Re: [Phys-l] modern physics text

["Krishna Chowdary" <professor.head@gmail.com>]

On 10/17/06, Jerry Lisantti <lisantti@centenary.edu> wrote:
> I would like to get a recommendation from this list for a sophmore level
> Modern Physics text.  This is a year long course.  Thanks in advance
> _______________________________________________


I took my sophomore level, full year "Modern Physics" (when are we going to
change _that_ name?) course with two texts:  French's Special Relativity and
Eisberg & Resnick's Quantum Physics of Atoms, Molecules, Solids, Nuclei and
Particles.  First semester did French and first "half" of Eisberg & Resnick;
second semester covered rest of E&R.

I taught this as a one semester course using Tipler's Modern Physics (now
Tipler & Llewellyn); didn't cover special relativity, chose scattered topics
from the "second" part of the book.  Feynman as supplemental text as needed.

I also taught this course using Beiser's Concepts of Modern Physics (also
didn't cover special relativity, again scattered topics from "second"
part).  Again, Feynman as supplement.

French's Special Relativity book was nice, but I prefer Taylor & Wheeler's
Spacetime Physics.

I'd rank the other books from most preferred to least preferred:  Eisberg &
Resnick, Tipler, Beiser.

--
regards
-Krishna

Krishna Chowdary
Department of Physics & Astronomy
Bucknell University