Physics, Volume 1

Halliday & Resnick & Krane is the best introductory general physics book (or set of books) out there in addition to Serway's textbook. I used both volumes in undergraduate school. The concepts are laid out clearly, logically and effectively. It starts with mechanics, continues with thermodynamics, then electromagnetism and modern physics. The worked-out problems are quite instructive. There are plenty of end-of-chapter problems. The only negative side of these problems is that most of the numbers make you use a calculator. If the authors had used more rounded numbers, the problems could have been solved by a paper and pencil. In doing so, students could have improved their math skills. The "modern physics" part of the book can be learned well, if you have a good instructor. Because, to someone with no knowledge of modern physics, this part could be rather challenging. Overall, this is a very high-quality book written by excellent physicists.

I studied this book in high school for entrance into the prestigious institutes of technology in India, the IITs. This is an excellent book for people who know how to use their heads and I am surprised to see undergrads complaining about the book being terse. The reason why a good book is terse is so that you internalise all the concepts by arriving at them yourself. It is definitely not a book for people who are stupid or who don't really love the beauty of physics and can't think for themselves.

Although there are a few topics that I would leave for more advanced courses and a few others I would present in more detail (even for beginner courses), it is a generally well-balanced book with great explanations on the concepts of Physics. The notation is very good and the graphics and drawings are perfectly sketched and provide great help for understanding the text. Each chapter presents a brief description of what will be studied in it and the book features some historical notes in a few topics. There is a wide list of exercises at the end of each chapter from straightforward exercises to more mindful ones. It also presents some exercises using English units in addition to the ones with International System units.

Although this text is very, classically, text-ish (minimal illustrations, black and blue ink only, dry writing), it still stands out as a high quality introductory physics text. I used it in my intro level classes, at a university that emphasizes physics education theory. I figure with all the research they have done on undergraduate physics education, their choice to use HRK could not have been one made randomly. I continue to refer to it over the newer, flashier additions, because it still gets the job done, without skipping details in exchanges for full color photos.

Even after 30+ years of it's first edition this book is an outright winner for undergraduates in physics and engineering ! Really commendable is the approach very rarely put forth only compared with that of Feynman's lectures on physics ! The problems given forth are not too tough as you might encounter in Irodov's problems but nevertheless if you master this book you can get past any problem easily !