Physics I For Dummies, 2E

The book was bought for my child as a summer read of what to expect in the course for the coming school year.

I bought this book (Physics I for Dummies, 2nd Ed), along with Physics II for Dummies, in order to refresh my knowledge of Physics. I am about 1/2 way through the book as I write this review.I haven't taken Physics in ~15 years, and I found the presentation of material to be well done. Important formulas are marked with a "Remember" icon. Formulas have at least one example problem, but if you want to practice, I recommend either finding more problems to work online, or buying the Physics for Dummies Workbook.My main problem with this book is that there are some inaccuracies. Usually they are fairly minor, such as listing units of acceleration as m/s rather than m/s2. However, there are slightly larger issues as well. For instance, when discussing specific gravity, the book states:"Anything with a specific gravity greater than 1,000 sinks in pure water at 4oC, and anything with a specific gravity less than 1,000 floats. As you'd expect, gold, with a specific gravity of 19,300, sinks. Ice, on the other hand, with a specific gravity of 917, floats.""Specific gravity" should either be "density" in kg/m3, or the numbers (1000, 19300 and 917) should be 1000 times smaller. The irony is the example problem preceding this paragraph correctly calculates the specific gravity of gold as 19.3.Errors like this are few and far between, and this is the most glaring example I have come across so far. With another round of editing, I think this book would be great.Review of: Physics I For Dummies (For Dummies (Lifestyles Paperback))

It has a scrape down on the cover but content seems great!

I am in an astronomy class and really needed some physics help because the Astronomy book seems to assume i have some basics in physics down! I do not! The class has no math requirements so i expected more step by step instructions. I am finding this books simple explanations and walk through to be helpful in understanding what my textbook wants!I recommend this book as a great companion guide to any class like astronomy, if you want to know WHY you are doing what your doing!By this i mean, anyone can "plug and play" a formula, but if you want to understand Why you are doing what your doing this book helps!

I bought Physics for Dummies I (2nd Edition - 2011) and Physics for Dummies II (2010) thinking one was continuation of the other. Be aware if you are planning to buy them both one is NOT a continuation of the other. If you are looking for continuity between the books you will want to purchase "Physics for Dummies (2006)" and "Physics for Dummies II (2010)".Case in Point:Physics for Dummies I (2nd edition - 2011) - does not cover DC circuits, Ohms, etc (usually 2nd semester topic), most likely they are putting this topic in the 2nd edition Physics for Dummies II (I would hope).Physics for Dummies II (2010) - will refer you to "Physics I" for DC circuits, ohms, etc.Physics for Dummies (2006) - actually has the DC circuits, chapter called "Giving Electrons a Push with Circuits"A little annoyed but I should have done my research. Hope this helps.

I only started reading it and I like it so far. I don't have any dislikes yet. And I'm learning Physics for the first time, and this book is making me feel comfortable.

Finally found the formula for degrees to radians... It doesn't exist on the internet apparently and noone in the real world knows what the hell you're talking about.

I bought this book to review basic physics. I had several physics classes in college, many years ago. After reading the first chapters in this book on speed, velocity and acceleration, I'm now completely confused.The presentation of the information seems jumbled and repetitive. What are the core equations I need to remember? - and can you please label them? Also, more diagrams would have helped.Other Dummies books have a handy cheat sheet on the inside flap. Why not this book? A list of the major equations would be worth the price of this book alone. Also, a glossary would be nice. And a few sample problems at the end of each chapter, with explained answers.I'm 50 pages into this and so far I'm feeling like buying this book was a terrible mistake. I will update my review when I've finished the book. I'm hoping my experience with this book will improve. So far I'm very disappointed, especially after seeing all the positive reviews here.I'm inclined to recommend instead the old but still excellent 3-volume series Understanding Physics by Isaac Asimov. It's also available bound as a single volume, here:  Understanding Physics

I am not a physicist, although I do have an academic science background which has involved teaching aspects of biophysics to undergraduate students. Many students in my classes struggled with physics because they hadn't really grasped some very basic, fundamental aspects of physical science. Yet, an understanding of these basic scientific principles is essential in understanding lots of processes in other sciences like biology and chemistry as well as engineering and it is an important transferrable skill. This book bridges those gaps.I like Steven Holzner's books because they have an engaging style and are written in the way that a good teacher would teach the subject. Physics for Dummies covers some elementary, fundamental areas such very basic Newtonian mechanics, harmonic motion, angular kinetics, thermodynamics etc. It takes a mathematical approach which does not involve calculus. It is not university physics. I would say it is more or less AS Level stuff. Other reviewers have mentioned mistakes in some of the calculations and formulae in the text but I came across very few. There aren't many textbooks that don't have a few mistakes in them. In fact, if you are following the subject with understanding the mistakes will be obvious.I think the pace of the text is just right for someone who only has pre-calculus maths. Some aspects of linear algebra (vectors), simple algebraic rearrangements and basic trigonometry are covered in Chapters 2 and 4. If you struggle with algebra, or need some gentle revision, you'll need to get up to speed with these things in order to follow the rest of the book.I would recommend this book to:- (i) students who are not studying physics but need to know basic things, (ii) anyone who wants to brush up on the basic physics they once knew but have forgotten and (iii) anyone who just wants to learn a bit more about how the world around them works. There are lots of examples that are relatable to real life which are often told in a deliberately corny style.

I purchased this book for my son who was struggling with physics during his first year in college. he only had it for about 2 weeks before his exams but he said it explained everything so simply that he passed his exam 1st time.He believes he would not have done so without book.I am only sorry had not come across it sooner would have saved him alot of angst.

Well broken down and easy to understand. As someone who never studied physics, this is a nice and easy introduction into the subject. One thing I did notice though, you have to remember a bit of high school maths ...

Explanations are good, but not so useful for a physics 1 class, where emphasis should be on problem solving - at least if passing exams are of some concern. Adding the workbook doesn't help much, as problems therein are too generic and simple.

This was bought for a friend who has started to study Physics for the first time at night class. He thinks book is very good-very clear for a beginner and understandable.