Recommended Physics Reading

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Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica - Sir Isaac Newton

The Flying circus of physics is one full of physics you encounter in everyday life, some are very difficult but that makes figuring one out more rewarding.

Reply 82

gezer_1

Anyone read and watched Walter Lewis "for the love of physics"
he was a lecturer at MIT and made a great book about the wonderful side of physics

and I'm currently reading about Einstein's general relativity by Brian cox and its very easy and a good book.

Reply 83

swagadon

i recommend reading physics of the impossible by Michio Kaku, its the best book ive read so far, it describes the physics of things that might seem impossible or may be impossible e.g. invisibility and space travel and such, pretty mind boggling!

Reply 84

swagadon

Original post by gezer_1

which book is that? ive read why does e=mc2, but they didnt go into too much detail on general relativity, i liked how they derived all the oher equations tho

Reply 85

Username_valid

Original post by gezer_1

I've seen a few lectures by Walter Lewin including 'for the love of Physics' but not read the book. His lectures are great and I love his enthusiasm, have you read the book?

(late reply I know lol)

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 86

gezer_1

Original post by Username_valid

I've seen a few lectures by Walter Lewin including 'for the love of Physics' but not read the book. His lectures are great and I love his enthusiasm, have you read the book?

(late reply I know lol)

Finished reading it and I hate reading (being welsh I hated English lessons which we had to read books) and this was so good that I actually went onto Brian cox's book (I didn't say that in my last post. Oops )
Now I'm reading all sorts of physics books
All because of one underated brilliant physicist

The book covers everything but most of it was his work, classical mechanics and his enthusiasm for the wonders of nature (rainbows, glassbows etc)

I was so impressed by this guy that I mentioned him in my interviews at Exeter and Liverpool to which at both places I got a blank face with a confused phrase like "who ?"

Reply 87

gezer_1

If you want books then I suggest

Why does e=mc*
Brian cox

It's the easiest way of getting your head around Einstein's theories

And for the love of physics
Walter Lewin

Brilliant guy who deserves way more attention

Reply 88

Username_valid

Original post by gezer_1

Aha that's brilliant, thanks for the recommendation, I think I'll give it a go. Did you get the offers from the unis?

Reply 89

gezer_1

Yep, although Exeter asked for AAB NOT ABB, and I'm not sure that I can get an A in maths :s

Reply 90

Big-Daddy

Is there something wrong with putting proper textbooks on the list? What about the Fermi electromagnetism book?

Reply 91

username668916

I'm half-way through (what I think is new this year) "The Theoretical Minimum" by Leonard Susskind and George Hrabovsky, and think it's a fantastic book on classical physics. It's still in the realm of a pop-science book that you might find in waterstones, but pushes more towards being a textbook than most.

It's perfect for 6th-formers interested in physics/thinking of applying for physics. It's got plenty of equations in (but easy to follow unlike the road to reality book), which should be fine for anyone with a basic knowledge of calculus. But it introduces concepts that wouldn't really be seen until university like Lagrangian's (which are more elegant re-formulations of Newtonian mechanics which are massively important in every part of physics) but explained quite simply.

For a personal statement it would be brilliant- introduces higher level topics at an understandable, and importantly, mathematical level. It doesn't do quantum stuff, but that's covered in a million other books, and can't really be explained mathematically at a simple level. Plus you've got to show you're interested/competent in the basics before you get to that level!

Reply 92

F1 fanatic

Original post by bistonut

Thanks for this, I read about that book recently in New Scientist and it prompted me to add it to my wishlist on Amazon (in my case, for the purpose of rekindling old memories) but haven't taken the plunge in purchasing it yet! Glad to hear you found it a good read.

Reply 93

tangledweb

Interesting list, bookmarked the wiki, thanks.
One I'd recommend which I don't think is listed already is a biography of Richard Feynman "Genius", by James Gleick. I'd also suggest that you don't need any formal Physics knowledge (not even GCSE) to enjoy "Surely you must be joking Mr. Feynman".

Reply 94

ThoPhys

Looking beyond books (apologies if this is off topic), I find that articles in Physics World (the IOP members journal) on recent research areas are generally quite accessible. At the very least, they give an idea what current research is all about (which also may come in handy for interview preparation, or indeed to help and find out which areas of physics you personally find interesting). While access to the bulk of the articles requires registration, some are freely accessible from their main website.

Reply 95

swagadon

anyone know anygood books on thermodynamics, or superconductors?

Reply 96

SnoochToTheBooch

This one is one of my favourites:

9780521701471-a-student-s-guide-to-maxwell-s-equations-.jpg

It's very clear in its explanations and it's only short, maybe 60 pages or so, so you could read it cover to cover in a couple of sittings if you wanted.

Reply 97

tangledweb

Original post by swagadon

anyone know anygood books on thermodynamics, or superconductors?

What level? I have almost finished this one:
http://books.google.co.uk/books/about/The_Laws_of_Thermodynamics_A_Very_Short.html?id=tz1R4vJN6VkC&redir_esc=y
Which started off ok, but I found it got a bit hard to read in the entropy/enthalpy chapters. It is very much a short intro, though, and wouldn't think you'd really be reading it without a background in physics.