Physics Books for the Novice?

cornjchob asks: "I've been a Slashdot reader for quite sometime now, and I've seen alot of Physics articles posted. I've got a good understanding of alot of it, but that doesn't mean there's no room to improve. So what's some good reading material for Physics that will give you a good, solid foundation if you've missed something, and then give you some additional stuff? What about online articles or PDF's for us cheap folk? Quantum Mechanics is another subject area that--judging by alot of posts underneath the articles, at least--many of us could use some brushing up on. Any suggestions for books/articles/PDF's on that? Suggestions on anything pertinent to any of those would be great."

Comments

Why not take a class?

[wikki]

I'm sure you could take a Physics class at a local community for cheap. You might even be able to audit it even cheaper. In the class you would get hands on labs and other things you might not be able to get just from reading a book

Quantum Reality - Nick Herbert

[VerdeRana]

Excellent book. Quite readable, but not as condescending or formula-averse as many layman-oriented science books. Used as a textbook in the best QM course I've had. Also discusses philosophy of QM in fascinating detail.

two great books on quantum theory

[GedLandsEnd]

Minus all the math, if you're not so inclined. John Gribbin wrote In Search of Schrodinger's Cat: Quantum Physics and Reality and Schrodinger's Kittens and the Search for Reality.

Find 'em here and here

A deeper look would be Brian Greene's The Elegant Universe. Amazon.com link here

Cheers

Physics for the Rest of Us

[khill3210]

I found Physics for the Rest of Us to fill this role nicely. I wanted some more in-depth info about major physics topics but didn't want to have to go back to college and get a physics/math degree. It also provides nice real-world examples of physical properties resulting from the underlying theory.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/08 09 237164/qid=1031605560/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_1/002-364315 9-0188828?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

The Physics of Baseball

[plagioclase]

The Physics of Baseball
by Robert K Adair, Ph.D.

This book may not be exactly what your looking for, but it does put across some of the fundamental principles of real world physics in an easy to read format. One nice thing is that the equations are explained, but completely skippable. There's also a lot of interesting history pertaining to each topic.

I personally enjoyed reading it, even though I'm not a baseball fan.

Paul Tipler - Physics for Scientists and Engineers

[pliska]

Excellent all-around foundation for someone with a high-school background in math and physics. Covers everything from Thermodynamics to Quantum Mechanics to Astrophysics.

Not only is this book extraordinarily clear and well written (considering it *is* a physics book), it's loaded with full-colour pictures, real-world examples and illustrations of all the concepts at work.

I'm guessing this book is used for College courses - there's a ton of problem sets with each chapter, and solutions are provided, as well. From the nature of the content though, it would probably be used for a first-year 'foundation' course, though it does go into some more advanced material: if it's not in this book, you probably wouldn't understand it without reading this book first.

Re:Serway, Serway, Serway.

[bcrowell]

I once taught introductory physics out of the algebra-based version of this book (Serway and Faughn). It has a lot of good conceptual homework questions in it, but other than that, I didn't like the book. Too often, it started a chapter with an equation, with no explanation of where the equation came from. It's basically a plug-and-chug book. Maybe the calculus-based version you're referring to is better.

For a calculus-based book, I think Knight is pretty good. You can also check out my own free texts via my Slashdot user page. My calculus-based book, Simple Nature, is not as mature a project as my algebra-based series, Light and Matter.