As a student in a math for physicist course who tried to learn the material for the first time, this book was totally worthless. Not only are the errors rampant but the text makes leaps between problem solving and solution, with no explanation. This book needs an editor (because it obviously didn't have one this time) and an intellectual properties rights attorney.

This book mixes the brevity of Schaum's Outlines with the incomprehensibility of The Tao of Pooh. The author copies, sometimes, directly from either Schaum's or Arfkin. There is nothing noteworthy in this book and your money is better spent buying the original books, i.e. Schaum's. I am supprised that Cambridge University Press would publish this and not fear the litigation from more respectable authors who Chow copied this from. If you wrote a Schaum's or any Math Methods book please check for plagairism, it is there. If you are a Prof. thinking of assigning this book, Don't. And if you are a student who is required to buy this book, use the original Schaum's Outlines!

After completing the first six chapters of professor Chow's book, I feel he has been treated a little too harshly by earlier reviewers. It is true that there are many typos, but finding typos can build confidence especially if they are not too egregious. When I studied undergraduate math, many years ago, most of the techniques we needed were taught in the science classes themselves. Few books covered in a single place the mathematics needed for science and engineering. Most of the ones that did were at the graduate student level making then rather obscure for the neophyte scientist. From what I have read and browsing through the rest of the book it appears that Dr. Chow covers a good selection of modern mathematic at a level an undergraduate student can comprehend. I agree with the other reviewers that a thorough editing is needed for the next edition. However, this book is a good introduction to the graduate level books, which must eventually be read and understood by most scientists.

I think this *would* have been an excellent book if it had been extensively proofread. However, it was not, and there are typos left and right. If a second edition comes out that fixes these typos and adds even modestly to the content, I would HIGHLY reccomend it, but as it stands, there are just too many mistakes. I disagree with the reviewer who said that Chow gets "hung up" on the mathematics though. I think he does an excellent job with the mathematics, as linear algebra and calculus are truly the only prereqs. but he gets you thinking in a more mathematically sophisticated manner that is essential for anyone who wants to be able to read higher level physics/math texts. Please Mr. Chow, make a 2nd Edition!

Dr. Chou suffers from the same problem as does Dr. Wangsness (of E&M fame): he gets lost in mathematical formulation while not elucidating on important principles. Especially bad is the Hamiltonian and Lagrangian chapter, which is rather incomprehensable unless it is already understood by the reader, at which point it is superfluous.

There's a mistake on almost every page! (Probably typeset by Mr. McGoo.) If it wasn't for all the mistakes, this book would be very promising. The chapter on relativity is real bad though, so be careful. Also, it's very obvious that Dr. Chow copied many sections from Marion and Thornton almost verbatim. The chapter on Lagrange's method needs some improvement, especially on its coverage of the calculus of variations and Hamilton's principle. Hopefully, Dr. Chow will significantly improve the second edition. Wait until then

Some of the pictures were nice ... but the information seemed quite generic and not specific to the chow chow at all. if one wants to learn more about chow chows, read another book!

Pictures were great and there is some useful info,but over all
I was a bit disappointed.

Although it has some useful information for new dog owners this is just a generic dog book. It has very little specific to Chow Chows. It is mostly information that could apply to any breed. If you want to learn about Chow Chows pick another book.