Physics books to study/ mention in Personal Statement.

I will be applying for Physics Undergraduate course and was wondering on which books to study and mention in my Personal Statement.

What are some good Physics reads?

Which books are too common so are better avoided?

Would you mention textbooks like Feynman Lectures, University Physics or Mathematics for Physics and Engineering if those were the only books you've been studying?

Please give your opinions.

Thanks in advance !!!!

Reply 1

Joinedup

Feynman lectures might be cliche territory :unsure:

I'm a bit skeptical about how much good namedropping books in a PS does but if you've decided to go that way it's probably better to show subject interest rather than knowledge (which they'll be judging mostly off your predictions and references)

so possibly
Feynman's 'autobiography' - surely you're joking
Darkness at night, Harrison, E. (a 300p book on Olber's paradox)
Not even wrong, Woit, P. (critique of some directions in theoretical physics)

which are all worth a read whether or not you want to mention them in a PS

Reply 2

Protoxylic

Six easy pieces/Six not so easy pieces by Feynman are pretty good books to read up on.

A few of the oxford chemistry primer books are pretty good (mainly for chemistry, although there are some more physical ones). These are more textbook style.

In search of schrodinger's cat is quite a fun one to read if you're interested in the quantum world.

Some of the oxford university press 'A short introduction to...' books if you want to read up on a specific topic/field.

Reply 3

username2452153

Original post by Joinedup

Feynman lectures might be cliche territory :unsure:

Thank you very much. Just downloaded, 'surely you're joking'

Reply 4

username2452153

Original post by Protoxylic

Thanks. I will have a look at "Relativity: a very short introduction"

Reply 5

Old Mum

A list of books is dull and mostly ignored - my son was advised to mention only one book but only so he could expand on an idea contained therein that he found very interesting. In the end he didn't list any books - he started watching interesting lectures on the Imperial College website and discussed one on micro black holes. He got 4 offers, Bath, Warwick, Bristol and Surrey - declined by Oxford.

Dont fret too much about the statement - at Warwick the Head of Admissions told me they didnt look at personal statements before they make offers - its all about the predicted grades and the reference.

Reply 6

alow

Original post by Joinedup

Feynman lectures might be cliche territory :unsure:

The Feynman Lectures are certainly not a cliché. If a university applicant had managed to get through a decent portion of those it would be damned impressive.

Reply 7

Kvothe the Arcane

I listed a couple things in my Natsci application (bio not phys) but I wrote about them - explaining what topics appealed and so on.
Not sure simply name dropping helps much.

Reply 8

Joinedup

Original post by alow

The Feynman Lectures are certainly not a cliché. If a university applicant had managed to get through a decent portion of those it would be damned impressive.

How are you so sure what's a cliche or not, are you an admissions tutor?

Reply 9

alow

Original post by Joinedup

How are you so sure what's a cliche or not, are you an admissions tutor?

Because I don't know a single person who read anything that advanced before university.

Reply 10

_howl

A Brief History of Time may be a good book to mention.

Reply 11

Old Mum

If you have seen the Mr Reid physics website ( a site/blog by a physics teacher) its worth a look. This was an interesting post after he wrote to many unis admissions tutors and asked what they were looking for in a personal statement:

http://wordpress.mrreid.org/tag/personalstatement/

Reply 12

NatoHeadshot

Mention whatever you fully understand because they will ask you about it rather grill you about it to find out if youre bluffing or not, so name dropping isnt a big deal as long as you understand what youve read with interest

Reply 13

WhisperingTide

I mentioned literally zero and got all offers. How can you fit stuff like that in? Just read ones that interest you and be honest about them.

The only place that interviewed me was Cambridge, I had 4 interviews in total, and not ONE of them cared in the least about anything in my personal statement. They all went like this: "Hi, I'm BLAHHHH (Proceeds to do stuff to clam the interviewee down), lets do a problem!" *Talks more about problem afterwards* "Do you have any questions about the university or college? Bye!"