Modern Physics

Before I begin my rant I wanted to let you know that I have already taken up to Partial Differential Equations as far as Mathematics goes. I tell you that only so you don’t get the idea that I have never taken a challenging class before. I have. Needy have my minor in Math completed. I received A’s in O-Chem 1 & 2. I received an A for Physics 1 and a B in Physics 2. The only reason that I got a B in that class was because I was dumb enough to take it during a summer session. But enough of my tangent, into my rant. If you have this textbook assigned, you better pray that you have a good Physics professor, or you might as well withdraw from your class. If you are about to take Modern Physics and have this textbook assigned to you, then I reccomend using rate my professor and basing your decision to drop the class solely off of your assigned professors performance. I only say that, because this textbook won’t teach you anything. Politically I will tell you that I am against book burnings.....aside from this book. This book is the exception. The government needs to round up all of the Tipler textbooks and throw them into a bonfire because they are pure garbage. What can I say that has not already been stated. You might not believe me, but I have never been agitated enough to ever write a bad book review before. Until now. I want everyone to know how frustrated and angry I am after having wasted so much of my time mulling over the same chapters multiple times thinking that I might be able to glean some nugget of scientific wisdom from its decrepit pages. This book over emphasized points that are not important, and underemphasizes points that are extremely important. What made matters worse was that I had a professor who taught via distance learning(teleconference class), that made my Modern Physics course a rite of passage; rather than actually attempt to try and teach us Physics. None of the Physics professors at my local university taught the course, otherwise I am sure that we would have used a better textbook. So, if you are in the middle of the semester like I was, and realize that you are in hot water; these are the suggestions that I recommend that may help save your bacon.1) Put this book on your bookshelf and never look at it again except for assigned homework problems. Actually, just throw it on the floor. It doesn’t deserve the honor of sitting on anyone’s bookshelf. Maybe a door stop at best.2) Go our and purchase the Serway Modern Physics textbook so you will actually be able to learn something. The Serway book is what you would expect a Modern Physics textbook to look like. It is almost self-teachable. There is a night and day difference between the Serway textbook and this malignant academic cancer.3) YouTube the Yale Courses on the Shrodinger Equation. I can’t remwber if it has a playlist or not, but the professor who teaches the lectures teaches Quantum Mechanics at an almost intuitive level. Watch the videos titled Quantum Mechanics 1-7. That man, knows how to teach. I preferred his lecture style above even the MIT lectures on QM.4) If you are a poor struggling college kid who doesn’t want to sell any more plasma to pay for textbooks that should have been assigned instead of this garbage by Tipler, you can always google Serway Modern Physics Textbook pdf and also Griffith Quantum Physics Textbook pdf. Those 2 books may have exactly what you need. At any rate, they are 1000 fold better than this travesty of a textbook. The Griffith book is more math based but at least is logical in its breakdown. The Serway book is more qualitative in terms of teaching Physics, and has great diagrams and illustrations. Do this, and you might actually have a chance of passing your Modern Physics course.

As has been previously mentioned, errors abound in this text. Simple typos are forgivable; however, errors concerning equations and results are not. Another of my classmates had the 5th edition, which was very similar to this one, save for page and problem numbers. There was not enough material to justify a whole new addition, and this was clearly done by the publishers to get more money. Also, the 6th edition contained errors that the 5th edition had correct. I don't see how they managed to change correct material to make it incorrect. Additionally, the attempt to supplement the book with online material didn't work for me. If it's important, put it in the book, if not, leave it out. That being said, this book still has some decent explanations, and one can surely learn from it. However, I'd be surprised if better options do not exist.

Worst textbook I have ever used. The book goes through the chapters as normal and then you hit the problems at the end... this is where you will get frustrated considering the questions seem to have no relation to anything in the chapter. Don't even try to look for relevant examples... Spoiler alert, there are none. If your class is using this book, RUN.

This is the sixth edition of this book. Apparently the authors do not know how to proof-read. This edition is chocked full of errors. Some chapters seem like the authors have no idea of what they are talking about. Other chapters are clear and easy to understand. This is an extremely difficult subject but this is supposed to be a textbook intended to explain and teach. The accompanying student solution manual also is full of errors. Why not actually teach instead of just putting out as much information as possible?

Honestly not great at all. As you're reading it you feel like the author is just rambling and not getting to the point. It feels like a waste of time when you're reading it. The formulas aren't labelled and the symbols in the formulas aren't defined. It's not a book you can just point your finger down at and say "ah here it is!". No you have to read the three sentences before the formula to figure out if it's the one you need. (And still wonder what goes into it)

It's a classic. I love Tipler's books. If you don't like this edition, never mind: study Spanish, and you will be able to buy the Spanish edition of this book, by Editorial Reverté.

Very good

Filled with errors. One would think by this edition simple errors would be noticed, but that is not the case.