While physics can seem challenging, its true quality is the sheer simplicity of fundamental physical theories--theories and concepts that can enrich your view of the world around you. COLLEGE PHYSICS, 8e, provides a clear strategy for connecting those theories to a consistent problem-solving approach, carefully reinforcing this methodology throughout the text and connecting it to real-world examples. For students planning to take the MCAT exam, the text includes exclusive test prep and review tools to help you prepare.

Intended for biology and social science students, this two-semester textbook explains Newtonian mechanics, the physics of fluid, heat and thermodynamics, wave motion and sound, the concepts of electricity and magnetism, the properties of light, relativity, and quantum physics. The eighth edition eliminates superfluous worked examples and adds sections on thermal processes and magnetic materials. Annotation ©2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Raymond A. Serway received his doctorate at Illinois Institute of Technology and is Professor Emeritus at James Madison University. In 1990, he received the Madison Scholar Award at James Madison University, where he taught for 17 years. Dr. Serway began his teaching career at Clarkson University, where he conducted research and taught from 1967 to 1980. He was the recipient of the Distinguished Teaching Award at Clarkson University in 1977 and the Alumni Achievement Award from Utica College in 1985. As Guest Scientist at the IBM Research Laboratory in Zurich, Switzerland, he worked with K. Alex Müller, 1987 Nobel Prize recipient. Dr. Serway also was a visiting scientist at Argonne National Laboratory, where he collaborated with his mentor and friend, Sam Marshall. Dr. Serway is the coauthor of PRINCIPLES OF PHYSICS, 4e; PHYSICS FOR SCIENTISTS AND ENGINEERS, 7e; ESSENTIALS OF COLLEGE PHYSICS; MODERN PHYSICS, 3e; and the high school textbook PHYSICS, published by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. In addition, Dr. Serway has published more than 40 research papers in the field of condensed matter physics and has given more than 60 presentations at professional meetings. Dr. Serway and his wife Elizabeth enjoy traveling, playing golf, gardening, singing in the church choir, and spending quality time with their four children and eight grandchildren.Jerry S. Faughn earned his doctorate at the University of Mississippi. He is Professor Emeritus and former Chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Eastern Kentucky University. He is coauthor of a nonmathematical physics text; a physical science text for general education students; and (with Dr. Serway) the high school textbook PHYSICS, published by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. He has taught courses ranging from the lower division to the graduate level, but his primary interest is in students just beginning to learn physics. He has been director of a number of NSF and state grants, many of which were devoted to the improvement of physics education. He believes that there is no greater calling than to be a teacher and an interpreter of physics for others.Chris Vuille is an associate professor of physics at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach, Florida, the world's premier institution for aviation higher education. He received his doctorate in physics at the University of Florida in 1989. While he has taught courses at all levels, including postgraduate, his primary interest and responsibility has been the delivery of introductory physics. He has received a number of awards for teaching excellence, including the Senior Class Appreciation Award (three times). He conducts research in general relativity, astrophysics, cosmology, and quantum theory and was a participant in the JOVE program, a special three-year NASA grant program during which he studied properties of neutron stars. His work has appeared in a number of scientific journals and in ANALOG SCIENCE FICTION/SCIENCE FACT magazine. In addition to this textbook, he is the coauthor of ESSENTIALS OF COLLEGE PHYSICS. Dr. Vuille enjoys playing tennis, swimming, and playing classical piano; he is a former chess champion of St. Petersburg and Atlanta. His wife, Dianne Kowing, is an optometrist for a local VA clinic. Teen daughter Kira Vuille-Kowing is a meteorology/communications double major at ERAU and a recent graduate of her father's first-year physics course. He has two sons--15-year-old Christopher, a cellist and fisherman, and 6-year-old James, an avid reader of Disney comics.