Just opened the book, but it looks like it's has what I need to get a grounded in university physics.

The University Physics is pretty much the standard for college physics, but I think that they have really dropped the ball with this edition.
The material is very clear with lots of good illustrations, making the book very easy to self-study.
However, the quality of the book is terrible! Here are the things that my physics class learned to hate about it after the second semester:

-VERY heavy! The book weighs almost 10 lbs! Even on my small campus, I got tired of lugging that book around.

-BAD Binding. If you want to keep the book in good condition, don't plan on carrying it in a backpack. After halfway into the second semester, the books started falling apart--the binding wasn't strong enough to support the weight of the book.

-SMEARING Ink. I regularly check the answers in the back of the book, but after about a month the ink began to smear because I would flip back at the same spot multiple times.

-WRONG Answers: Many people have noticed that the answers in the back to the odd-numbered problems are wrong. Our professor started getting in the habit of assigning our homework on the board, then writing down the correct answers below. I would think that this, being the 12TH EDITION, would have fixed all those kinks!

So my advice: Don't buy the book unless you have to--wait until the next edition comes out. I wouldn't try to buy it used either, because I think the quality of the book would only allow it to last long enough for one student.

I second the earlier review of John Horstkamp. Good text, but I've found 2 end of chapter (odd numbered) problems that are wrong in the 1st 10 chapters. An errata (still unavailable as of 7/08) would help.

Very good text however it does has its issues.

The grammar of some of the end of chapter problems is atrocious.

Some of the answers to the (even numbered) end of chapter problems are incorrect - adding even more frustration to a subject that may be difficult to learn. I don't know if an errata sheet is available.

Given the price of the book, I would have expected it to be better edited and proof read. (Perhaps that is more of a comment on the state of education in the USA today...)

Everything was in order, just as I had expected, it showed up a couple days earlier than scheduled, so great.

Book is very helpful with examples. The problems all have examples within the text so you learn how to work the problems on your own.

Young and Freedman's is much better than Halliday's. While Halliday's are problem oriented approach which teaches concepts through problems solving. Serway's is similar to Young and Freedman and explains concepts well, but it doesn't have as many difficult problems as YF. I read both the 11th and 12th Edition. They have basically the same content. Even the 9th Edition doesn't differ much from this new freshly out of oven book. Problem arrangement is pretty much the same for all the edition with some additional problems and slightly modified arrangement. I bought the older 9th edition for my class this past semester. It went well. Our problem assignments are not from the textbook. Moreover, the library has a reserved copy. I used that for reference to the textbook problems.

This book is well organized and contains ALOT of information, but its so hard to follow along. Once you understand the concepts its teaching, then yes its a good book, but if you havent learned a concept yet and you read the chapter it will make you say to yourself, "What did I just read?". We're using this book for my physics class on mechanics. They need to make a solutions manual, i have yet to find one. Over all, its an ok book, but its nothing to brag about.

The book is extremely well done, and this being the 12th edition this should be no surprise. The explanations of the concepts are good enough, but the real strengths of the book lie in the well-done figures, in the generous number of thoroughly explained numerical examples, and in the well thought-out problem sets at the end of each chapter. If you use this book along with the Schaum's Outline of College Physics you should have as easy a time as is possible with the subject matter.

Now for what is not so good, which lies entirely in the cynical marketing strategy. I have compared the 12th edition to the 11th, and I cannot find one additional subject or chapter or even one that has been deleted. The two books seem to have identical subject matter, and that is saying quite a bit for two 1700 plus page textbooks that are supposed to be different editions. So what is different? From the publisher's own information, the difference seems to be in revised exercises, revised drawings, added sketches to worked examples, added goals at the beginning of each chapter, and other such minutia. Hardly the stuff that new editions should be made of considering the price tag. The final ploy, just to insure that the poor students are "locked into" buying a new book is the concept of the student access kit that comes with each book and acts as a personal tutor to the student. But here's the catch - once one student has opened it and used it, it is useless to any other student. So much for reselling your textbook at the end of the semester. Normally I would take off at least two stars for such blatant highway robbery, but the book is so artfully done I just can't find it in myself to do so. The following is the table of contents:

MECHANICS
1. Units, Physical Quantities, and Vectors
2. Motion Along a Straight Line
3. Motion in Two or Three Dimensions
4. Newton's Laws of Motion
5. Applying Newton's Laws
6. Work and Kinetic Energy
7. Potential Energy and Energy Conservation
8. Momentum, Impulse, and Collisions
9. Rotation of Rigid Bodies
10. Dynamics of Rotational Motion
11. Equilibrium and Elasticity
12. Gravitation
13. Periodic Motion
14. Fluid Mechanics

WAVES/ACOUSTICS
15. Mechanical Waves
16. Sound and Hearing

THERMODYNAMICS
17. Temperature and Heat
18. Thermal Properties of Matter
19. The First Law of Thermodynamics
20. The Second Law of Thermodynamics

ELECTROMAGNETISM
21. Electric Charge and Electric Field
22. Gauss's Law
23. Electric Potential
24. Capacitance and Dielectrics
25. Current, Resistance, and Electromotive Force
26. Direct-Current Circuits
27. Magnetic Field and Magnetic Forces
28.. Sources of Magnetic Field
29. Electromagnetic Induction
30. Inductance
31. Alternating Current
32. Electromagnetic Waves

OPTICS
33. The Nature and Propagation of Light
34. Geometric Optics and Optical Instruments
35. Interference
36. Diffraction

MODERN PHYSICS
37. Relativity
38. Photons, Electrons, and Atoms
39. The Wave Nature of Particles
40. Quantum Mechanics
41. Atomic Structure
42. Molecules and Condensed Matter
43. Nuclear Physics
44. Particle Physics and Cosmology

The book is extremely well done, and this being the 12th edition this should be no surprise. The explanations of the concepts are good enough, but the real strengths of the book lie in the well-done figures, in the generous number of thoroughly explained numerical examples, and in the well thought-out problem sets at the end of each chapter. If you use this book along with the Schaum's Outline of College Physics you should have as easy a time as is possible with the subject matter.

Now for what is not so good, which lies entirely in the cynical marketing strategy. I have compared the 12th edition to the 11th, and I cannot find one additional subject or chapter or even one that has been deleted. The two books seem to have identical subject matter, and that is saying quite a bit for two 1700 plus page textbooks that are supposed to be different editions. So what is different? From the publisher's own information, the difference seems to be in revised exercises, revised drawings, added sketches to worked examples, added goals at the beginning of each chapter, and other such minutia. Hardly the stuff that new editions should be made of considering the price tag. The final ploy, just to insure that the poor students are "locked into" buying a new book is the concept of the student access kit that comes with each book and acts as a personal tutor to the student. But here's the catch - once one student has opened it and used it, it is useless to any other student. So much for reselling your textbook at the end of the semester. Normally I would take off at least two stars for such blatant highway robbery, but the book is so artfully done I just can't find it in myself to do so. The following is the table of contents:

MECHANICS
1. Units, Physical Quantities, and Vectors
2. Motion Along a Straight Line
3. Motion in Two or Three Dimensions
4. Newton's Laws of Motion
5. Applying Newton's Laws
6. Work and Kinetic Energy
7. Potential Energy and Energy Conservation
8. Momentum, Impulse, and Collisions
9. Rotation of Rigid Bodies
10. Dynamics of Rotational Motion
11. Equilibrium and Elasticity
12. Gravitation
13. Periodic Motion
14. Fluid Mechanics

WAVES/ACOUSTICS
15. Mechanical Waves
16. Sound and Hearing

THERMODYNAMICS
17. Temperature and Heat
18. Thermal Properties of Matter
19. The First Law of Thermodynamics
20. The Second Law of Thermodynamics

ELECTROMAGNETISM
21. Electric Charge and Electric Field
22. Gauss's Law
23. Electric Potential
24. Capacitance and Dielectrics
25. Current, Resistance, and Electromotive Force
26. Direct-Current Circuits
27. Magnetic Field and Magnetic Forces
28.. Sources of Magnetic Field
29. Electromagnetic Induction
30. Inductance
31. Alternating Current
32. Electromagnetic Waves

OPTICS
33. The Nature and Propagation of Light
34. Geometric Optics and Optical Instruments
35. Interference
36. Diffraction

MODERN PHYSICS
37. Relativity
38. Photons, Electrons, and Atoms
39. The Wave Nature of Particles
40. Quantum Mechanics
41. Atomic Structure
42. Molecules and Condensed Matter
43. Nuclear Physics
44. Particle Physics and Cosmology