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Re: Textbooks. Was: FRICTION



On Sun, 8 Nov 1998, Brian McInnes wrote:

Finally, in connection with friction, may I remind people of Eric Rogers'
beautiful exposition of the "demon" theory of friction where, in his book,
Physics for the Inquiring Mind, he demonstrated the versatility of ad hoc
theories.

Brian McInnes


Ah, Eric Rogers' book! Another "old book" of great value, one to inspire
teachers. As I go through my bloated library deciding which books to keep
into my retirement, that is one on the short list of "keepers". I can't
help noticing what is special about those "keepers". They are books which
stand out from the crowd because the author had a personal viewpoint,
special expertise, clarity of style, ability to explain, and refused to
write a book which was merely a clone of the others. I've noticed that the
"keepers" are often books which never saw a second edition, because in the
opinion of the publisher they "didn't make it" in the marketplace. The
ones which do well in the market-place, like Hewett, I happily give away
or trash.

And what of the others? What to do with them? Some go to the library, but
even libraries are selective, and already have the standard books. Some
libraries refuse to acquire textbooks. I can understand that. Such a tiny
fraction of them have lasting value, and their cost is outrageous. Some
books I have given away to students, but most students these days don't
want a textbook even if it is free. They don't read even the ones they are
required to buy. I notice that *even those who plan to be high school
teachers* aren't interested in building a library of their own. It's
discouraging.

And then there's the back runs of American Journal of Physics, The Physics
Teacher and Physics Today, which I have going back to the 50s. The
libraries, of course, already subscribe to these. All serious teachers
already subscribe. Perhaps some younger teacher might want to extend
his/her holdings back to earlier years. Any who do should e-mail me
PRIVATELY, and we'll make a deal, like "You can have them for shipping and
handling cost." Those wanting long early runs will get first
consideration. Those convincing me they really *need* them and
will *use* them will also get priority.

As for books, I may bundle them into categories (Mechanics, Optics,
astronomy, etc.) and offer them for shipping and handling. I'm open to
suggestions how best to handle this (it's my first time getting rid of
books--I'm an old pro at *acquiring* them. Very specific requests of
titles will certainly be considered. The thought of making a title listing
of all of them is daunting. PRIVATE e-mail only, please. Don't clutter the
discussion group with such messages.

And the remainder will probably go to an AAUW book sale. The ones which
don't sell there get trashed to the landfill. Sad.

And what *does* one do with volumes of one's own lecture notes and problem
solutions, class handouts, etc.?

Hurry; my retirement date is Jan 1.

-- Donald

.....................................................................
Dr. Donald E. Simanek Office: 717-893-2079
Professor of Physics FAX: 717-893-2048
Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania, Lock Haven, PA. 17745
dsimanek@eagle.lhup.edu http://www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek
.....................................................................

Howdy,

How about collecting a list, on this list, of the very best Physics books!

I'll add Goldstein's Classical Mechanics, Messiah's Introductory Quantum
Mechanics and Dirac's Quantum Mechanics book.

More?

Good Luck,

Herb Schulz
(herbs@interaccess.com)