Slashdot Mirror
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."
http://www.physlink.com/
QED (Quantumelectro Dynamics) by Richard Feynman is a great (if specialized) physics book for someone who doesn't know that much about physics. I found it to be interesting and quite educational. It also got me interested in finding out more about some of the topics discussed in the book and physics in general. I highly recommend it.
(I apologize, but somebody had to troll.. err.. say it.)
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
Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time is easily understood by anybody with a high school diploma, and should take less than three hours to read. It'll get you through the classical stiff, quantum physics, and just enough relativity to be dangerous
Stephen Hawking: Brief history of time and Universe in a nutshell.
Very well written, in plain english that anyone can understand. And the ideas in them will blow your mind...
Steven Hawking's A Brief History of time is a great introduction without getting too technical. Though a bit dated it was revised not-too-long ago and now includes discussion of the ever-popular string thoeries.
He does talk a great deal about relativity and does touch upon quantum mechanics.
Physics is such a deep subject that, from there, you can go just about anywhere you want!
The first book of Feynman's "lectures" on physics isn't bad at all. The big question you need to ask is whether or not you just want a conceptual understanding of physics, or one that enables you to do the required mathematics involved. Unfortunately they tend to be a different audience...most layman's books have no math, and most college books concentrate on the math...which isn't bad, it's just that sometimes things are introduced differently because of the required mathematics.
They're expensive, but outstanding and well worth it. He developed them for a freshman level course, so they're accesible and don't rely on particularly fancy mathematical notation.
It's not wasting time, I'm educating myself.
For quantum mechanics, I highly recommend the books by John Gribbin - In Search of Schrodinger's Cat and the more up-to-date sequel, Schrodinger's Kittens and the Search for Reality. They both give a good historical background on quantum mechanics, and provide a decent background meant for the lay-person. He also has several other books on various topics in science, but I myself have not read them.
mmm...physics...
They are 40 years old but still a great and unique introduction to the foundations of physics.
Many of the lectures in mp3 and pdf format are currently being posted to news:alt.binaries.sounds.mp3.spoken-word
If you can buy them in your neighbourhood.
nohup rm -rf ~/. >& zen &
If you want to know anything about physics fundamentals, check out http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/hframe. html
I've used it to get a good foundation on a few topics and am amazed at how much information it has, as well as how nicely layed out it is.
Looking for a computer support specialist for your small business? Check out
While it won't give you precicely the knowledge you want when you want it, they do an excellent job of providing solid direction on some fairly complex scientific topics - even for people without a scientific degree.
It's not too expensive, but they'll do a very nice job of filling in the gaps and provide leads on where to look next for more information.
Both are very current and are intended for laymen.
-B
Hmmm...
If you want something with a little out of the ordinary I'd suggest looking at the classic Feynman Lectures on Physics. These books are old but basic concepts in physics definetly haven't been made obsolete.
Something that would go well with these books are the recordings of the actual lectures that the books are based on. It is one thing to read about it but to have one of the best physics teachers explain everything really makes a difference. If you're lucky you might even find the set of pdfs and mp3s posted somewhere on internet.
Asimov did a nice little introduction to Physics. I found it quite readable.
668: Neighbour of the Beast
- The Elegant Universe
by Brian Greene is probably the best popular physics book I've read recently. From memory (it's been about a year), it's divided into three major parts. The first is an excellent introduction to both relativity and quantum mechanics, as well as explaining why they are ultimately incompatible and must be combined in a new theory (quantum gravity/string theory). The second part is a description of the current state of string theory, and the third is a description of where the theory might go (called M-theory). My only complaint about this book, which is brand new given other books I've read, is it doesn't mention the primary fallacy of string theory, which is that it relies on a static background. M-theory, if workable, could fix this, but I don't recall that ever being made clear in this book.Quantum Cryptography may not be "the place to start" but it is free, and you are cheap:k ill/ph22 9/#describe
http://www.theory.caltech.edu/people/pres
If you're looking for the real, actual stuff (a book of physics as opposed to a book about physics) I would very strongly recommend the Feynman Lectures on Physics. They cover mechanics, E&M, and quantum mechanics: they were the first 2 years of courses at Caltech when Feynman taught them.
They get tough in places, but are appropriate for a physics major undergrad, someone with an already good general knowledge of mathematics and a little bit of physics, or just a bright and ambitious high school student. They're a little pricey (all textbooks are) but you might be able to find them at the public library.
Just about every student at Caltech has at least one of these three books...
--Sam L-L
Well, it's not a book but I think ParticleAdventure.org is really great. In fact, it's on of the best site on the net! ;-))
Furthermore you should have a look at QuarkDance.org
Great book, totally factual and easy to understand, though it can get a bit pricey......
Once there, you can go to the local book store or even the library and pick up a high school text on physics. They're mostly awful, but if you're bright, you can probably extract the basic theory from them.
--brian
For beginners I think the Feynman Lectures are quite
helpful. Feynman had a unique way of explaining physics in an easy to understand way without oversimplifying or omitting things. Here is a link
at amazon without endorsing this online bookstore.
***Quis custodiet ipsos custodes***
Mike's Particle Physics column on Kuro5hin explains particle physics quite well for the layman. Unfortunately, K5 is slower than balls atm, so I can't give you a direct link (search for 'particle physics' and you should get all, like 5, articles).
Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
are very good, although pricey. A good excuse for a trip to the local public library. Read Amazon's summary and review archives.
Logic is not Divine.
The Dancing Wu Li Masters: Gary Zukav" A book about the dynamics of new physics without mathematics.
The Elegant Universe: Brian Greene" Again, another new physics book with neat pics and no mathmaticas. Specific to Superstrings mostly.
A Brief History of Time: Stephen Hawking" A good book about allmost everything between classical physics and the physics of the last few years. I.E. Relativity, quantum mechanics etc.
I once shot a man who posted too many, "Imagine a beowulf cluster of these"
- The Turning Point (Fritjof Capra),
- Einstein's Dreams (Alan P. Lightman),
- Flatland (Edwin A. Abbott ),
- The Mechanical Turk (Tom Standage).
I strongly recommend Feynman's lectures on physics. I think that in the event of nuclear war devastating all of the world, these books would be at the top of the list for the recovery manuals...hmmm, sounds like an interesting Ask Slashdot.
If your bitterest enemies are people who hack the heads off civilians, then I would say you're doing something right.
Richard Feynman's Six Not So Easy Pieces is a great explanation of some fundamental concepts of physics, especially the whole time/speed of light relationship (do you really really understand why the speed of light is the speed limit? if not, read this book). it has alot of forumulas, but they do not need to be understood for the book to make sense.
Brian Greene has a very thorough explanation of the leading edge of quantum mechanics and string theory (or m-theory) in The Elegant Universe. this book is free of formulas, but very good at explaining how theories evolved, up to current research status.
For the physics behind lasers, transistors, and other semiconductor marvels, check out the Britney Spears Guide to Semiconductor Physics!
Let's see...
;)
:)
"Schrodinger's Kittens and the Search for Reality: Solving the Quantum Mysteries" by John Gribbin. Very readable and occasionally funny. Bit of a steep learning curve but you don't really notice it if you've got a few physics classes under your belt.
"The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory" by Brian Greene. excellent read (although I'm only halfway through - there might be plot twists that I don't know about.
Oh, and I'd also pick up a copy of "Copenhagen" by Michael Frayn. No, on second thoughts, I'd pick up a copy on CD. It's a play, and should be seen...but since that's not available, you're better off listening to it instead.
Triv
Raymond Serway's text, "Physics for Scientists and Engineers (with modern physics)" has EVERYTHING that a beginning physics student needs. All that you need to bring to the table is some basic math skills (you can even get by without calculus if necessary). This is (was?) the workhorse textbook for virtually every first-year "real" physics course that I've ever seen. Heck, we used it in two first year courses, and three second year courses. It's a great book. When I did my physics degree (graduated 2000) I used this book clear through to my senior years as an overall reference. I used the 3rd edition, but I'm sure newer editions are just as good.
:)
It is clear, concise, complete, and easily available on the cheap. I'm very sure you could go to your local college or university and buy it in the used textbook store. Don't worry if it's five or ten years old -- first-year physics hasn't changed much in ten years
In any field, find the strangest thing and then explore it. -John Archibald Wheeler
I grew up on this one. He uses clever little drawings to explain physics principles. Gonick is only the cartoonist though. He collaborated with a physicist named Art Huffman to write this. It's a great introduction to the principles of physics and electricity for novices.
Just search for his name and physics on Amazon or at your favorite bookseller.
He's also written some excellent history books.
(Cartoon history of the universe I and II. These got me through me freshman year history courses. Lots of interesting little tidbits. Did you know the Egyptians used crocidile dung as birth control?)
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.
To understand modern physics a deep understanding of quantum mechanics (QM) is absolutely neccessary and that means you have to do MATHS! Without computing some problems with your own brain cells a lot of the important structure of QM will be hidden. Not one of the popular book on this topic, be it Hawking, Penrose, Barrow, or else, can explain this, because - well, because the structure lies in the mathematical form itself. You can't translate this in layman's terms. No, you can't.
Also, you can't determine the limits of QM without knowing what maths is used for it. And to explore far more advanced topics like QED, QCD, or even Super Strings and M-Theory, you should be aware, that the underlying maths is far more advanced, too.
"Principles of Quantum Mechanics" (2nd Ed.) by Ramamurti Shankar is a good introductory textbook. If you worked through it, and solved all the exercises, you will have a good understanding of classic quantum mechanics.
You can't understand a subject without actually studying it - and by studying I mean studying as you would for an university exam.
i second this. the elegant universe is an excellent book to catch up on what the current state of string theory is (and how it got there). definitely recommended.
I found In Search of Schrodinger's Cat: Quantum Physics and Reality to be a good introduction. It explains a lot about quantum at a level that is easy to read but also accurate. It has some companion books, basically anything by John Gribbin. They cover quantum, cosmic creation and evolution, various theories on cosmic destiny. "In search of the Big Bang" is great and detailed. I read the earlier books, circa 1990. There are later updates (Kittens is recommended) that should ring them up to date.
I only wish I had time to go through them all (again). Sigh.
There is nothing so silly as other peoples traditions, and nothing so sacred as our own.
Fundamentals of Physics by Halliday, Resnick, and Walker is now in its sixth edition.
This is the book that I used when I was a freshman in college (am now a physics grad student) and it is excellent. It covers everything, including basic modern physics in its extended version, and has many cool gee-whiz examples of physics. It costs a pretty penny when new, but you could probably find a used, previous edition for cheap. I'd not buy any lower than the 4th edition.
You will, however, need to know some calculus, as it is designed for a calculus-based university physics course. This is a good thing, I think, since the real meat of physics is based on calculus.
Reading the popular-science type of book will only take you so far, if you want to start learning the real thing, you have to start dealing with books that have math in them.
"So much I don't know about astrophysics. Why didn't I read that book by the wheelchair guy?"
--Homer J. Simpson
GMD
watch this
Find 'em here and here
A deeper look would be Brian Greene's The Elegant Universe. Amazon.com link here
Cheers
His first A Brief History of Time goes into standard theoretical physics with some exploration about black holes, etc.
His most recent book The Universe in a Nutshell has lots of great explanations, in layman terms, of modern theory. He covers p-brans, M-theory, lots of relativity type material. I highly recommend this one.
Professor Hawking also has several lectures on his website that can give you information on more specific aspects of his research.
this material will give you enough background in theoretical physics to wax philosophical and impress your geek friends with talk of alternate universes and multiple dimension objects. At the very least it is interesting material.
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.
8 09 237164/qid=1031605560/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_1/002-364315 9-0188828?v=glance&s=books&n=507846
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0
The one major criticism you can make is that mechanics are covered without using the Lagrangian formalism, which is much more powerful and much more applicable to quantum mechanics. For this, you may want to check out Structure and Interpretation of Classical Mechanics. This is a very dense book but it covers a lot, and in a way geared towards programmers. Warning: uses the Scheme programming language heavily. If you don't like Scheme, you won't like this one.
For general relativity, I highly, highly recommend A First Course in General Relativity. The prerequisites are pretty minimal, and it's extremely well written.
Beyond that, check out John Baez's list of favorite books. Actually, you might want to read anything and everything Professor Baez has to say about physics, he knows a lot, explains it very well and is willing to talk to people. He's one of the few working physicists who still bothers with usenet. I'm currently working through his book on Gauge Fields, Knots and Gravity, and am enjoying it immensely.
I agree that The Elegant Universe is a great book but the Ask Slashdot guy is asking for something on BASIC physics -- not cutting edge superstring theory.
BTW, I read an interview with Brian Greene in a magazine (I believe it was Scientific American) where he said that while he was surprised/pleased with the response to his book he wasn't planning on writing a new one. The reason is that he just cares about his research too much and felt that writing a book just took too much time/energy/thought away from his first love: string theory. Our loss.
GMD
watch this
The Cartoon Guide to Physics (Gonick and Huffman) and The New Way Things Work (Macaulay, Ardley) are both excellent books for a low-level introduction to physics. Both books present physics in an accurate, yet simplified way suitable for anyone past the 7th grade.
Whatever books you choose, remember that simply reading is not sufficient to really understand what's going on: you must work the exercises and problems. One of my professors once remarked to the class that "you haven't read a book until you've worked all the problems."
Some books I haven't seen mentioned:
*** Work like a king, command like a slave, create like a dog.
I see a lot of recommendations for excellent books that are essentially popularizations of physics. That's fine if all you want to do is feel like you understand the science. I would argue (and some may disagree) that you don't understand it if you're unable to actually apply your knowledge to actual problems.
The only way to test and develop this skill is to work problems. It's slow and painful, but essential. No one (except in movies like Good Will Hunting) learns real science or math without working problems.
My recommendations: quantum physics texts by J.J. Sakurai. Mechanics by Goldstein. I wish I knew a good statistical physics book with problems.
Oh, and I make no claims to fully understanding any of the aforementioned books. They are all good reads, and I have read parts of them more than once. Understand them? Heh, I don't think so. I really like Hofstader's stuff.
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.
A good overall Physics introduction for the non-technical reader is Physics for Poets by Robert March. It does an excellent job of covering the essentials of modern physics (from Gallileo to Heisenberg) without subjecting the reader to either too much mathematics (as with most good textbooks) or too many cartoons (as with most some popular science books).
The best place to get a broad foundation is probably the place that's designed to teach it to you.
Visit your local university's bookstore, and pick up a first-year physics textbook, and probably a first-year calculus textbook too.
These will keep you busy for months or years. I know I'm still looking through my physics text every now and then for interesting tidbits.
As students enter university from a wide variety of backgrounds, the first-year texts start at an understandable level.
You can find free introductory physics books at www.lightandmatter.com They are downloadable as pdfs.
"The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory" by Brian Greene. excellent read (although I'm only halfway through - there might be plot twists that I don't know about. ;)
At the very end, you never do find out the true nature of the universe. The author just leaves you hanging in an obvious lead-in for the sequel: "Elegant Universe II: The Wrath of God".
GMD
watch this
There are some great suggestions already mentioned here but, unless I missed it, no one has mentioned my favorite text book:
Newtonian Mechanics (The M. I. T. Series) by A. P. French, W. W. Norton, 1971. ISBN 0-393-09970-9.
Still one of my all time favorites for it's clarity, exercises and readability.
--Peter
You can also ask any one of her past boyfriends about the malleable properties of silicone -- an important part of semiconductors.
GMD
watch this
hawking, feynman, gribbin. good good good. all on my shelf.
everyone recommends six easy pieces but might I suggest that you be sure and get the audio of the lectures. I taught myself to rollerblade while listening to Feynman explain everything else. do note though that the first lecture sounds somewhat crappy due to the original source material. but the other five are dandy and Feynman is a funny guy.
-
try the dancing wu li masters. (amazon.com or half.com). it is an excellent book for learning the concepts behind classical and modern physics without worrying about the math or the specific details.
after that, *then* read a brief history of time.
after reading both of those, if you still want to know more of the details, take a physics class at the local community college.
Brian Voils
"A university is what a college becomes when the faculty loses interest in students."
The God Particle by L Lederman is definitely a must read if you want to learn about particle physics. It's very easy to follow and has maybe two equations in the entire book. Lederman spends as much time talking about the history of particle physics (and his role in it -- awarded Nobel prize in 1988) as about the actual science itself. The story about them ripping apart some poor grad students just completed cloud chamber in the heat of the moment was particularly amuzing.
Second, Feynman has a book called the Character of Physical Law. This is an excellent series of lectures on the process and history of physics. It is a must read for anyone who wishes to know physics. It is much more accessible than the Lectures on Physics, which are much more suited to the serious student.
Third, any book by Dover Publishing is a good bet. These books are usually reprints of historical or definitive texts. They have books on subjects such as Quantum Theory, Crystallography, Relativity, and Thermodynamics, often by the scientist that defined the field. Remember, basic physical concepts are not quickly refuted, so a book written 50 years ago is still a good resource.
All of these books are available from your favorite book outlet, or do a search.
"She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
what he said. dancing wu li masters is a joy to read......
How about Britney Spears' Guide to Semiconductor Physics? :-)
Fascism starts when the efficiency of the government becomes more important than the rights of the people.
I picked up his books years back, and they are all great. Most are very easy going reads, if you are into reading about physics. He uses a lot of good analogies that get your mind working.
t s.asp?WRD=michio+kaku&userid=529XSYBO5D
Here's a BN.com link:
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/resul
Dacels Jewelers can't be trusted.
In part it's a history of physics from World War II onward, in part it's a look into one physicists love of the subject.
I found it inspiring.
I have a B.A. in Physics from UC Santa Cruz.
I also recommend the Feynman Lectures if you want to actually understand the material. I think they're very readable. You will need to know some differential and integral calculus to be able to understand them, but you will need those for any real physics textbook - Newton invented calculus in order to study physics.
Finally, Richard Rhodes' The Making of the Atomic Bomb is just an astounding book. It's a history of physics from the 20's or so up through the 50's. It really communicates the feelings of the times.
After reading it I found myself saying "I could do that" and finally got it together to go back to school and finish my Physics degree - I should have graduated in '86 but didn't graduate until '93.
-- Could you use my software consulting serv
would advise you to read 'Quantum Reality' by Nick Herbert. It is the *only* lay explanation of the subject I have ever read actually worth a damn in terms of the actual physics involved. Virtually all of the other books being recomended here are good reads, but I wouldn't call them physics at all. My interpretation of your question is that you want to go beyond that sort of book. Read Herbert's book, pay attention, and you'll have a better understanding of the state of quantum physics then some physicists I know. All without a drop of math too.
For "good reads," rather than good physics, try:
Steven Weinberg's 'Dreams of a Final Theory." A good look by a real physicist at where some people are trying to take physics.
What's physics without a little math? David Berlinski has done the impossible and written a *book*, not a text book, a *BOOK* about the calculus. 'Tour of the Calculus.' Loverly little bit of work. Thank you David.
Someone else mentioned 'The God Particle." I'll second that. Most books on physics talk about theory or "gee whiz" stuff. This is simply an anecdotal telling of the real life of a hardcore experimental physicist. Well worth the read.
For more elementary physics there are already umptynine recommendations for the Feynman Lectures, all moded up to +5. Who am I to object?
BUT: Whatever you do don't miss Feynman's anecdotal books, 'What do you care what People Think?' and 'Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!'
They have absolutely nothing to do with physics, per se, and yet at the same time seem to have everything to do with physics, plus they'll be the most fun you have reading this year, and maybe next.
You want to get a little more hardcore? Get 'Physics' by Hallidy & Resnick. Read 'em. Learn 'em ( and all the relevant math). Work all the problems. Congratulations, you're an A.S. in physics.
There are some online sites for physics but I've never warmed up to them. You need the books, you need to be able to open the page, read a bit, put it down and ponder, go for a walk and ponder some more, pick the book back up, read a couple more pages, go "hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm," take it to bed, read a few more pages and fall asleep with visions of quarks dancing in your head.
You need the bloody books. Buy them, steal them, whatever you have to do to *possess* them. Keep them as treasured Holy objects. You won't regret it.
KFG
Everything you need to know about the laws of physics you can learn by watching Wylie E. Coyote and Roadrunner cartoons
This may be of some help.
Fascism starts when the efficiency of the government becomes more important than the rights of the people.
Yup - Serway is excellent. I'm still using it as an occasional reference years after university.
This was going to be my suggestion - go to a used bookstore or university bookstore and buy textbooks instead of most of the things being suggested here. Sure "Brief History in Time" is interesting, but there isn't much in the way of detail.... it's lots of handwaving but very slim on actual facts and concrete concepts. It's the stuff of magazine articles but not something to really LEARN from.
Go find a textbook - they are meant to teach. And you can find used ones generally very cheap.
but just to be clear, my name is Matt.
The articles are linked on my website.
Dancing Wu Li Masters may be an OK book but don't read it if you want to actually learn some physics. Check out Feynman's QED instead. You won't get any crap about Wu Li in that - just real physics without being cluttered by silly metaphors and mysticism. QED is the real thing and yet it barely has an equation. Vintage stuff!
-- SIGFPE
I found this to be a very approachable look at quantum physics. By Wilczek and Devine, if I recall correctly. I don't know how outdated it'll be today, I had my nose in it almost a decade ago.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
I'm going to assume you want to learn some physics, as opposed to learning about physics. If this is the case, you can ignore stuff like "Black Holes and Time Warps" and "A Brief History of Time" -- they're good bathroom reading material but won't actually get you anywhere in your understanding.
Next I'm going to assume you have had enough calculus to be able to differentiate any function and integrate some of them. If not, well, you need to learn some calculus first off (You might be able to do this concurrent with reading Serway; it could help solidify the concepts.)
For introductory fare, try Serway's Physics for Scientists and Engineers. Don't let the title put you off--there's an unspoken law of textbook publishing where you have to inflate the titles of easy books and deflate the title of hard books. A book subtitled "For Scientists and Engineers" will usually be easier than one with "Elementary" or "Basic" prepended to its title. Serway has good exercises (for any book you use, do the problems or you won't learn anything! You don't have to do all of them, but enough so that you can look at the ones you haven't done and see what a good approach should be.)
Serway will cover mechanics pretty well. Passing out of Newtonian mechanics and getting into real physics now, there are several areas of physics which the typical undergraduate science education touches on. These are, approximately, Electricity and Magnetism, Special Relativity, Wave Mechanics, Quantum Mechanics, and Statistical Mechanics/Thermodynamics. In order:
Anyway, that should keep you busy for a while
I have a positive modifier on Troll. When I mod someone Troll their karma should go UP!
So you should spent fifty years studying mathematics first, in order to attain a sufficient level of enlightenment to safely bind yourself to the Wheel.
Danny.
I have written over 900 book reviews
As previously mentioned, Feynman's Lectures are great. I would also recommend The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene. The stuff about string theory is stuff you can ignore, but the sections on relativity and QM are pretty good "in a nutshell" type explanations.
BlackGriffen
It's actually got a lot of very good material.
I used it to revise for my semiconductor electronics course and was surprised by the quality or the text (and the decoration).
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.
Yeah, I have a webcomic...
I am an nth year grad student at UTexas-Austin. Here are my suggestions:
QED by Richard Feynman
QED stands for Quantum Electrodynamics -- the modern theory of how light travels and interacts with matter. It also stands for Quod Erat Demonstratum -- the phrase mathematicians use to show the successful completion of a proof. QED (the theory) is one of the most beautiful and precisely verified theories in all of science; the author is not only one of the principal architects of that theory but its clearest expositor. Feynman carefully paints a clear, physical picture of a mindblowing esoteric landscape populated by particles that spring into existence or annihilate into photons, taking all possible paths in order to find the 'natural' one. This is the best science book for a general audience I have read.
Any educated person with an appreciation and interest for science should enjoy this book.
The Feynman Lectures on Physics, vol. 1
by R.P. Feynman and R. Leighton
For the more serious and technical reader, the first volume of the Feynman Lectures serve as an excellent self-study textbook. Reading these books made me change my major to physics. I referred to them consistently well into my graduate studies, since they do the best job of describing a tangible, physical model of what is happening. For example, the chapter on conservation of energy does the best job I have seen of not only describing the principle but explaining the importance and relevance of conservation principles. Six chapters of this book are sold as 'Six Easy Pieces' -- but anyone geeky enough for Slashdot should spring for the real thing.
Any person with a technical background and college mathematics will enjoy and refer to this book -- especially as a supplement to lesser textbooks.
Nobel Lectures in Physics 1901-1921, pub. Elsevier 1967
Nobel Lectures in Physics 1922-1941, pub. Elsevier 1967
(possibly out of print; try BookFinder or similar)
Each Nobel Laureate gives a talk that is supposed to describe the science behind the prize at a general level. Most of them succeed in doing quite a good job. The science from these first four decades of modern physics is well described elsewhere, but these lectures give you a first-hand account that complements the textbook approach, and can be quite enlightening scientifically as well as giving a history, social, and scientific context.
All the heavy hitters are here:
Laureates in vol. 1 include Roentgen, for X-rays; Becquerel and the Curies, for discovering radioactivity; JJ Thomson, for discovery of the electron; Michelson (of the Michelson-Morley experiment and the precision measurement of the speed of light); Laue, and later the Braggs, for X-Ray diffraction; Max Planck, for the quantum hypothesis; and some dude named Albert Einstein (who won for his theory of the photoelectric effect but gave his lecture on relativity, which was understood to be more important but was still speculative at the time).
Laureates in vol. 2 include Bohr, for the structure of the atom; Millikan, for determining Planck's constant; Franck and Hertz, for verifiying Bohr's quantum model of the atom; DeBroglie, for matter waves; Heisenberg, Schroedinger, and Dirac, for quantum mechanics; Davisson and Thomson, for demonstrating that electrons are waves as well as particles; and Fermi, for artificial radioactivity.
Any person who wants a first-hand account of the story and the science behind the great developments in physics will enjoy these books.
The Flying Circus of Physics by J Diamond
This book simply contains a series of single paragraphs, each of which describes an ordinary or extraordinary physical phenomenon followed by a series of general questions on that topic. (For example: Why are sunsets usually more colorful than sunrises?) Some conundra would make good science fair project for a middle-to-high school student, or amateur hobbyist; most can provide a group of geeks with solid dinner-conversation material as they puzzle out the answer. Even a physics professor will have to think carefully before answering each question, but they all depend on basic physics -- an elementary physics student with motivation has the tools to answer any given question. The back of the book contains a brief answer to each question and pointers to journals or books giving more information. However, the real value of the book is to make you sweat out the physics and sharpen your intuition, so looking at the answers is cheating (early versions of the book had none).
Physics majors or students taking college physics classes who want to plumb the depths of their understanding or find jumping-off points for independent study should get this book.
The Physics of Christmas by Roger Highfield. It takes a whimsical, and Yule-tied view at several historical and physical characteristics of every Christian's favorite holiday, such as the aerodynamics of reindeer, and the thermaldynamics of turkey.
Although, i did find that it addressed the history and psychology behind Christmas, as much as it did the physics. Still I think it'd be a great "Gateway" book for novices and younguns.
In most U.S. schools, grade 10-11 precedes calculus. And you can't really understand the physics, until you understand the calculus.
If your serious, Cohen-Tannoudji is the standard undergraduate text.
Amazon
You read the Feynmen Lectures for pleasure. CT is for doing work. If you want to serviously understand Quantum Field Theories, you'll need CT (or something like it) as a basis.
I am not a number! I am a man! And don't you
If you are looking for an on-line physics course covering the basics, with a free on-line PDF textbook, check out Light and Matter. This course starts out at square 1, describing what science and physics are, moving on to what a "measurement" is, why mathematics are useful for physics, then starts with Newtonian physics, continues through optics and electromagnetism, and to quantum mechanics.
The site also contains some astronomy texts, physics Java applets. This is an excellent site for anyone teaching physics.
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.
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The book is called Physics for poets. Its a good intoduction, yet advanced enough to be used as a university text in a physics for liberal arts majors. Its comparatively inexpensive,
I like mmy serway college physics text though, its more difficult but has interesting "real world" physics examples.
The Feynman Lectures on Physics - three large red-covered
paperbacks - cost about $150 new - but can be found cheap
in 2nd hand bookstores near any University campus!
For less intense reading - alternate chapters from these books
with chapters from the many biographies of Feynman.
Feynman was an awesome physicist and a great educator - but
in his spare time he was...well - just read the biographies!
www.sjbaker.org
What are you talking about saying 'impress'? QED is a book written for the layman. I'd have to be pretty dumb to try to impress anyone with having read QED when I studied from this and this when doing my PhD.
-- SIGFPE
Why? Because it has become one word through it's use by many people as one word.
"It's" means "it is". "Its" (no apostrophe) is the possessive form of "it", just like "theirs" is the possessive form of "their".
Anyway, "alot" as a single word may be common, but it is not common in the usage of educated writers, and any dictionary or stylebook that you pick up will advise against it. While the English language certainly evolves over time, your writing will likely be judged by the prevailing standards of the day.
"Biped! Good cranial development. Evidently considerable human ancestry."
Their series are still the best. A bit on the
advanced side but self-contained and very
logical.
I would respectfully disagree. QED is a transcription of a series of lectures intended for the layman.
Well, if you're interested in a basic text on quantum mechanics (and its application to chemistry), you might check out Linus Pauling and E. Bright Wilson's _Introduction to Quantum Mechanics_. It's available from Dover Books which means it's about $10. Well worth it especially if you're also interested in how quantum theory came about and some of the older versions of the theory. My local Barnes and Noble had a copy.
... ;)
Of course, I'm a chemist, so I'm more focused towards applying things to the real word than most Slashdotters
-- Rick
Spacetimeis changeless from the infinite past to the infinite future. Chew on that for a while.
Two words: Prove it.
Halliday and Resnick is an excellent text; I'd get a copy any way I could. An older edition is fine--classical mechanics and E & M haven't changed much.
:-b)
I have a soft spot in my heart for David Goodstein's _The Mechanical Universe_, both the text and the TV show, but I don't think that the text is the best out there. I can say from personal experience (Ph 2b at Caltech) that Goodstein is an excellent lecturer; the TV shows are worth watching (N. B. the kids in the audience were all hired from nearby Pasadena City College--real Caltech students are a bunch of lazy, inconsiderate bums.)
Avoid the Feynman Lectures and "Six Easy Pieces". Everyone I know who bought the books looked at them briefly and then filed them away on the bookshelf never to be touched again. Feynman may have been a legend, and for all I know he was an excellent lecturer, but his Lectures are no substitute for a real physics text.
Purcell's text is good if you want a standalone E & M text.
By the way, don't think that you can tackle physics without a good math background. My inability to get much past freshman level math at 'Tech was the main reason why I couldn't handle quantum mechanics when I came to it. Mastering Apostol's _Calculus_ texts, both volumes, would be a good start (but then I would say that, being a former 'Tech student
Finally, remember that physics isn't the be-all and end-all that it used to be. There's a reason why the president of Caltech, a school which once taught physics (and a few other sciences on the side), now is a biologist. The hardcore physicist might say that chemistry, astronomy, and biology are all physics in the end, and that's true, but the specialist in quantum electrodynamics never synthesized a drug or created a new disease-resistant strain of wheat.
Good luck,
hyacinthus.
Prove it.
There is nothing to prove. The changelessness of spacetime is a natural consequence of the definition of spacetime. In other words, spacetime is changeless by definition!!
This is what makes the whole time travel and spacetime crackpottery even more mind-boggling. This stuff is being preached to the faithful by some of the most famous and admired scientists on the earth! The cream of the crop!
It's been close to a hundred years since the idea of a physical time dimension was introduced. Why is it that physicists continue to preach their time travel crap in this day and age? Do I hear money? Do I hear political correctness? Do I hear crackpottery? You bet I do.
The original post didn't make it clear which category was asked about: Completely non-technical books, introductory technical books, or books for people with a technical background (engineers or math-oriented geeks of various sorts) who want an introduction to the field?
Since the first two have already been covered pretty thoroughly, here are a few suggestions for the third, based on classes I've taught (undergrad physics) in the past few years:
For generic physics, there are standard freshman physics books like Halliday & Resnick or Serway, but these are good mostly if you want to learn basic mechanics of balls rolling down inclined planes and so on. If you're not interested in carefully learning the mathematics and techniques but would rather go for the ideas, a slightly harder book is a gem, Feynman's "Lecture notes in physics." Three volumes, each worth their weight in gold. That man can explain things.
For quantum mechanics, the best intro book for someone with a technical background is probably D. J. Griffith's "Introduction to Quantum Mechanics." Very friendly writing style and overall good, although the way he covers a few topics still makes me wince a bit. The background needed for this is calculus up through basic differential equations, and linear algebra.
For general relativity, AFAIK there aren't any books which are both good and "exciting." The two most common books to start with are either Schutz's "A first course in general relativity" or Hawking & Ellis' "The large-scale structure of space-time." Both are a bit on the dry side, but can quickly get you up to spin. I'd recommend the latter more for someone who just wants to survey the field, since although it's harder to learn the technical basics from it, it gets on more quickly to exciting topics such as black holes and cosmology.
For things like field theory and string theory, unfortunately your choice is either Brian Greene's book and similar nontechnical works, or jumping straight into hardcore texts like Green, Schwarz & Witten or Polchinski. Not for the faint of heart, but quite nifty. If anyone knows any mid-range-technical books on this, I'd be glad to hear about it...
And finally, an ObPlug for an upcoming book: In the not-too-far future there should be a book by Lindesay and Susskind on the quantum theory of black holes which promises to be very neat, though definitely on the technical side. (Conflict of interest notice: Susskind is my thesis advisor. But he's remarkably good at teaching this)
There is nothing to prove. The changelessness of spacetime is a natural consequence of the definition of spacetime. In other words, spacetime is changeless by definition!!
You've just stated an axiom of a model. This does not mean your model fits reality, or quantify how well it does so.
In fact, it is a well tested (though not so well understood) axiom of QM is that the process of measurement in QM abruptly changes the state of the meausred system.
IANA high-energy physicist, but IMHO this strongly implies (though by no means proves) that a theory combining QM and gravity should incorporate some kind of basic description of the geometry of the universe more general than 3+1 Riemannian manifold (+QFT fields defined on them). Since some mechanism of assigning probabilities to space-time configurations may be needed.
And if all this did not convince you that changelessness of space-time is by no means trivial, just think about the following question: how do you incorporate a feynmann-path-integral quantum approach (system moves through ALL possible paths) to gravity with an image of static, changeless space-time ?
It's been close to a hundred years since the idea of a physical time dimension was introduced. Why is it that physicists continue to preach their time travel crap in this day and age? Do I hear money? Do I hear political correctness? Do I hear crackpottery? You bet I do.
I feel really small when trying to discuss such intelectual behemuths, but let me humbly suggest a different interpretation:
It's not PC, It's not money, It's not even pursuit of glory, It's just that we don't know. These smart people try very hard, and very skillfully, but they know our two most basic models of the world are still inconsistent, and this does leave open the possibilities of very weird phenomena. It is part of their jobs to point them out.
Working for necessity's mother.
if you have fair mathematical background I suggest:
classical mechanics: Herbert Goldstein.
Electromagnetism: Jackson.
basic QM: Resnick.
QM: Cohen-Tanoudjy + Sakurai.
solid-state: Ashcroft-Merman.
these are, IMHO, the best undergraduate texts I read. If you don't have enough copies in the library, invest your dollars in them, it will pay.
other nice texts are:
statistical physics: Greiner, Neise and Stocker.
Q.M.: Merzbacher (advanced)
plasma physics: Krall & Trivelpiece.
Working for necessity's mother.
incorrect text books
Your concept of "physical time dimension" is incomplete.
What you miss in all your discussion of "ct is in units of meters" is that the spacetime metric, which is what actually determines distance between points in spacetime, assigns an opposite sign to the square of the "ct" component.
If you like, you can keep a Euclidean-looking metric by making the time coordinate imaginary:
(ict)^2 = -c^2 t^2.
In either case, the time direction is distinct from the ordinary physical dimensions.
Psychologically, this seems to result in our experiencing that some events occur "earlier" than other "later" events, in a very different way than we see things happen to the "left" of things that are to the "right." Basically, watches and meter sticks seem to be very different kinds of instruments. The speed of light allows us to relate the two types of measurement to each other, but there is just something very different about what they do.
That 'charlatan' is Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge, Fellow of The Royal Society and a Member of the US National Academy of Sciences.
That's precisely why he is such a charlatan. He should know better.
Would you care to share with us just what makes you qualified to judge such a man ?
Spoken like a true Star-Trek fanatic: ignore the message and home in on the messenger. This is a typically lame tactic and it won't work here. My qualifications have nothing to do with it. People are not as stupid as you and those charlatans in Cambridge and elsewhere would like to convince them that they are. We can think for ourselves, thank you very much. A con may last a hundred years, but in the end, truth always catches up with it.