Beginning Physics I: Mechanics and Heat is intended to help students who are taking, or are preparing to take, a first year College Physics course that is quantitative in nature and focuses on problem solving. The book is specifically designed to allow students with relatively weak training in mathematics and science problem solving to quickly gain the needed quantitative reasoning skills as well as confidence in addressing the subject of physics. A background in high school algebra and the rudiments of trigonometry are assumed, but the first chapter of the book is a mathematical review for those not comfortable with their command of the needed mathematics. The book is written in a user friendly style so that even those initially terrified of physics can develop mastery of the subject. It develops the subject matter and methodology slowly and gently and maintains a coaxing ambiance all the way through. Nonetheless, the material is not watered down. The intention is to raise the level of ability of the students to the point where they can handle the material of a rigorous noncalculus-based course, including dealing with sophisticated problems.

In particular, Beginning Physics I should be useful to preprofessional (e.g., premedical and predental) students, engineering students, and science majors. It also is suitable for liberal arts majors who are required to satisfy a rigorous science requirement, and choose physics. Volume I of the book covers the material in a typical first semester of such a course. Volume n, which is in preparation, will cover the material of the typical second semester of the course.

Beginning Physics I will also serve as an excellent support book for engineering and science students taking a calculus-based physics course, even though the book does not use calculus. The major stumbling block for students in such a course is typically not the calculus itself but rather the same weak background in problem-solving skills that faces many students taking noncalculus- based courses. Indeed, many of the physics problems found in the calculus-based course are of the same type as, and comparable in sophistication to, those in a rigorous noncalculus course. This book will thus help engineering and science students raise their physics problem-solving skill levels, so that they can more easily handle a calculus-based course.