Basic Physics: A Self-Teaching Guide, 2nd Edition

by Karl F. Kuhn (Editor)

The fast, easy way to master the fundamentals of physics

Here is the most practical, complete, and easy-to-use guideavailable for understanding physics and the physical world. Even ifyou don't consider yourself a "science" person, this book helpsmake learning key concepts a pleasure, not a chore. Whether youneed help in a course, want to review the basics for an exam, orsimply have always been curious about such physical phenomena asenergy, sound, electricity, light, and color, you've come to theright place! This fully up-to-date edition of Basic Physics:
* Has been tested, rewritten, and retested to ensure that you canteach yourself all about physics
* Requires no math--mathematical treatments and applications areincluded in optional sections so that you can choose either amathematical or nonmathematical approach
* Lets you work at your own pace with a helpful question-and-answerformat
* Lists objectives for each chapter--you can skip ahead or findextra help if you need it
* Reinforces what you learn with end-of-chapter self-tests

Genres: Science, Physics, Nonfiction, Education, Textbooks, Reference, School

320 pages, Paperback

First published March 29, 1996

Reviews

[William Schram · Rating 4 out of 5]

Basic Physics by Karl Kuhn is a self-teaching guide. The field of physics is quite extensive, and the knowledge covered becomes blurred at times. What do I mean by this? Well, the book opens with kinematics and goes into Chemistry a few chapters later. It discusses Specific Gravity and the Periodic Table.

The items that the book covers are beside the point, though. Dr. Kuhn does an excellent job of explaining the various aspects of physics. Basic Physics is a supplemental text, so it doesn't go into depth with any one portion.

Dr. Kuhn splits the book into frames. Each frame has a section at the end intended to enhance learning. Although the book uses equations, they are rare commodities. Dr. Kuhn also makes the correct choice and uses the Metric System for most of the book.

Finally, the book covers concepts along with equations.

[OperatingSystem · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good introduction to physics and its many sub-topics, but does not explore any of them too deeply. For an intro, it's great!

The only problem I've had with this book is with some of the practice problems — there were times when it was difficult to tell whether I was wrong in my answer or whether the book was. I'd research alternate sources that would agree with *my* answer rather than the book's. I'd like to give the author and editor the benefit of the doubt in thinking they made sure everything was correct prior to publishing, so this was confusing.

Stopped reading it because I figured it'd be a better use of time to take online courses that cover only a few topics at a time, but cover them much more deeply. Still, it's a good companion book to have.

[Stasia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel like this would be worth buying if I decide to seriously pursue physics more down the road. I took a ton of notes and copied drawings of diagrams from this resource.

[Matt Luedke · Rating 2 out of 5]

I "read" this insomuch as I started to read it, got several pages in, and realized it's nothing like I expected. This is not a book to self-learn physics from. It attempts to concisely explain physics concepts and it provide exercises to work through, but in several places places it uses concepts that it did not properly explain or define. The explanations are too concise and omit definitions and details that are required to understand them, beyond mechanically applying formulas to the provided exercises.

[Luke Gruber · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve never taken a physics class, so I wanted to find a basic physics book that explained concepts easily to a beginner. This book did just that, it was laid out really well, informing the reader what chapters were pre-requisites to others, and it made the math and equations optional. I have nothing to compare it to, but overall this was a good first step book for someone who knows NOTHING about physics. It was a good book.

[Mollie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Agreeing with other users comments, this book is vague and doesn't really go into depth with its topics. At times it feels as if pieces of information have just been put together to make a paragraph... like when you are doing the very first draft of an essay. This book is a good source to use as an indicator and the order of topics in physics. However, If i were tou just look at the topics and do your own research for example watch videos etc. rather than buy the book

[Jessie Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Better than my text book for that class. If you already know you can teach yourself topics of complexity, don't be afraid to get supplemental reading materials. Any resource should subtract from the time it takes to understand concepts. This helped me more for physics exam readiness than the PowerPoints. Worth it!!

[Carlos Martinez · Rating 5 out of 5]

If it's a physics textbook you're after, I suspect this is among the best. All the major concepts, explained concisely but clearly. I had to look a few things up for more detail, but that's to be expected. Definitely a useful book for those aiming to improve their scientific literacy.

[Dick Harding · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sorry, I stopped reading this book. I think if you are a student and need to memorize and utilize a lot of facts, formulas and definitions this book would be good. But I am old, and I just want to read for my own personal interest which this did not capture.

[Jacob · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very Intuitive

The title is serious about being a self study guide, I understood quickly the lessons and learned a lot amazing book

[Sandeep Kumar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good

[Jami Fowler-White]

Love the organization and easy to read format of this guide. It it a must have for anyone taking AP or College-level Physics!!

[Diana]

very good

[Tomek · Rating 1 out of 5]

Boring.

[Prince · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good comprehensive book

Has all major physics topics, summarized, well written, including major authors, as the title says, basic physics. Will pass you any major physics competition.

[Kevin Zuech · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was watching a show called "Space's Deepest Secrets" and they were referring to numerous different laws of physics and I realized I have never taken a physics class. I bought this book and it was perfect to learn basic physics while not going to deep into the mathematics. It is physics so there is still lots of math but he tries to simplify it to understand the concepts. The flow of the book was good and it was interesting. I definitely recommend this book to get a basic understanding of our physical world.

[Paula]

This a really good step-by-step book of the basics (which for me is very, very ADVANCED!). The examples are concrete and demonstrate the concepts clearly. It's an enjoyable exercise. Who KNEW?

[Gideonmack · Rating 3 out of 5]

It taught me a fair amount about physics.

[Amal Cleary · Rating 5 out of 5]

good

[VBergen · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book contains a wide range of topics but it doesn't develop them in depth. It lacks better explanations.

[Jonathan Waite · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a great, broad covering of physics from a 101 perspective with not a huge amount of math/calculations involved.