Classical Opinions about these textbooks for vibrations and waves

[Baal Hadad]

Hi.

I am going to enter uni this October as a first year physics major.One of the first courses I will take is Vibrations and Waves,and the recommended materials are as below:

French,Vibrations and Waves
Pain,The Physics of Vibrations and Waves, 6th Edition

According to Amazon's review,there are some complaints about Pain's textbook.

I am trying to have some self study before entering uni.So,is French better than Pain for self study?

And also will Rabinovich's "Oscillations and Waves: In Linear and Nonlinear Systems" and Kneubühl's "Oscillations and Waves" become good supplements for the module?

Thanks.

 

[jasonRF]

I used an earlier edition of Pain for a part of a physics class 30 years ago, and thought it wasn't great or horrible. It was mediocre. I've flipped through French before and it looked better than Pain, but I don't have a lot of experience with it.

Some online resources at about the same level are
https://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~hgeorgi/new.htm
https://scholar.harvard.edu/david-morin/waves
http://farside.ph.utexas.edu/teaching/315/315.html

When I took such a course it was mostly about electromagnetic waves, and the primary book was Bekefi and Barrett
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0262520478/?tag=pfamazon01-20
which I thought was excellent, but if your course doesn't emphasize electromagnetic waves very much then you should skip it. As a warning, it looks like it was typeset with an old-fashioned typewriter.

Jason

 

[Baal Hadad]

I used an earlier edition of Pain for a part of a physics class 30 years ago, and thought it wasn't great or horrible. It was mediocre. I've flipped through French before and it looked better than Pain, but I don't have a lot of experience with it.

Some online resources at about the same level are
https://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~hgeorgi/new.htm
https://scholar.harvard.edu/david-morin/waves
http://farside.ph.utexas.edu/teaching/315/315.html

When I took such a course it was mostly about electromagnetic waves, and the primary book was Bekefi and Barrett
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0262520478/?tag=pfamazon01-20
which I thought was excellent, but if your course doesn't emphasize electromagnetic waves very much then you should skip it. As a warning, it looks like it was typeset with an old-fashioned typewriter.

Jason

Thanks for your advice. I think that I will go for French.Besides,do you have any experience for the two books above(Kneubühl and Rabinovich)?

 

[jasonRF]

I looked at both on amazon. They are both more advanced - more suitable for advanced undergraduate or perhaps even graduate students. If your course is based on French and Pain then I think those books will not be helpful.
Jason

 

[Baal Hadad]

I looked at both on amazon. They are both more advanced - more suitable for advanced undergraduate or perhaps even graduate students. If your course is based on French and Pain then I think those books will not be helpful.
Jason

Thanks. Maybe that's why they aren't as popular as popular textbooks such as French or Pain.