Basic and cutting-edge materials

Here are three excellent textbooks of considerable worth to those studying materials science, modern physics or introductory physics. Useful ancillaries and websites help create a wonderful complete teaching package for each.

The first, by James Shackleford, gives a balanced, current treatment of the full spectrum of engineering materials, covering all the physical properties, applications, and relevant properties associated with engineering materials. It explores all major categories while also offering detailed examinations of a wide range of new materials with high-tech applications.

The book is organised logically into four parts: part one covers the fundamentals of applied physics and chemistry; part two structural materials (metals, ceramics, polymers and composites); part three electronic, optical and magnetic materials; and part four materials in engineering design (environmental and chemical degradation, radiation damage and wear, and material selection).

There are generous sample and practice problems (with answers). Answers to odd numbered end-of-chapter problems are provided. Illustrations, tables, and more, are available on the website.

This fifth edition contains five new chapters. Also, several one-page inserts have been added to provide focus on topics in the world of both engineering and natural materials. An Instructors Manual with fully worked solutions is available free to lecturers from the publisher. Students studying materials science in their engineering course would find this proven and up-to-date text a "must-read".

Stephen Thornton and Andrew Rex's text is suitable for either physics or engineering students who feel they are approaching the frontiers of physics. After discussing the state of physics a century ago, the authors introduce relativity and quantum theory as the basis of any study of modern physics. The rest of the text is devoted to the sub-fields of physics - atomic, condensed matter, nuclear, and particle - and the exciting field of cosmology.

Unique "special topic" boxes containing up-to-date applications of interest to physicists and engineers show the relevance of modern physics to the real world. An Instructor's Solutions Manual is available for lecturers from the publisher (at £14.95) giving the solutions to the 700 end-of-chapter problems. A Student Solutions Manual (also at £14.95) contains the solutions to about 25 per cent of the end-of-chapter problems. The website http:/// www.harcourtcollege.com/physics/thornton will post errata, new results, new examples, end-of-chapter problems and so on. The Modern Physics Instructor's Resource CD-ROM, a dynamic lecture tool, is also available (at £49.95) to enhance classroom presentation.

The third text, by Raymond Serway and Robert Beichner, is suitable for a course in introductory physics for students studying science or engineering. This good-value "tome" has two main objectives: to provide the student with a clear and logical presentation of the basic concepts and principles of physics, and to strengthen this understanding with a broad range of interesting applications to the real world. These aims are met fully.

The book is divided into six parts: part one, the fundamentals of Newtonian mechanics and the physics of fluids; part two, wave motion and sound; part three, heat and thermodynamics; part four, electricity and magnetism; part five, light and optics; and part six, relativity and modern physics.

Worked examples, exercises (with answers), over 1,000 questions, over 3,000 problems where answers to odd-numbered problems are provided, are among the many interesting features of the text. An Instructor's Manual with Solutions (in two volumes, each costing £12.95) contains answers to even-numbered problems, and complete worked solutions to all problems. A Student Solutions Manual and Study Guide is available, also in two volumes (each costing £14.95), and features detailed solutions to 20 per cent of the end-of-chapter problems. An Instructor's Resource CD-ROM (£49.95) provides lecturer's with a useful tool for classroom presentation, and contains files of the instructor's manual, test bank and practise problems with solutions. The instructor's website at http:/// www.saunderscollege.com/physics includes a listing of overhead transparencies, and a guide to experiments in Physics Laboratory Manual, second edition.

John Bird is author of over 90 textbooks on engineering and mathematical subjects, and was formerly head of applied electronics, Highbury College, Portsmouth.