Texts for Autodidacts?

RestiffBard asks: "I'm in a bit of a learning slump and was wondering what books or websites Slashdot readers would recommend for learning anything. I'm looking more for general starter texts on physics, math, chemistry, electronics, etc. I'm not too interested in computer texts as I have that mostly down now. I'm more interested in the sciences that I've neglected in the last few years."

Comments

calculus

[green pizza]

Along a similar thread, I'd be interested in some good links for Calculus tutorials and other "upper highschool, early college" math and beyond. I'm now out of highschool and wish I would have paid attention in my PreCal and Cal I classes. I passed, but didn't learn a thing. The calc websites I've run across thus far seem to be geared towards someone currently getting classroom instruction. It's funny... I didn't like math in highschool and now that I'm out I think I could really enjoy it or at least enjoy learning a bit more. At any rate, some good links would be appreciated. Until then, I think I'll hit google s'more and try to find some better sites.

Re:calculus

[Matthew Weigel]

Don't you mean http://www.math.temple.edu/~cow?

Physics

[rakerman]

The Feynman Lectures on Physics.
see http://www.aw.com/product/0,2627,0201500647,00.htm l

Asimov!

[sysadmn]

Anything written by Isaac Asimov. The physics will be a bit dated, but the chemistry and engineering haven't changed as much. And the history of science hasn't changed at all :-) Even his guide to the Bible and the Homeric epics are good intros to those periods of history. I'm not to sure about that psychohistory stuff - check again in about 3000 years.

Re:Asimov!

[unitron]

"Asimov is as far out of date on the Homeric question as CP/M is."

Gee, I'd forgotten how many references to The Iliad and The Odyssey Kildall had sprinkled throughout the source code.

Mathematics

[sohp]

Here are a couple of sites I have in my bookmarks for learning about math.

• The math archives WWW Server at the University of Tennessee
• Are You Ready? quizzes to help you assess your ability and progress

Hope this helps!

One of my favorites

[Ratbert42]

This site is one of my favorites.

Project Gutenberg

[PhilHibbs]

http://promo.net/pg/
Useful for older texts, so no cutting-edge genetics or nanotech here, but this collection would round off your education in general, especially the classics if you're that way inclined.

The Cartoon Guides

[Lish]

There's a series of books coauthored by Larry Gonick called The Cartoon Guide To . They're excellent overviews of a subject in language/pictures that make them easy to understand without dumbing it down. Topics range from statistics to genetics to the History of the Universe. I've read several of them; I personally own The Cartoon Guide to Genetics and The Cartoon Guide to Physics; the former I absorbed before a summer internship in a genetics lab, and the latter got a friend through Classical Physics. Definitely recommend them as good introductory texts.

Feynman?

[Matthew Weigel]

Six Easy Pieces, Six Not-So-Easy Pieces, and QED, both by Feynman, are excellent reads (all of them are oriented towards the layman, rather than the physics student, I'm afraid).

Physics, Psychology, Calculus

[arete]

I do recommend Feyman's books, (which aren't really textbooks) as mentioned by others, as a good introduction to advanced physics. Before that, I recommend "Fundamentals of Physics" by Halliday, Resnick, et al, which is imo the best textbook I've ever used. I don't vouch for the problem sets, however. The book TAUGHT me everything, but the prof was the one TESTING me.

If you don't know calculus, learn calculus. Very basic trig is useful, advanced trig is arcane. Basic calculus makes life much clearer (The first two semesters, involving derivation and integration) After that it becomes arcane too. I can't recommend a book, as I haven't been able to find the one I used in HS.

I strongly recommend "Don't Shoot the Dog" by Karen Pryor. This is a behaviorist book, but not a textbook. But it teaches you a lot about how life works. (Note: conventional psychologists tend to consider behaviorists insane, and vise versa. Engineers side with the behaviorists, and buildings rarely fall down. YMMV) Ishmael is another highly recommended behaviorist book, but I haven't gotten to it yet.

The other books I strongly recommend for the experience you gain are Go Rin No Sho by Miyomoto Mushashi (sp?); Robert Pirsig's books, particularly Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance; old hardcore science fiction writers, particularly Asimov and Heinlein.

I have a bunch of engineering texts I liked at various levels...

I'll see if I can think of anything else to add later.