Let me go ahead and say it. I think you should consider switching from your current introductory physics textbook to Matter and Interactions (by Chabay and Sherwood - published by Wiley). Matter and Interactions is a calculus-based, first-year physics curriculum. But wait! It's not just any ordinary physics textbook. No, this one is different.

Before looking at the positive aspects of this book, let me give you an assignment. Go around your office and your neighbor's office and find some older versions of introductory textbooks. Maybe you found a first edition of Fundamentals of Physics by Halliday and Resnick (first published in 1960). That's a pretty cool book. Now look through the old book and compare it to the textbook you are currently using. No matter what the publisher says, they are pretty much the same (yes, with different pictures and more color and MORE SIDE BAR STUFF). Just as a note, I'm not a big fan of the sidebar info in textbooks. If it's important, then put it in the text. If it's unimportant, then just leave it out.

So why do we keep using essentially the same format for physics textbooks for over 50 years? I call this Academic Inertia. If you are a physics faculty, you probably took undergraduate physics at some point and that course probably used a textbook. So, when you have a choice of textbooks you would feel comfortable with a textbook similar to the one you grew up with, right? I suspect this is what happens in physics departments across the world (and maybe even in the whole universe).

But students use the textbook (at least they are supposed to), and not the faculty, right? Yes, this is true. However, the faculty pick the textbook and not the students. What does this mean? This means that if a publisher wants to sell a new textbook, they need to market it to faculty and not to students. It's kind of weird when you think about it.

Ok, so why should you consider Matter and Interactions? Here are some reasons.

It's Not Your 1960 Textbook ——————————

Go ahead and compare the table of contents with your current textbook and that from Matter and Interactions. See. It's different. Different isn't bad. The Matter and Interactions content is more focused on the fundamental ideas. It isn't a giant book that contains a bunch of stuff that you will never get to in just 2 semester. Now, don't get me wrong. Fluid dynamics and sound levels are both cool and important. However, you just can't cover everything in a one semester course.

This Isn't the Same as a High School Course. ———————————————–

This was a great point made by Chad Orzel in a recent Google Hangout we recorded. Often times, students come into the intro college physics course after taking HS physics. With a traditional textbook, the course tends to start with kinematics and then move to forces and things like that. The problem is that some of these students think this is easy and that they have covered it already. They fall into an illusion of understanding that encourages them to NOT spend much time on physics. Well, of course they are wrong but they don't realize how far they get behind until around the section on energy. By then, it's often too late to catch up.

Really, many of the initial ideas in Matter and Interactions are essentially the same as a high school course. However, they LOOK different. With this difference, student might just hit the books sooner rather than later.

Numerical Calculations ————————-

Let me just give a definition (my definition) of numerical calculations so that we all agree on the terms.

Numerical Calculation: The process of solving a problem by breaking it into many (but finite) steps. As an example, the motion of a ball can be determined by calculating the change in momentum and position over a small time interval during which we can approximate the force as being constant (even if it isn't). Typically, these many small steps are calculated with a computer (electronic computer) but they could be calculated manually.

Now you know what I mean. You might call it something else, but that is the term I like. The point is that Matter and Interactions includes explicit ideas about numerical calculations and this a good thing. Let's face it. Numerical calculations are just as legit as analytical calculations (using stuff like calculus). If a solution gives answers that agree with real life, then it is a good solution.

We live in a world of cheap and fast computers such that numerical calculations are a fairly standard solution method in just about every scientific and engineering field. Students might as well start using them right away, right?

Oh? But you aren't a computer scientist or a programmer? That's ok, the curriculum uses VPython - a visual module that goes with python that makes numerical calculations mostly painless. And it's not just you. Some students also think that programming shouldn't be in physics courses - but they are wrong.

Modern Ideas —————

What is a modern physics idea? We all know that by "modern" we mean stuff that was figured out 100 years ago. You know, things like relativity and quantum mechanics as well as fundamental particles and the atomic nature of matter. Yes, I know that many introductory physics textbooks. However, they are extra chapters at the end in an already huge book.

Matter and Interactions is different. At the beginning, the idea of momentum is introduced as the following:

If the object is moving much slower than the speed of light, then this momentum can be approximated as mv. But it starts off with a useful momentum model that works with the momentum principle. The textbook doesn't wait until those final chapters to introduce this idea, it's right there in the beginning.

Focus on the Basics ———————-

I guess this is sort of the same as idea number 1. The first volume of Matter and Interactions is essentially three big ideas. The second volume is mostly just two big ideas. Putting these all together, a student would cover the following:

The Momentum Principle

The Work-Energy Principle

The Angular Momentum Principle

Electric Fields

Magnetic Fields

These ideas are the building blocks of most of the later physics courses. Focus of the basics and remove all the excessive stuff.

But Wait! What About _______? ————————————

I'm aware that there are other physics textbooks out there that aren't traditional. Yes, the Feynman Lectures and Six Ideas That Shaped Physics are two examples I can think of. Those are nice textbooks too (but maybe the Feynman Lectures isn't a textbook). For me, I am sticking with Matter and Interactions. I suggest you at least take a look.