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Physics

Hi guys, I very interested in physics and want to buy a book to read and learn. I want one that goes deep into a topic but I don’t want to waste money. Any recommendations?
What sort of book? A popular science coffee table book
or a textbook?

What sort of level?
any specific topic/area you're interestrd in? And what is your current knowledge?
Reply 3
Original post by Joinedup
What sort of book? A popular science coffee table book
or a textbook?

What sort of level?

Most likely a textbook
Reply 4
Original post by Joshwoods01
any specific topic/area you're interestrd in? And what is your current knowledge?


Interested in space, quantum, energy, relativity and thing along theses topics but I would honestly read anything. I currently just started doing a-level physics but I feel like I have quite a lot of knowledge about things beyond a-level physics.
The collins dictionary of astronomy is good resource for space/astronomy and there are still some pretty cheap paperback copies around. beware of other dictionaries of astronomy which are full of pretty photographs but not really very useful tbh.

*probably* a GCSE astronomy book, there's one by Patrick Moore and Chris Lintott (which tbh I haven't read - but Moore is usually good at explaining things)

QED by Richard Feinman is readable by an intelligent person and has the scary maths stuff swept out of view.

My old favourite A level physics book (from the days before the exam boards entered into a racket with the book publishers)
Advanced Physics - Tom Duncan. still seems like you can get a second hand copy... but check your exam spec before relying on it totally cos it might not cover everything in the spec.
Reply 6
Original post by Joinedup
The collins dictionary of astronomy is good resource for space/astronomy and there are still some pretty cheap paperback copies around. beware of other dictionaries of astronomy which are full of pretty photographs but not really very useful tbh.

*probably* a GCSE astronomy book, there's one by Patrick Moore and Chris Lintott (which tbh I haven't read - but Moore is usually good at explaining things)

QED by Richard Feinman is readable by an intelligent person and has the scary maths stuff swept out of view.

My old favourite A level physics book (from the days before the exam boards entered into a racket with the book publishers)
Advanced Physics - Tom Duncan. still seems like you can get a second hand copy... but check your exam spec before relying on it totally cos it might not cover everything in the spec.


Thank you
Reply 7
Original post by Matcccc
Interested in space, quantum, energy, relativity and thing along theses topics but I would honestly read anything. I currently just started doing a-level physics but I feel like I have quite a lot of knowledge about things beyond a-level physics.


The Theoretical Minimum series by Leonard Susskind. Start with classical mechanics.
Reply 8
Original post by Sinnoh
The Theoretical Minimum series by Leonard Susskind. Start with classical mechanics.


Thank you, what level are they (eg. do they cover university level things) ?
Reply 9
Original post by Matcccc
Thank you, what level are they (eg. do they cover university level things) ?

I think they do, but there'll be more info on Amazon or something if you just look it up.
Reply 10
Original post by Matcccc
Thank you, what level are they (eg. do they cover university level things) ?


It starts off easy (feels like A-level revision almost) but gets very advanced. Some of the stuff mentioned, like Lagrangian/Hamiltonian mechanics is a 3rd year optional module in my course, but the concepts are very important for theoretical physics topics. If you make it to the end of the book having done the exercises inside then that'll be quite impressive.
The second book, on quantum mechanics, is much more mathematical and abstract than other books on that topic will be, and again cover topics you're not likely to see for a long time, like Hilbert spaces and bra-ket notation.
The third book is on special relativity and classical field theory, well, SR shows up quite early on in a physics course and is in some A-level specs. But the rest of it... yeesh.

The books are based on a series of lectures given by Susskind that you can find online, in case you prefer learning that way.

N.B. "The Theoretical Minimum: Classical Mechanics" and "The Theoretical Minimum: What you need to know to start doing physics" are the same book.
Reply 11
Original post by Sinnoh
It starts off easy (feels like A-level revision almost) but gets very advanced. Some of the stuff mentioned, like Lagrangian/Hamiltonian mechanics is a 3rd year optional module in my course, but the concepts are very important for theoretical physics topics. If you make it to the end of the book having done the exercises inside then that'll be quite impressive.
The second book, on quantum mechanics, is much more mathematical and abstract than other books on that topic will be, and again cover topics you're not likely to see for a long time, like Hilbert spaces and bra-ket notation.
The third book is on special relativity and classical field theory, well, SR shows up quite early on in a physics course and is in some A-level specs. But the rest of it... yeesh.

The books are based on a series of lectures given by Susskind that you can find online, in case you prefer learning that way.

N.B. "The Theoretical Minimum: Classical Mechanics" and "The Theoretical Minimum: What you need to know to start doing physics" are the same book.


Thank you

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