Good Books for Physics: ZapperZ's List

[Nusc]

Since ZapperZ's thread is too large I would like concise listing of your input on the "good books" in detail. ( U or G - Name - Author, comments aren't necessary )

From what I have seen so far there are

Introductory Calculus-Based:
U - Fundamentals of Physics 7e - Resnick, Halliday, Walker

E&M:
U - Introduction to Electrodynamics - David Griffith
G - Classical Electrodynamics - J. D. Jackson

I'm not sure about the others...

Quantum Mechanics:

Thermodynamics:

Classical Mechanics:

Mathematical Physics:

U - Mathematical Methods for Physicists - Arfken
U - Mathematical Methods in the Physical Sciences - Boas

Modern Physics:

 

[quasar987]

Mechanics: I consider Symon's 'mechanics' the best physics book I've read.

other ppl recommand Goldstein.

 

[robphy]

First, a suggestion:

I wonder if this could somehow be made into a sticky of some kind and have textbooks listed with user-reviews and ratings (like Amazon) and a poll count on how many are using the text in school.

In particular, I'd be interested to see those for introductory textbooks as well.
For instance, among intro texts, how do folks like the "standards" (like Halliday/Resnick, Serway, etc...) and I wonder how the new texts (like Cummings/Laws/Redish/Cooney and Moore) are doing... at least among the PF community.

It might make a nice resource
for those instructors who are looking to choose a textbook,
for students looking for a supplementary textbook, and
for budding authors who are looking to improve upon the current textbooks.


Now, back to the question:

Feynman lectures are a great resource.
I hear the Greiner series may be useful... however, be wary of typos.

Mechanics:
I didn't like Symon's text. I liked Marion's text better. Kleppner and Kolenkow is a great but possibly too advanced introductory textbook. Of course, there's Goldstein and Landau/Lifshitz. Fetter/Walecka looked interesting. Then, there's the advanced texts: Arnold and Abraham/Marsden. (Is there an intermediate text that develops the symplectic-geometric formulation?)

EM:
In addition to what you listed, Purcell is good. Lorrain and Corson was a helpful resource. Landau/Lifshitz is also good.

Mathematical Physics:
For introductory MathPhy, Boas is great. Lea is good.
Kreyszig and Arfken are okay. Some folks like Mathews/Walker.
An interesting text is Bamberg/Sternberg... but maybe not as a first course.
Schutz is a useful introduction to differential geometry.


You might find this list helpful:
http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~abhishek/chicphys.htm

 

[quasar987]

Out of curiosity, may I ask what you do not like about Symon's 'mechanics' ?

 

[Nylex]

Electromagnetism, Grant and Phillips.

 

[Nusc]

Can someone move this thread to Science Book Reviews in the PF lounge.

I didn't know it existed...

 

[rachmaninoff]

I second the idea of a textbook poll, of some sort, if anyone is nice enough to write one. It could be more useful than all the hundreds of individual reviews floating around on the internet.

 

[James Jackson]

I found Boas invaluable throughout my course.

 

[Nusc]

I found Boas invaluable throughout my course.

I'd take it off but I can't edit the thread!

 

[yourdadonapogostick]

well, for gravity, i have Gravitation by thorn, misner, and somebody else. for QM, i have Quantum Mechanics. i don't remember the author of that one, but it is from Dover books.

 

[jdstokes]

Since ZapperZ's thread is too large I would like concise listing of your input on the "good books" in detail. ( U or G - Name - Author, comments aren't necessary )

From what I have seen so far there are

Introductory Calculus-Based:
U - Fundamentals of Physics 7e - Resnick, Halliday, Walker

Perhaps a better alternative (I have both), would be University Physics 11th edn (Young & Freedman). This is the text I am using for introductory physics at the University of Sydney. The content is very similar to Halliday, but Y&F has a more modern teaching style.

 

[Knavish]

jdstokes: Can you explain what you mean by "modern teaching style"? I am considering purchasing one of the two for a reference on basic physics concepts (and to solidify some of the concepts I'm a little shaky on before I head off to college). As I have already read most of the material before, I don't want a book that "leans back"--I want one that uses calculus liberally and one that isn't afraid to offer a challege.

 

[Nusc]

jdstokes: Can you explain what you mean by "modern teaching style"? I am considering purchasing one of the two for a reference on basic physics concepts (and to solidify some of the concepts I'm a little shaky on before I head off to college). As I have already read most of the material before, I don't want a book that "leans back"--I want one that uses calculus liberally and one that isn't afraid to offer a challege.

I strongly recommend you get Fundamentals of Physics 7e Halliday, Resnick, Walker because University Physics Y&F doesn't emphasize as much calculus.

I had to use University Physics Y&F and I didn't list it for several reasons.

-It lacked emphasis on the use of differential and integral calculus in several topics for classical mechanics problems. (This I find to be the biggest problem)
-The book is outragously thick and heavy.
-There is so much garbage on each page that it is unbearable to read and that you are more likely to read chapters 37-43 instead of what your supposed to be studying. (The caution notes are okay but they are clouded with the "ISEE: Identify, Setup, Execute, & Evaluate" This is redundant, FBD's and formalus are enough but the evaluating part is essential to.)
-There are too many errors.

However there are a lot of problems to work with!

I suspect what he meant by modern teaching style is that it makes good use of physics and computers. The "Mastering Physics" is good but you need your professor to give you an MP instruction key in order to use it. The "Active Physics OnLine" demos are good tools as well but they are not required in demonstrating most concepts.

 

[mathwonk]

i liked clerk maxwells book, vol 1.

 

[Knavish]

Thanks, Nusc--I was leaning towards Halliday. Because of your handy list, I might even explore some of the other areas now.

 

[fliptomato]

Some of my favorites...

Pre-University/First-Year:
Design notes log, G.O.D. by Robert Compton
I found this a fantastically delightful book to supplement my first year of physics at the university level--I wish I'd seen it earlier. It addresses things at an ultra-fundamental level (classical) and is a very accessible example of how to tie together the ideas of a freshman physics course into a "physical sense." Again, it's only really useful from a classical perspective--but the point is that it forces one to consolidate the ideas they learn in freshman physics.

I'm also slightly more inclined towards Tipler as a first year text versus Halliday and Resnik--the text is a little more readable and addresses some of the mathematics that H&R ignore (I feel that H&R just gives the solution to a diff. eq. without showing how to derive it.).

Thermo/Stat-Mech:
I guess Reif is the "standard" text--though I've often heard people joke that it's David Griffith's responsibility to the physics community to develop a book on stat-mech. Reif is a little wordy, though I think it's better to be verbose rather than terse in a first course. He goes through the core material twice, once without the partition function formalism and once with--this makes it a little irritating unless you buy into the flow of the book.

Quantum:
I don't think you can go wrong with Griffiths for a first course, though many complain that it is too elementary. Perhaps one should supplement it with a more advanced text--I'm particularly enamoured of Shankar's text, which is very self-contained and pedagogical. I think I prefer Shankar to Sakurai's Modern QM, if only because I feel it has the same insight but presented in a slightly more accessible way.

I'm not sure if this is the conventional wisdom, but I think Griffith's Introduction to Elementary Particles should be read immediately after his QM book (perhaps concurrently with advanced QM books). After which, one can tackle Peskin and Schroder's QFT (with some background on complex analysis). I've been debating whether Tony Zee's "QFT in a Nutshell" is a good book before or after a P&S level treatment... but wherever it happens to fit, I strongly recommend it as a supplement. Zee's chapters are short, sweet, and surprisingly packed with insight and very funny anecdotes.

Particle Physics
After some QFT (or concurrently with the last third of Peskin and Schroeder), I think Georgi's "Weak Interactions and Modern Particle Theory" is a very good text. It's short and to the point, though it does presuppose a familiarity with calculations at slightly above the Griffith's Elementary Particles level. The Greiner texts (new editions, most of the errors are corrected) seem nice, as well--but they tend to be terribly incompatible with current standards in QFT and Elementary Particles because they approach the subject with slightly different formalism.

 

[Nusc]

-It lacked emphasis on the use of differential and integral calculus in several topics for classical mechanics problems. (This I find to be the biggest problem)

I have reason to doubt that this is true but most of first year honours classes use this textbook. But does Resnick, Halliday, Walker's text emphasize more use of calculus in their problems for classical mechanics?

University Physics Y&F has a very small section on graphical analysis with an asterisk.

 

[ron damon]

since you cannot do physics without mathematics, a short list of essentials in that area would also be uselful. I suggest adding "James Stewart - Calculus" for a start. That book is a godsend!

 

[ron damon]

how do you guys like the Serway Physics for Sci and Engi text?

 

[Nusc]

since you cannot do physics without mathematics, a short list of essentials in that area would also be uselful. I suggest adding "James Stewart - Calculus" for a start. That book is a godsend!

I'd assume you mean James Stewart - Single Variable Calculus Early Trancsendentals 5e but the name of the thread is called "Physics Textbooks" and I specifically asked for a brief listing of the advanced physics textbooks, good books rather. As for Serway, my guess would be that it's probably at the level of University Physics by YF.

 

[Nusc]

Introductory Calculus-Based:
U - Fundamentals of Physics 7e - Resnick, Halliday & Walker

E&M:
U - Introduction to Electrodynamics - David J. Griffith
G - Classical Electrodynamics - J. D. Jackson

I'm not sure about the others...

Quantum Mechanics:

U - Introduction to Quantum Mechanics - David J. Griffith

Thermodynamics:

U - An Introduction to Thermal Physics - Daniel V. Schroeder

Classical Mechanics:

U - Classical Mechanics - Herbert Goldstein

Mathematical Physics:

U - Mathematical Methods in the Physical Sciences - Boas
G - Mathematical Methods for Physicists - Arfken

Modern Physics:

U - Modern Physics - Bernstein, Fishbane & Gasiorowicz

The list may end up huge for U but I'm sure there is a general consensus for graduate textbooks.

Although this list may bring stereotyping or predijuce to other textbooks, that's not the point. It's intent is to inform, or try to inform, others about the level and expectation of physics which you are studying at.

If I am not mistaken, you have often come across "suggested readings" in physics textbooks. It is most likely that you ignore them and you will probably ignore this one to.

 

[rachmaninoff]

U - Mathematical Methods for Physicists - Arfken

I think Arfken is more of a graduate text, no?

 

[Nusc]

I didn't see that. Thanks!

 

[robphy]

Ok, I'll play along.
U/G = "advanced undergrad"/"intro grad"

some additions

EM
U - Purcell (some freshmen use this)
U - Lorrain/ Corson
G - Landau/Lifshitz

Mech
U - Kleppner/Kolenkow (some freshmen use this)
U - Marion
U - Symon (some like it)
U/G - Goldstein
G - Landu/Lifshitz
G - Arnold

Math Meth
U/G - Arfken
U/G - Kreyszig
U/G - Mathews/Walker
U/G - Lea
U/G - Strang
U/G - Schutz

Modern Physics
U - Serway
U - Krane

Quantum
U - French/Taylor
U - Gasiorowicz

Relativity
U - Moore
U - Taylor/Wheeler
U - Woodhouse
U - Schutz
G - Wald
G - Misner/Thorne/Wheeler
G - d'Inverno



Optics
U - Hecht

Thermo
U - Reif
U - Baierlein (looks interesting - anyone use this?)
U - Kittel

Intro
U - Halliday, Resnick, Walker
U - Halliday, Resnick, Krane
U - Cummings/Laws/Redish/Cooney (looks promising - might use in a few years)
U - Moore (looks promising)
U - Hewitt
U - Giambattista (looks promising - might use in a few years)
U - Feynman Lectures [resource]
U - Goodstein [Mechanical Universe] (did folks like this?)

 

[ron damon]

I'd assume you mean James Stewart - Single Variable Calculus Early Trancsendentals 5e but the name of the thread is called "Physics Textbooks" and I specifically asked for a brief listing of the advanced physics textbooks, good books rather. As for Serway, my guess would be that it's probably at the level of University Physics by YF.

since you start off your list with an entry level physics text, I thought an intro math book could complement it, and as far as calculus goes Stewart's book is the best.

 

[dextercioby]

I can post the list of my favorite books:

Classical Mechanics: Goldstein, Landau & Lifschitz, Marsden et al. and I.V.Arnold.

Statistical Mechanics: Balescu, Greiner, K.Huang, 3 vols of L & L.

Electrodynamics and Special Relativity: D.J.Griffiths, L & L, J.D.Jackson.

Thermodynamics: Bazarov, H.Callen, Kubo.

Quantum Mechanics: Gallindo & Pascual, J.J.Sakurai, C.Cohen-Tannoudji et al. (worked examples), Akhiezer & Glazman, J.Prugoveçki, L & L.

Quantum Field Theory: A.Zee, S.Weinberg, W.Siegel, Bailin & Love; axiomatic: Bogoliubov et.al.

Quantization: M.Henneaux & C.Teitelboim (a must for any theorist).

Classical Optics: Born & Wolf.

Deformable Continuous Media: *Linear elasticity: L & L *Fluid Mechanics: L & L.

Solid State Phyics: Ch.Kittel, Ashley & Mermin, Kireev.

Plasma Physics: ----------

Nuclear Physics: K.Krane.

Atom & Molecule Physics: Bransden & Joachain (also many useful readings in Cohen-Tannoudji et.al.).

Particle Physics (QFT prerequisite): Greiner (the symmetries book), D.J.Griffiths.

General Theory of Relativity: P.A.M.Dirac, R.d'Inverno, R.Wald, MTW.

Supersymmetric Quantum Field Theory and Supergravity: Müller-Kirsten & Wiedemann, Bailin & Love, Blagoevic.

String and Superstring Theory: Zwiebach, GSW.

Mathematical Methods: Whittaker & Wattson, Morse & Feschbach, Reed & Simon, Nakahara.

And above all, Feynman's lectures on physics.

Daniel.

 

[Nusc]

This maybe more difficult than I expected. Not just because there are so many textbooks but because I don't want people just creating an endless list. As I have specified before, don't mention lower level textbooks.

I have used "Modern Physics - Serway, Moses and Moyer. The questions in this textbook are almost equivalent to or less than the questions in "University Physics with Modern Physics" by YF. So please watch what you list.

Damn I just found this:

http://www.physicsgre.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=278

 

[Nusc]

This thread is dumb someone close it

http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics/Administrivia/booklist.html

 

[Nusc]

Can anyone compare:

Analytical Mechanics - Cassiday & Fowles

and

Classical Mechanics - Goldstein

How much do they differ in difficulty?

 

[rachmaninoff]

http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~abhishek/chicphys.htm

 

[MalleusScientiarum]

For undergraduate:

Classical Mechanics: Corben and Stehle Classical Mechanics in Dover edition. It gets overlooked a lot, but it's actually got everything from Newton's laws to Action/Angle Variables to Lagrangians for continuous fields concisely and clearly exposed.

Thermodynamics: Herbert Callen Thermodynamics and an Introduction to Thermostatistics. Also has a good section on nonequilibrium stuff and an solid introduction to Stat. Mech.

Electromagnetism: Griffith Electromagnetism. I don't see a problem with it as much as some people do.

Quantum Mechanics: Shankar Principles of Quantum Mechanics is very good for self-study, but I find it verbose at times.

Statistical Mechanics: Because I think the Reif is a terrible book, I have to go with the Callen again, although the Feynman lectures on stat. mech. aren't bad, they aren't great. There really is no good stat. mech. book.

For graduate:

Classical Mechanics: It's almost a tie between the Goldstein and the Corben & Stehle. The Goldstein has a lot of depth on things like nonlinear dynamics, but the Corben & Stehle is so concise and thorough it's hard to ignore.

Quantum Mechanics: Sakurai is still the classic, although I like the Baym as well.

Statistical Mechanics: Pathria has some good stuff, but like with undergrad. there really is no good stat. mech. book.

Having not taken a graduate E&M course, I can't comment, although I like the Melvin Schwartz in Dover edition, as it uses Special Relativity and Lorentz invariance to introduce magnetism, which is a nice touch.

All of this ignores the Landau series, which can be a difficult read if you don't already know the subject, but is an acknowledged masterpiece of every subject.

 

[Nusc]

Introductory Calculus-Based:
U - Physics 5e - Resnick, Halliday & Krane!

NOT

U - Fundamentals of Physics 7e - Resnick, Halliday & Walker

Huge difference...!

 

[Knavish]

Nusc, you told me to get 7e for a calculus-based book! :P

It's okay though. My 7e order just came in today, and I am entirely pleased. I know most of the stuff anyway.

 

[Nusc]

...


I'm terribly sorry...

 

[Knavish]

The university I'll be attending uses 7e, so all is fine.