Mir Books

Perhaps the most commonly known book for Problems and Solutions in Physics preparing for all the competitive exams in India is Problems in General Physics by I. E. Irodov. This book is still in print from CBS Publishers in Delhi and hugely popular. It is supposed to the problem book in Physics. The book has the typical style of all books (listed here previously on this blog) of first topically giving problems and then in the later part of the book giving solutions. This is what the inside cover of the hardbound edition says about the book.

The book is intended for college undergraduates majoring in Physics. It contains about 2000 problem covering the major areas of Physical science: mechanics, thermodynamics, molecular physics, electrodynamics, oscillations and waves, optics, atomic and nuclear physics. Each section is preceded by a short summary of appropriate formulas whose total number exceeds 300. The answers to all of the problems are given at the end of volume. Most difficult problems are provided with explanations. Moreover, the author presents some general hints helping the undergraduate to tackle physical problems. Problems in General Physics is an excellent book which may serve as a valuable supplement to any college course on the subject.

This book, I think was one of the first Mir Books to be available as a scanned copy, perhaps due to the immense popularity of the book. There are also many solution sets to the book by different Indian authors.

You can download the book from here and here. (All credits to the Original Uploader)

This book was reprinted many times in the English edition. The first English edition appeared in 1981 was translated from Russian by Yuri Atanov. The link has the Third Reprinting of the book in 1988. This is also one of the last books published by Mir, which has an ISBN number (ISBN: 5030008004).

A little about the author from the backside cover of the book:

Igor Evgenyevich Irodov, Candidate of Science (Physics and Mathematics), Professor of General Physics, has published a number of scientific papers and books, among which are several manuals: Fundamental Laws of Mechanics, Problems in General Physics, A Laboratory Course in Optics. His Problem Book on Atomic and Nuclear Physics appeared in six Russian editions, and was published in Great Britain, USA, Romania and twice in Poland.

A Problem Book on General Physics (with I. V. Savelyev and O. I. Zamsha as co-authors) was printed three times in Russian and published in Poland. Mir Publishers have translated it into French; its publication in Arabic and Vietnamese is expected.

Apart from this popular book in India, Irodov has also written another problem book titled Problems and Solutions in Atomic and Nuclear Physics, which seems to be popular else where. This is most probably out of print and is a rare book to find and has over 1000 problems of varying difficulty. The Mir edition in English was first published in 1983 and was translated from Russian by Yuri Atanov.

You can download the book from here and here.

Two more books of Irodov which are still in print, thanks to CBS Publishers are Fundamental Laws of Mechanics and Basic Laws of Electromagnetism. Again both of these books were translated from the Russian by Yuri Atanov.

Fundamental Laws of Mechanics was first published in English by Mir in 1980. Currently there is 2002 reprint still in stock from CBS Publishers.

The objective of this book is to draw the readers’ attention to the basic laws of mechanics, that is, to the laws of motion and to laws of conservation of energy, momentum and angular momentum, as well as to show how these laws are to be applied in solving various scientific problems. At the same time author has excluded all things of minor importance in order to concentrate on questions which are hardest to comprehend.

The book consists of two parts: (1) classical mechanics and (2) relativistic mechanics. In the first part the laws of mechanics are treated in the Newtonian approximation i.e. when motion velocities are much less than the velocity of light, while in the second part of the book velocities comparable to that of light are considered.

Each chapter opens with a theoretical essay followed by a number of the most instructive and interesting examples and problems, with solutions provided. There are about 80 problems altogether; being closely associated with the introductory text, they develop and supplement it and therefore their examination is of equal inportance.

A few corrections and refinements have been made in the present edition to stress the physical essence of the problems studied. This holds true primarily for Newton’s second law and the conservation laws. Some new examples and problems have been provided.

The book is intended for first-year students of physics but can also be useful to senior students and lecturers.

You can download this book from here and here.

Another jewel is the book on electromagnetism and its title is Basic Laws of Electromagnetism.

The main idea The main idea behind this book is to amalgamate the description of the basic concepts of the theory and the practical methods of solving problems in one book. Therefore, each chapter contains first a description of the theory of the subject being considered (illustrated by concrete examples) and then a set of selected problems with solutions. The problems are closely related to the text and often complement it. Hence they should be analYfed together with the text. In author’s opinion, the selected problems should enable the reader to attain a deeper understanding of many important topics and to visualize (even without solving the problems
but just by going through them) the wide range of applications of the ideas presented in this book.
In order to emphasize the most important laws of electromagnetism, and especially to clarify the most difficult topics, the author has endeavored to exclude the less important topics. In an attempt to describe the main ideas concisely, clearly and at the same time correctly, the text has been kept free from superfluous mathematical formulas, and the main stress has been laid on the physical aspects of the phenomena. With the same end in view, various model representations, simplifying factors, special cases, symmetry considerations, etc. have been employed wherever possible. SI units of measurements are used throughout the book. However, considering that the Gaussian system of units is still widely used, we have included in Appendices 3 and 4 the tables of conversion of the most important quantities and formulas from SI to Gaussian units.
The most important statements and terms are given in italics. More complicated material and problems involving cumbersome mathematical calculations are set in brevier type. This material can be omitted on first reading without any loss of continuity. The brevier type is also used for problems and examples.

The book is intended as a textbook for students specializing in physics for undergraduate students specializing in physics (in the framework of the course on general physics). It can also be used by university teachers.

This book can be downloaded from here and here.

In the books attributed to Irodov above, I could not find any data on the book mentioned on the side cover of Problems in General Physics namely, A Laboratory Course in Optics. I tried worldcat, but there seems to be no entry for this particular book in English. So, I do not know whether an English edition of this book was ever published. Also, I do not know whether there are any books of Irodov which were translated into Indian languages. So please let me know if this is the case.

So this was my humble tribute to the great teacher and instructor of physics, from whom generations of physicists and technical students have benefitted immensely.

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