I want to study real physics where to start?

[mathwonk]

i suggest you read feynman.

 

[pivoxa15]

From my limited experiences, I think the best way to learn physics (and maths) is to do problems. You could read many many books but nothing beats working out a problem yourself and checking if your solution is right. The latter is very important for beginners such as yourself.

I read the presecribed textbooks for QM and thermal subjects prior to the start of the course but didn't do a problem although did some example problems but it wasn't enough. When the course came around, I didn't feel I had an advantage by reading the books earlier. So books like Shuam's problems is excellent. The best way is to read and do problems with the latter being more important.

Also you mentioned you wanted to do 'real physics'. That is obviously open to intepretations but doing experiments is very close (if not is) 'real physics'. I learned a lot of good theory (and interesting theory that you might not come across when doing theoretical physics such as the statistics behind error analysis) when analysing an experiment I have done. So you should try to do some during the holidays, although I wouldn't know where to start with this advice. Anyone else have an idea?

 

[franznietzsche]

I keep on repeating myself... I already have a solid grasp of calculus, differentials etc. and matrix theory

Rule #1: The better you understand something, the less you think you have a solid grasp of it.

I don't mean to be belittling, but in general people rarely know as much as they think they do. Which texts have you used for those subjects? Which chapters? That will give us a better idea of your background exposure than you just saying you have a solid grasp of [list of topics].

I have plenty of textbooks at home on the subject, so that's not the worry. Anyway, should I look into Kleppner's book on mechanics?

Sure. We use Taylor's book (Classical Mechanics), which is very accessible(almost to a fault, IMO).