Teaching yourself physics

This is the best book to begin studying physics from:

http://www.pascalpress.com.au/quicksmart-introductory-physics/

This is the best book for learning physics fundamentals and calculations, as it introduces a concept, and then goes through step by step worked examples on how to solve the problem.

The emphasis is on problem solving in physics and if you can master this book you will have a good foundation.

This book will be arriving tomorrow! Doctor_Einstein, how long do you think it would take the average student to work through this textbook and master it? Just so I have a rough guideline

The book is about 300 pages if I correctly recall, but trust me when I say it is more important to master the first 7 chapters or so, than to read the whole book.

I believe you should spend at least 1 week for each chapter for the first 7 chapters. Perhaps 2-3 weeks on the first two chapters even to get the hang of physics.

The reason is because each chapter covers a fundamental branch of physics that is very important to completely master. It is better to completely master these concepts deeply and know nothing else, than it is to know the whole book on a superficial level. By spending a week on each chapter, it gives you a lot of time to think about the concepts in it on a deeper level. Also each chapter relies on a thorough understanding of the previous chapters.

After 7 weeks, having completing the first 7 chapters (understanding every worked example, and being able to do every problem), your maths and problem solving ability should be significantly improved, and the later chapters you may then be able to study more quickly. You now have the tools of the trade of physics.

Notes about the book:

Important Maths Concepts are:
1. Trigonometry
2. Vectors (an application of trigonometry)
3. Basic concept of a derivative and an integral (a branch of maths known as calculus)

The book explains the basics of these concepts in chapter 1 and 2, but the book might not be the best at teaching them compared to a maths book.

Chapter 8, 9 and 10 are the hardest in the entire book. They require a knowledge the mathematics of integration, and it is probably safe to skip chapters 8,9 and 10 for later, and move on to chapter 11 if you haven't yet mastered integration by this stage.