Textbooks are indispensable for really getting the material down, but I've found it much easier to read lectures. Feynman has great examples of this type of wo

Textbooks are indispensable for really getting the material down, but I've found it much easier to read lectures. Feynman has great examples of this type of work: "The Character of Physical Law" or "The Feynman Lectures on Computation" are both excellent. I've found that these books walk somewhere between textbook and popular science book. Easy to read but all the while teaching you the material. I've found this type of work to be the crucial link between pop. science and a textbook. You learn enough that you can find your footing when you're in a textbook and and also the inspiration to actually read it.