Books Definition and 1000 Threads

For any mathematician or physicist, what textbooks do you consider a must read? Also, what books do you remember reading that gave you great insight into a topic which you previously did not have?

I am looking for some suggestions for Condensed Matter and Solid State books. I currently have a one semester undergrad (soon to be two semesters) of Quantum Mechanics background. I am especially skewed toward something along the lines of Dover books, since they are cheap, and some of them are...

Greetings everyone, I am an undergraduate physics student an I would like to receive your suggestions about introduction to laser books. Which one do you recommend for a beginner? The possible candidates I have found are as follows: Laser Fundamentals William T. Silfvast Basics of Laser...

Has anyone heard of some sort of book series that is meant to supplement college courses with boatloads of examples and solutions? I've always thought it would be helpful if someone were to publish a big set of these. I've been searching for just a book full of challenging examples and step by...

Hey forumers! I'm currently starting work on Casimir Effect. A simple, undergraduate level introductory book would be helpful here. Can you guys suggest anything that might suite my level? I do know classical electrodynamics & QM, but not in QED yet..

I have read a lot of popular science books which have given me good knowledge about physics but none seem to have the maths. I want to know if there's any you can recommend that have the physics and the maths behind the physics. I'd prefer them to not be to complex but if that's not possible i...

For some independent study this summer, I have a choice of two books, available electronically, to study. John Stillwell - The Four Pillars of Geometry Abel's theorem in problems and solutions The decision is fiendishly difficult. The first book plays on some of my strengths - I...

I've taken a course in linear algebra a couple years ago, but I didn't take away too much from it, and now I'm looking to take some higher level math courses and have been brushing up on the subject, spending about an hour to two hours a day going through my old notes and textbook. However, the...

I want to take this time to really speak out against the current practice of not including equations in pop science books. This is nonsense. If you read a standard pop science book there will actually be quite a lot of jargon. Anyone who can handle that heavy amount of jargon can obviously...

Hello everyone I know that they are many threads already on this topic, but I'm still not convinced. I'm currently taking a course in modern physics, and, as i thought i would be, I'm fascinated with QM. Why I'm studyin engineering and not physics is something i don't have clear. Anyway, my...

Hello All, I am enrolled in a third year probability course, and the course textbook is Introduction to Probability Models by Sheldon Ross. I want to do good in this course, and this course is the hardest course in third year stats. Therefore, I am studying from Ross right now, but would...

I was wanting to read a bit more about economics because it'll come round to uni applications time and I'll realize I haven't read one book I could talk about on the subject. So I'm looking for something that's detailed enough to give me a good picture but not too detailed that I'll spend a...

I am a first-year physics major (currently in calc 2) and was wondering if there are any good introductory/low-level books on combinatorics through which I could educate myself over the summer. My college is offering a topics course on it next semester, but I was told by the professor that it...

I love reading popular sciences books during my free time, and I am particularly interested in physics. So far, I have read about Feynman, Dirac, Heisenberg, Bohr, Pauli, Oppenheimer, Randall, Steven Weinberg...in different books. The problem is that I don't have a background in physics, but I...

i have come across quite a huge list of free math books from the project Gutenberg, they scan in old books. but theses have been converted to latex so they are REALLY nice to read. they even have links in the pdf. there is a huge list so take a look...

Hello People, Could you please tell me about any really cool books(1 or 2) from which i could start learning quantum mechanics?I'd love to read some mathematics involved in quantum mechanics before actually reading quantum mechanics. Lol i don't know if that made sense cause i absolutely have...

Hi, I'm new to the forums. I hear this is a helpful site with knowledgeable people who know what they're talking about. I was wondering if you could answer a couple of questions for me. I am in high-school and soon attending college in a year, I plan on going into Medicine but I want to be...

Exactly what the title says. The prompt is this: Chose an actual example of scientific explanation, and use it to evaluate Hempel's and Ruben's accounts of explanation. I am not understanding the second part, how I am supposed to use an example to evaluate Hempel's and Ruben's accounts of...

I am looking for books that introduce the fundamentals of topology or manifolds. Not looking for proofs and rigor. Something that steps through fundamental theorems in the field, but gives conceptual explanations.

So I have read both of the following books Teach yourself physics http://www.amazon.com/dp/1444103091/?tag=pfamazon01-20 complete mathematics http://www.amazon.com/dp/1444105027/?tag=pfamazon01-20 Now I am not sure where to go from here. My goal is to have a firm understanding of...

I want to get into studying Physics or Computer Science. Only problem is my math really isn't good enough, but I have a year to fix that. I only did General Mathematics in high school. So what books would you recommend? Should I buy the textbooks from the advanced mathematics classes and work...

Hello. I'm in 10th grade,State syllabus in India. The portions for physics are not in depth and not hard. I want to learn more myself. I'm good at maths. Please suggest some books for a physics beginner like me. It is for self study. So please suggest some good books for a total beginner.

we have just started to learn a new chapter in my physics class about de broglies hypothesis. In my textbook it shows a diagram of a line of electrons being fired at a constant speed, hitting a sheet of thin metal foil and then diffracting. The explanation in my book says ' A narrow beam of...

Hello, This is my first post, I signed up especially to ask it. I recently finished reading Steven Hawking + Leonard Mlodinow's "The Grand Design" and I found it really interesting. The bits I found most interesting were the parts on quantum physics, more specifically wheeler's delayed...

Can someone recommend a good textbook for learning differential forms for someone with an understanding of calculus at the level of Spivak? Thanks.

I'm a Year 12 (UK) Physics student, currently in the first year of my IB course. I have been assigned some Easter revision work, and just wondered if anyone who has experience of IB Physics has any recommendations as to which books they have used in the past. I have been given two hefty...

Homework Statement Ten books are made into two piles. In how many ways can this be done if books as well as piles may or may not be distinguishable? The Attempt at a Solution So I thought I'd try what I thought was the easiest case first, that being that neither the books nor the piles...

Hi, I wanted to know if anyone knows which dover publication books are good to learn the contents of courses such as mathematical methods for physicists. Main topics include complex analysis, probability, mathematical statistics, integral transformations,ODE, PDE, linear algebra, calculus of...

Hi, I just purchased a Book on physics from amazon. What do you think of it? My criteria was: Fundamentals High end theory's Mathematical/Theoretical explanation Mathematical overviews Do you think the book matches? https://www.amazon.com/dp/0321501217/?tag=pfamazon01-20 Do you think...

Hello, I was reading these notes on supersymmetry, and in the appendix (which as he says is just to establish his conventions), talks about a lot of group theory and stuff that I don't know. Can someone please recommend a book/lecture notes where I can learn this?

I've always gotten this impression from reading books and in history that a hundred or so years ago there were these guys that through their great inventions (especially later in the Ind. revolution?) that became socially accepted and revered as "inventors" and it was a pretty big deal and...

I'm sure many of us have books like these. Maybe they are textbooks, maybe pop-sci books, but often something in between. And whatever they are, they're so good that we don't just read them for reference. This evening I once again pulled Kip Thorne's "Black Holes and Time Warps" off the...

I graduated with a BA in Classicals and didn't take any math in college. Now that I've been out for a few years I find that I have an overwhelming desire to learn how things work in a way I can describe mathematically (it's hard to explain, hopefully you understand) and am starting some self...

Does anyone know any good reading material on Tensor Algebra? Cannot seem to find good book about it. Thanks Also, I apologise if I post this in the wrong section.

Is there a good general list of books on biology? I would like to start self study routine but I don't know what books to buy. Thank you.

First of all, let me just say hello to the community here, as I am new and this is my first post (hopefully of many). Now on to business. Recently I have been reading a book by Silvanus Thompson called Calculus Made Easy. Now, I took Calculus in my junior year of H.S (I am a senior now) but...

I had a badly taught Advanced Linear Algebra course and it covered tensor algebra, resulting in a knowledge gap. What books would you recommend, if any? Exterior algebra, exterior calculus, Clifford and Grassmann algebras included wouldn't be bad ideas as well.

I'm unsure if this is the right place to post this but I am looking for a list of popular Science/Mathematics textbooks that are commonly used nationally from Middle School-High School? I am doing a research paper. In my thesis I feel as if the history of science is not introduced enough. Most...

I am an electrical engineer who does quite some engineering math in my work. I also need to use computers quite a bit, but ALWAYS find the entire culture of unix and C/Fortran coding intimidating. Here is an example: I tried to compile my "hello.cc", I typed "gcc hello.cc" and got "a.out". I...

Hello all! I am new to the forums and I am not exactly sure if this is the right place to post this question. I am currently interested in nonlinear dynamics and a professor had suggestion that I look into biophysics as well. I know almost nothing about biophysics and I am looking for a...

I would like to make an electromagnetic simulator, but I have no experience in this. I have written 3-dimensional ray tracing software for acoustic sources in MATLAB, but I did not include any boundary conditions, it was just propagation in free space through refractions. My only background...

Hi, I'm a bit of a history nerd, and especially when it comes to World War II. I was wondering if you guys knew of any good books written about the events that led to World War II. Or if you just have a favorite book about World War II if it's your thing also. And when I say history book I mean...

I've read Feynman lectures on physics. Can you recommend some physics books for me to carry on!

Next fall I will be using Mathematical Methods for Physicists by Arfken and Quantum Mechanics with Basic Field Theory by Desai for graduate courses in mathematical methods and quantum physics. Both are reputed to be books hard to learn from. I looked inside at Desai's book and it seemed to be...

Hey guys, I'm an electrical engineering student with a strong interest in physics. I would like to work through classical mechanics, E&M, and thermodynamics books. I'm not sure if there's another subject that is usually covered in classical physics (perhaps waves/optics?) but if so, I'd like...

I'd like some new material to devour, and I have an interest in this era for some reason, particularly the spy stuff (!) but also the space race, and other associated topics. I don't mind if it's fact or fiction really, it's not an academic pursuit. I'd quite like some books, so I can read them...

i am interested in Riemann zeta function. i am in a high school. i have good hold over calculus(at least what's required for physics). Would Tom Apostle's Calculus I be good to further improve my skills. What should i do next? Real Analysis or Complex Analysis or directly analytic number...

I am currently using a physics book that has many problems involving circular coordinate systems, but doesn't cover them very thoroughly. Does anyone have any recommendations on books that give thoroughly cover circular coordinate systems?

Hello, I'm not quite sure if this kind of question can be posted on this board. Please excuse me if not. I started studying real analysis with Rudin's Principles of Mathematics which was relatively compact. Then I bought Apostol's book which was much more helpful because it was more...

I'll be self-studying about chaos theory. I am looking for a comprehensive book on chaos theory which also touches upon the mathematical aspects involved in it from scratch .I'm no math graduate.. I hold an undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering.So, my knowledge in math is limited to...