Few books stand the test of time, as well as the Concepts of Physics series, by Dr. H.C. Verma. A set of two books, they are widely used by students all over India. For over twenty years, people have recommended them as the ‘goto’ books for Physics, whether you are preparing for IIT-JEE/Medical or just your Board exams. What follows below, is an honest review of this series.Features of this BOOK
1. Organization
A Physics book really shines when it’s author is a Physics teacher. Dr. H.C. Verma, is a professor of Physics at IIT, Kanpur. He knows how to arrange the flow of the chapters. HCV (like everyone calls it), is very well organized. Each chapter flows naturally to the next and adds one new concept to your knowledge of high school physics.
What I really like, is that the book doesn’t assume a mathematical maturity on the reader’s part. It introduces all the prerequisites required for a Calculus-based Physics Course. See Chapter 2, if you have a copy of the book.
2. The language
The books use simple English and presents ideas in a manner that is easy to understand. The author has taken proper care to avoid crafty language and uncommon words.
3. The Content
In the introduction to every chapter, the author raises a question or develops an idea interactively. It gets me hooked if the topic begins with ‘Suppose there is dancing man…’. This gets your mind to visualize the situation. Further, he introduces the idea and then translates them into equations. The theory is kept short, and the focus is on the application of concepts in the problems. To guide the reader, there are many worked-out examples. And that brings us to the…
4. Questions and Exercises
HCV does not contain an exhaustive amount of exercise. Each chapter has about 40-50 questions, except a few where the number goes up to 70. Clearly, there is more focus on quality than quantity. The questions are extremely conceptual. They make you think, and every problem has a new flavor.
There is an objective type section as well. These questions are very thought-provoking. I highly recommend that you solve and discuss these questions with others.
5. Error-free
One of the selling points of any book is error-free content. HCV is very strong at this front. You can trust the solutions given in the book to be correct. No wonder, many consider it a ‘Bible‘ for Physics for Class XI, XII and Entrance Exams.
6. Price
For what it offers, this book is really cheap. Many other publications charge twice the money for less than half the content!
So, are there no flaws in this book?
Well, nobody is perfect! Some sections, such as those on waves, can be a bit abstract. The biggest complaint is about the font size. The content appears a little small and could use a bigger font to be more readable.
Some people can learn their concepts with a few problems, but most need lots of practice. Students have to refer to other materials, to get a sufficient amount of problems. In the next update, they might consider adding a few new problems to this wonderful book.
Conclusion
Mr. H.C.Verma’s books definitely rank high on my list of books for the IIT-JEE. They are relevant, straightforward and lucid. But, I recommend students to use them as textbooks and complement their studies with some question bank for problem practice.
At last I will suggest you to buy this book for your JEE or NEET Preparation
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