Book Description
Built from the ground up on our new understanding of how students learn physics, Randall Knight's introductory university physics textbook leads readers to a deeper understanding of the concepts and more proficient problem-solving skills. This authoritative text provides effective learning strategies and in-depth instruction to better guide readers around the misconceptions and preconceptions they often bring to the course. The superior problem-solving pedagogy of Physics for Scientists and Engineers uses a detailed, methodical approach that sequentially builds skills and confidence for tackling more complex problems. Knight combines rigorous quantitative coverage with a descriptive, inductive approach that leads to a deeper student understanding of the core concepts. Pictorial, graphical, algebraic, and descriptive representations for each concept are skillfully combined to provide a resource that students with different learning styles can readily grasp. A comprehensive, integrated approach introducing key topics of physics, including Newton's Laws, Conservation Laws, Newtonian Mechanics, Thermodynamics, Wave and Optics, Electricity and Magnetism, and Modern Physics. For college instructors, students, or anyone with an interest in physics.
About the Author
Randy Knight has taught introductory physics for more than 20 years at Ohio State University and California Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo, where he is currently Professor of Physics. Professor Knight received a bachelor's degree in physics from Washington University in St. Louis and a Ph.D. in physics from the University of California, Berkeley. He was a post-doctoral fellow at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics before joining the faculty at Ohio State University. It was at Ohio State, under the mentorship of Professor Leonard Jossem, that he began to learn about the research in physics education that, many years later, led to this book.
Professor Knight's research interests are in the field of lasers and spectroscopy. He recently led the effort to establish an environmental studies program at Cal Poly, where, in addition to teaching introductory physics, he also teaches classes on energy, oceanography, and environmental issues. When he's not in the classroom or in front of a computer, you can find Randy hiking, sea kayaking, playing the piano, or spending time with his wife Sally and their seven cats.

读者评论
Very Good Supplemental Text Overall, February 5, 2005

Reviewer:

Shann Yu "BIOE major" (Rice University)

Overall, I have been pretty pleased with the way this book arranges everything. The flow is logical and easy to follow if you read this to prepare for lecture.
When doing assigned problem sets, the placement of problem solving strategies helps out a lot. Furthermore, the presence of all of the worked problems show you step by step how to approach a problem, how to think about it, and what concepts to apply. Therefore, not only is this book very sound conceptually, but also quantitatively.
Now I say that this is a very good supplemental text. This is because there are lots of things inside the book, such as certain mathematical ideas, that do not belong in a physics course but yet are explained, but not very well. For example, on Chapter 27 on Gauss's Law, Dr. Knight roughly talks about surface integrals. The explanation is not very clear, and I understand, because this is a physics text to begin with. But then these are ideas that a professor may need to go over in lecture. Other than this example, I can still cite several times where there was a basic physics equation written in the book, but our professor took a couple of them, applied them to a problem, and by some mathematical method, comes up with other equations that apply to a similar situation as in the book (e.g., force on a charge due to multiple charges nearby; by applying basic definitions of charges and electrical forces due to charge).
Overall, though, I am happy with this book and how it has helped me in this course.

superior conceptual text, March 6, 2006 Reviewer: Random Symmetry (Fort Wayne, Indiana)  Randall Knight (the author) really has a keen understanding of where students go astray when learning physical concepts. He patiently explains with words all the key steps as opposed to just finding a numerical solution (and then assuming everyone understands it). Unlike many other physics text authors, Knight does not use mathematics like a crutch and Knight does not fall into the trap of too little mathematics. There are many excellently crafted problems that IF USED PROPERLY, can really advance student understanding. Now the downside. 1) If you are looking for a text that most rapidly helps you find the right equation to plug numbers into, pick another text. This is clearly NOT what Knight had in mind when writing this text. Knight wants students to use a much small set of equations and Knight wants students to see how various topics are interconnected. 2) In courses where the instructor does not emphasize conceptual understanding, students (and probably the instructor as well) will find "the strategic approach" slow and cumbersome. Knight advocates a very structured problem solving approach. If the course instructor does not follow a similar approach, I can easily envision students and instructors hating this text. Over all, I think this is a big step up on Halliday, Resnick and Walker. But I would strongly recommend that any instructor thinking about adopting this text also read Knight's 5 easy lessons. Instructors should make sure they do not have too many pedagogical differences when compared to Knight.