Classical No review of the book "Physics : A general course" by Savelyev

[Satyanneshi]

I came to know of a old russian book "Physics : A general course" by Savelyev. I have heard that the book was popular in USSR.
Strangely, I could not find any review or mention of this book in the internet (searched through Google, Yandex, DuckDuckGo).

PhysicsForum - One post of one thread. Someone recommended for EM.
Amazon - Review from customer - 1 or 2 short reviews in German language
Goodreads - No review

Can someone write a review here? How is it compared to Resnick and Halliday or the University Physics? If the book was popular, why are there no reviews in the internet?

 

[Baluncore]

Savelyev I.V. Physics: a general course. Mir Publishers 1989
Volume I : Mechanics Molecular Physics. 220 pages; English 18 Mb pdf
Volume II : Electricity and Magnetism Waves Optics. 254 pages; English 20 Mb pdf
Volume III: Quantum optics, atomic physics solid state physics physics of the atomic nucleus and elementary particles. 159 pages; English 14 Mb pdf
It is available via Libgen.

Also take a look at; https://mirtitles.org/?s=Savelyev
Which includes download links at the end.
"
Physics A General Course – Savelyev
Posted on January 18, 2017 by The Mitr
In this post we will see the three volume Physics – A General Course by I. V. Savelyev.
I have done everything in my power to acquaint students with the basic ideas and methods of physics and to teach them how to think physically. This is why the book is not encyclopedic in its nature. It is mainly devoted to explaining the meaning of physical laws and showing how to apply them consciously. What I have tried to achieve is a deep knowledge of the fundamental principles of physics rather than a shallower acquaintance with a wide range of questions.

While using the book, try not to memorize the material formalistically and mechanically, but logically, i.e. memorize the material by thoroughly understanding it. I have tried to present physics not as a science for “cramming”, not as a certain volume of information to be memorized, but as a clever, logical, and attractive science.

Notwithstanding my desire to reduce the size, I considered it essential to include a number of mathematical sections in the course: on vectors, linear differential equations, the basic concepts of the theory of probability, etc. This was done to impart a “physical” tinge to the relevant concepts and relations. In addition, the mathematical “inclusions” make it possible to go on with the physics even if, as is often the case, the relevant material has not yet been covered in a mathematics course.

The present course is intended above all for higher technical schools with an extended syllabus in physics. The material has been arranged, however, so that the book can be used as a teaching aid for higher technical schools with an ordinary syllabus simply by omitting some section.
"

 

[Baluncore]

See also the two volumes of "Fundamentals of Theoretical Physics" – Savelyev.
https://mirtitles.org/2017/01/18/fundamentals-of-theoretical-physics-savelyev/
"
Posted on January 18, 2017 by The Mitr

In this post we will see the two volume set titled Fundamentals of Theoretical Physics by I. V. Savelyev. Previously we have seen Physics A General Course by the same author.

The book being offered to the reader is a logical continuation of the author’s three-volume general course of physics. Everything possible has been done to avoid repenting what has been set out in the three-volume course. Particularly. the experiments underlying the advancing of physical ideas are not treated, and some of the results obtained are not discussed.

The book has been conceived as a training aid for students of non- theoretical specialities of higher educational institutions. I had in mind readers who would like to grasp the main ideas and methods of theoretical physics without delving into the details that are of interest only for a specialist. This book will be helpful for physics instructors at higher schools, and also for everyone interested in the subject but having no time to become acquainted with it (or re- store it in his memory) according to fundamental manuals.

The books were translated from the Russian by G. Leib and was first published in 1982.
"

 

[martinbn]

I have the books, because my parents (engineering students) used them. I vaguely remember reading from them, and my impression was that they were very good. They are probably not enough for physics majors. May be as a first course.

 

[Satyanneshi]

I have seen those descriptions in https://mirtitles.org/?s=Savelyev which you have produced verbatim.

Can some one delve into this part:

Can someone write a review here? How is it compared to Resnick and Halliday or the University Physics? If the book was popular, why are there no reviews in the internet?

 

[atyy]

Can someone write a review here? How is it compared to Resnick and Halliday or the University Physics? If the book was popular, why are there no reviews in the internet?

It wasn't well known in the "West". I had never heard of it till this thread. Of course, being old Russian physics books, one would guess that they are good (ok, that's just my personal bias).

 

[atyy]

The books are mentioned in

https://aapt.scitation.org/doi/abs/10.1119/1.2342913?journalCode=pte
Russian physics education—How good is it? The Physics Teacher 27, 678 (1989)
https://doi.org/10.1119/1.2342913

 

[weirdoguy]

ok, that's just my personal bias

Well, mine too Russian books are pure gold, I have a lot of them. Anyways, in Poland these books are recommended for those who want to take part in physics olympiad. I have them on my shelves, but didn't read yet.

 

[vanhees71]

I also must say, I don't know any bad Russian textbook. Landau&Lifshitz's 10 volumes are of course outstanding. Then there are the books by Blochintsev and Dawidow on quantum mechanics, Bogoliubov and Shirkov on QFT, Faddeev and Slavnov on modern QFT (gauge theories, path integrals). As I said, I've never seen a bad Russian textbook yet. Maybe it's because the bad ones are simply not translated to English or German ;-)). I'm also not aware of experimental physics books, e.g., on the level of Halliday and Resnick or Tipler.

 

[vanhees71]

And I forgot Schpolski on atomic physics (I don't know whether there's an English edition, I only know the German). I loved this book already in high school. The great thing is that it treats classical physics (mechanics and electrodynamics) first and then quantum mechanics (though it's a bit too detailed about the "old quantum mechanics" for my taste).

 

[Vanadium 50]

I also must say, I don't know any bad Russian textbook

There's a selection bias. Bad texts usually don't even get translated much less gain a reputation.

 

[madscientist_93]

I have the books, because my parents (engineering students) used them. I vaguely remember reading from them, and my impression was that they were very good. They are probably not enough for physics majors. May be as a first course.

Oh yes. They are only at 'elementary' level.An alternative would be the Elementary Physics three volume series by Landsberg. I would strongly recommend using AN Matveev's five volume series Mechanics and Theory of Relativity, Electricity and Magnetism, Molecular physics, Optics and Atomic Physics (couldn't find the translated version for this) for advanced study.

Edit:
Elementary Textbook on Physics Series by G.S.Landsberg ( three volumes )
https://mirtitles.org/2019/01/07/elementary-textbook-on-physics-vol-1-landsberg/

Course on General Physics by A.N Matveev (advaced undergrad)
https://mirtitles.org/2013/11/30/mechanics-and-theory-of-relativity-matveev/
https://mirtitles.org/2016/10/20/molecular-physics-matveev/
https://mirtitles.org/2014/01/15/electricity-and-magnetism-matveev/
https://mirtitles.org/2016/10/07/optics-matveev/
Couldn't find the final translated volume on Atomic Physics.