Re: Today's jaw dropper

["W. Barlow Newbolt" <wnewbolt@liberty.uc.wlu.edu>]

On Mon, 6 Oct 1997, Leigh Palmer wrote:

> Back when Serway came out one of my sons was a Student in a first
> year physics class at Carleton  University, where the book had
> been adopted. I sent him a copy of Tipler, the book we were using
> at that time at SFU, and asked him to compare the books by using
> Tipler too. He came down on the side of Tipler.
>
> I'm not happy with *any* first year textbook, including Tipler.
> In my opinion none in the current generation of fat, brightly
> (and mostly gratuitously) colored members of that genre is as
> good as Sears and Zemansky was more than forty years ago.
>
> Leigh
Yes, I hear you.  Sears and Zemansky could come up with some howlers 
too. I have a copy of an edition put together to include some modern 
physics (possibly by the publishers) that had so many mistakes it was 
unusable for a text.  Please don't ask me how I know.  On one or the 
early pages the statement is made that the second condition of 
equilibrium means that an object may not be in equilibrium under the 
action of three or more forces unless the forces are concurrent.  On the 
next page is a "see-saw" in equilibrim but the forces are surely not 
concurrent unless you say that parallel forces are concurrent at infinity 
or some such.

W. Barlow Newbolt              540-463-8881  (telephone)
218 Howe Hall                  540-463-8884  (fax)
Washington and Lee University  newbolt.w@fs.science.wlu.edu	
Lexington, Virginia 24450      wnewbolt@liberty.uc.wlu.edu

"It is often stated that of all the theories proposed in this century, 
the silliest is quantum theory.  In fact, some say that the only thing 
quantum theory has going for it is that it is unquestionably correct."

                                           Michio Kaku, 1995