5 ms·

I was going to make exactly this same comment. (And the third text being compared was The Feynman Lectures, which is another entirely different sort of book and

I was going to make exactly this same comment. (And the third text being compared was The Feynman Lectures, which is another entirely different sort of book and level.) This was the example that made me decide that this list's approach just wasn't useful the way that its author wanted it to be. I could take a stab at an actual list like this with better organization by recommending books for each course in the more or less standard undergraduate core physics curriculum, but I'm sure different professors would make different choices (and even for me, I know that my choices would be situation dependent). It's a hard problem, and it doesn't translate well to the very short summaries shown here.

godelski 8y ago
> but I'm sure different professors would make different choices (and even for me, I know that my choices would be situation dependent). I think most of us would recommend books that we used. Or adamantly say "stay away from this one!" Like you said, it isn't easy. But there seem to be a few good options in each level, and usually only a few. I think the best thing to do would be to categorize them by level and say "Here's the most popular books, this is the one I recommend." It is impossible to be unbiased but I think that's about as close as you can expect to get.
ivan_ah 8y ago
I'd love to hear which books you recommend for the core physics curriculum. I started working on such a list[1], but I feel out of my depth for certain courses because I did my UGRAD in Electrical Engineering and don't know the physics UGRAD curriculum that well, let along provide recommendations. [1] https://github.com/minireference/structure-api/blob/master/data/miniref/physics.yml https://github.com/minireference/structure-api/blob/master/d...
- godelski 8y ago
  You definitely have some stuff messed up in there. It is hard to know without physically opening up books. An example: Classical Mechanics. Goldstein is the de facto graduate text on the subject. I haven't used Hand, but what I could get with the "Surprise Me" feature on Amazon, it looks like a Undergraduate text. I however used Marion and Thornton[0]. There also seems to be some misunderstanding in HOW to order it too. Like you have Mechanics in the beginning. What do you mean by that? The first round? ie: not Classical Mechanics (Junior year). If so, those books are typically a trifecta, containing: mechanics, E&M, some waves, and some modern. Those are typically Young or Halliday and Resnik. You also separate electricity and magnetism into different sections, in the undergrad section. Why? You have QM but don't have Griffiths? You have E&M but don't have Griffiths? Why do you have Sakurai and don't specify which one?! If anything says "Modern" in the title it is probably a graduate book. I can't see inside that one but it is frequently bought with Jackson (E&M) and Goldstein, so I would take a stab at it being a graduate text. [0] https://smile.amazon.com/Classical-Dynamics-Particles-Systems-Thornton/dp/8131518477/ref=sr_1_31?ie=UTF8&qid=1533212698&sr=8-31&keywords=classical+mechanics https://smile.amazon.com/Classical-Dynamics-Particles-System...
- Steuard 8y ago
  I should probably write this up more formally somewhere. But have a look, and it would be cool if you'd give me credit somewhere if you use these notes in your own stuff (I'm Steuard Jensen, and I'm a professor at Alma College). For each course below, the books are listed in roughly my order of preference. This is far, far from being every book for each course or even every popular one, but it's a start. Intro Physics (Mechanics, E&M, waves, etc.): * Six Ideas That Shaped Physics, by Tom Moore: Conservation laws first, and a nice conceptual approach (and can incorporate "modern physics" along the way). * Matter and Interactions, by Chabay and Sherwood: Integrated VPython programming, and uses "true" relativistic mechanics right from the start (and quantum's built in, too). * Physics for Scientists and Engineers, by Randall Knight: As close to a "traditional" intro book as you can get while still paying attention to physics education research. It's very good, though I feel like the latest edition has veered back a bit to a bit more traditional order, perhaps to make it smoother for old professors to switch. Uncertanity/Error Analysis: (Essential for understanding experimental physics) * An Introduction to Error Analysis, by John Taylor: Such a beautiful little book! "Modern Physics": (Is a class whose content mostly ends before 1950 really "modern"?) * Six Ideas That Shaped Physics (Units R and Q), by Tom Moore: A very nice first introduction to both special relativity and quantum physics. Might need some supplemental content if you have time for more advanced quantum/nuclear stuff. [* Special Relativity, by Tom Helliwell: I learned out of this, and it was very good. I haven't taught out of it.] [* Quantum Physics of Atoms, Molecules, Solids, Nuclei, and Particles, by Eisberg and Resnick: I learned out of this, but haven't taught out of it. Comprehensive.] Intermediate Classical Dynamics: (I haven't taught this one!) * ?Classical Mechanics, by John Taylor: I've heard very good things about this one. [* Classical Dynamics of Particles and Systems, by Thornton and Marion: I learned out of it. It was fine.] Intermediate Electromagnetism: * Introduction to Electrodynamics, by David Griffiths: Truly excellent introduction to analysis of electric and magnetic fields using vector calculus and partial differential equations. [* ?Classical Electromagnetic Radiation, by Heald and Marion: I learned out of this. Not my favorite book, but it did the job.] Intermediate Quantum Mechanics: * A Modern Approach to Quantum Mechanics, by John Townsend: Inspired by Sakurai's graduate text, Townsend starts by studying spin and Stern-Gerlach experiments in depth using Dirac bra-ket notation, and then progresses to time evolution and position space. The chapter on the path integral formulation is fun but optional, and there's good stuff on perturbation theory and scattering and some hints toward field theory. (This may work best if students had a strong "Modern Physics" course first that studied wavefunctions in some depth.) [* Introduction to Quantum Mechanics, by David Griffiths: I haven't used this myself. An excellent quantum book with a more "traditional" organization, starting with wavefunctions and only later talking about Dirac notation and spin.] Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics: * An Introduction to Thermal Physics, by Daniel Schroeder: A fantastic, multi-pass blend of statistical mechanics and classical thermodynamics. It starts with basic classical definitions of thermal concepts, then introduces explicit state counting in medium-sized systems with the help of Excel, then discusses classical thermodynamics in depth, and finally goes into a full discussion Boltzmann factors and statmech. * Fundamentals of Statistical and Thermal Physics, by Frederick Reif: This was (for me) the least bad of the books that I used to teach myself undergraduate statmech while I was in graduate school. (I foolishly arranged to avoid the class as an undergrad.)

godelski 8y ago

> but I'm sure different professors would make different choices (and even for me, I know that my choices would be situation dependent). I think most of us would recommend books that we used. Or adamantly say "stay away from this one!" Like you said, it isn't easy. But there seem to be a few good options in each level, and usually only a few. I think the best thing to do would be to categorize them by level and say "Here's the most popular books, this is the one I recommend." It is impossible to be unbiased but I think that's about as close as you can expect to get.

ivan_ah 8y ago

I'd love to hear which books you recommend for the core physics curriculum. I started working on such a list[1], but I feel out of my depth for certain courses because I did my UGRAD in Electrical Engineering and don't know the physics UGRAD curriculum that well, let along provide recommendations. [1] https://github.com/minireference/structure-api/blob/master/data/miniref/physics.yml https://github.com/minireference/structure-api/blob/master/d...

godelski 8y ago
You definitely have some stuff messed up in there. It is hard to know without physically opening up books. An example: Classical Mechanics. Goldstein is the de facto graduate text on the subject. I haven't used Hand, but what I could get with the "Surprise Me" feature on Amazon, it looks like a Undergraduate text. I however used Marion and Thornton[0]. There also seems to be some misunderstanding in HOW to order it too. Like you have Mechanics in the beginning. What do you mean by that? The first round? ie: not Classical Mechanics (Junior year). If so, those books are typically a trifecta, containing: mechanics, E&M, some waves, and some modern. Those are typically Young or Halliday and Resnik. You also separate electricity and magnetism into different sections, in the undergrad section. Why? You have QM but don't have Griffiths? You have E&M but don't have Griffiths? Why do you have Sakurai and don't specify which one?! If anything says "Modern" in the title it is probably a graduate book. I can't see inside that one but it is frequently bought with Jackson (E&M) and Goldstein, so I would take a stab at it being a graduate text. [0] https://smile.amazon.com/Classical-Dynamics-Particles-Systems-Thornton/dp/8131518477/ref=sr_1_31?ie=UTF8&qid=1533212698&sr=8-31&keywords=classical+mechanics https://smile.amazon.com/Classical-Dynamics-Particles-System...
Steuard 8y ago
I should probably write this up more formally somewhere. But have a look, and it would be cool if you'd give me credit somewhere if you use these notes in your own stuff (I'm Steuard Jensen, and I'm a professor at Alma College). For each course below, the books are listed in roughly my order of preference. This is far, far from being every book for each course or even every popular one, but it's a start. Intro Physics (Mechanics, E&M, waves, etc.): * Six Ideas That Shaped Physics, by Tom Moore: Conservation laws first, and a nice conceptual approach (and can incorporate "modern physics" along the way). * Matter and Interactions, by Chabay and Sherwood: Integrated VPython programming, and uses "true" relativistic mechanics right from the start (and quantum's built in, too). * Physics for Scientists and Engineers, by Randall Knight: As close to a "traditional" intro book as you can get while still paying attention to physics education research. It's very good, though I feel like the latest edition has veered back a bit to a bit more traditional order, perhaps to make it smoother for old professors to switch. Uncertanity/Error Analysis: (Essential for understanding experimental physics) * An Introduction to Error Analysis, by John Taylor: Such a beautiful little book! "Modern Physics": (Is a class whose content mostly ends before 1950 really "modern"?) * Six Ideas That Shaped Physics (Units R and Q), by Tom Moore: A very nice first introduction to both special relativity and quantum physics. Might need some supplemental content if you have time for more advanced quantum/nuclear stuff. [* Special Relativity, by Tom Helliwell: I learned out of this, and it was very good. I haven't taught out of it.] [* Quantum Physics of Atoms, Molecules, Solids, Nuclei, and Particles, by Eisberg and Resnick: I learned out of this, but haven't taught out of it. Comprehensive.] Intermediate Classical Dynamics: (I haven't taught this one!) * ?Classical Mechanics, by John Taylor: I've heard very good things about this one. [* Classical Dynamics of Particles and Systems, by Thornton and Marion: I learned out of it. It was fine.] Intermediate Electromagnetism: * Introduction to Electrodynamics, by David Griffiths: Truly excellent introduction to analysis of electric and magnetic fields using vector calculus and partial differential equations. [* ?Classical Electromagnetic Radiation, by Heald and Marion: I learned out of this. Not my favorite book, but it did the job.] Intermediate Quantum Mechanics: * A Modern Approach to Quantum Mechanics, by John Townsend: Inspired by Sakurai's graduate text, Townsend starts by studying spin and Stern-Gerlach experiments in depth using Dirac bra-ket notation, and then progresses to time evolution and position space. The chapter on the path integral formulation is fun but optional, and there's good stuff on perturbation theory and scattering and some hints toward field theory. (This may work best if students had a strong "Modern Physics" course first that studied wavefunctions in some depth.) [* Introduction to Quantum Mechanics, by David Griffiths: I haven't used this myself. An excellent quantum book with a more "traditional" organization, starting with wavefunctions and only later talking about Dirac notation and spin.] Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics: * An Introduction to Thermal Physics, by Daniel Schroeder: A fantastic, multi-pass blend of statistical mechanics and classical thermodynamics. It starts with basic classical definitions of thermal concepts, then introduces explicit state counting in medium-sized systems with the help of Excel, then discusses classical thermodynamics in depth, and finally goes into a full discussion Boltzmann factors and statmech. * Fundamentals of Statistical and Thermal Physics, by Frederick Reif: This was (for me) the least bad of the books that I used to teach myself undergraduate statmech while I was in graduate school. (I foolishly arranged to avoid the class as an undergrad.)