that all his work has actually done something. Halpern tells you this at the beginning of the book, that the his method will make you a "master of the art -- and should do so if used properly." The proper way of course, it to struggle with the problems that are a little harder before you are tempted to peek at the answer. (I use a folded paper to cover the answer while I look at the problem.) If you are preparing or trying to learn all of physics, then you should skip around from chapter to chapter, rather than trying to work through a chapter at a time. This helps you synthesize a variety of information better. There are a few typos and a few errors, but they are pretty easy to catch. And the redundancy of the problems makes errors less critical anyway. (Halpern was a professor at my school for my MA in physics, City University of New York, although I never met him. I would like to meet him someday for helping me to become a master, although I still have a long way to go.)

Ok, I know a there are a few people who gave this book a bad review because it doesn't "teach you" how to think for yourself, but rather is an outline you can copy from. I beg to differ. First off, this my second time taking calculus based college physics 1....why you may ask?...I don't study?...read the book?...pay attention to lecture? WRONG. I think I'm in a common situation where you take a course in college and its one of those "its what you make of it" classes. That is all fine and dandy as long as you have something to "make it" with such as with a helpful text and/or a helpful prof/lecturer. My first time I had this class I had neither. My text gave lame examples with little explained...and the lecture examples were even lamer. No force diagrams, no explanation on steps or even notifying skipped steps. I basically went to the lecture to learn F=MA, if you have X-newtons acting on Y-kilgrams...what is A? Wow, spectacular lesson learned there. No more detail than that. So, I searched for help. I have 3 texts...all were horrendous renditions of eachother. I bought several "physics explained" books to find no more that cliff's notes on lame text books. One more shot I said to myself...if I can't learn it then I might as well try to "copy" it with 3,000 problems solved right? This book is more complete than any text I've looked at, with the exception of the college text I used in highschool, and is unfortunately out of print as its well over thirty years old. This book has force diagrams, plenty of scenarios of a simpler to more advanced renditions of problems helping you to solve what it is you need to solve. Is that so bad? It can be if you do not take to heart the lessons being applied. But ask yourself, how did you learn math at all? Did you fully understand it the first time you saw it? For most of you out there, it took repitition after repetition until it clicked and you knew what to do by heart. You had examples in a text or lecture notes that provided the basic lesson on to the most complex scenario you can apply it to. That's what this book does for physics. I give 3,000 physics problems solved more than kudos or two thumbs up. If you are stuggling w/ college physics I highly reccomend this book for you. It will help you understand where to start and how to attack problems better than mosts texts. Give it a try, $20 is nothing compared to a non-passing grade and a semester down the tube. -Eric Woodward

When I took College Physics last year I knew from the start I was in big trouble. An "A" student, I was suddenly getting D's! I understood the concepts, but the problems were completely intimidating! This book was just perfect, taking the student from the simpliest problem, to very advanced ones on every single physics topic imaginable. Plus, they give you MANY examples of each type of problem. I had no trouble finding one just like a homework or exam problem, and learned how to do them fairly easily.This took took me through every area of Physics, despite having NO math backround, and I got an A in the course! Highly recommended!

I took a General Physics I class last semester in College (I never took it in high school) and I was very lost for a while. If you've never done a Physics problem and then see all these new concepts and see how much mathematical thought is required -- well, let's just say it's very intimidating. As my instructor said, the only way to get good at solving physics problems is to do physics problems. He advised us not to give up in attempting problems and to "sleep on some" and have a go at it again the next day(Great advice, by the way!). With this book, and the abundant number of problems in it, ranging from easy to challenging, I was able to get an A in the class. The author included in this book a "Skeletons" outline in the very beginning in order for the student with minimal time to get the maximum benefit: mock homework, exams, and final exams. Awesome book, I'm so glad I bought it... and I will be taking Physics II!

This remains my favorite book for physics problem solving since I began using it in 1988. From the basics of vector algebra to the principles of modern physics, the student will find a single source for solved problems (both non-calculus and calculus based). The mathematical notation is clean and simple and the solution to each problem is found immediately beneath it (not hidden at the end of the chapter or collected in the back of the book). The diagrams are elegant and clear, as well, with a minimum of "cute" (and usually irrelevant) materials. The student can add this book to their reference library and it serves as one of the best review texts for the standardized tests (such as the GRE and the MCAT).