Theoretical Physics books
- Thread starter Glaucus
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Depends on what your interested in, and what you'd consider recent (but as their hasnt been any major discoveries in quite a while I think my recommendations will be okay 
), a good book I'd recommend would be "the trouble with physics" by Lee Smolin and "the fabric of the cosmos" - two good books on physics and I really enjoyed the first but I found both very interesting and have read both on more than one occasions, if you want something a bit more recent a book called "higgs" by Jim baggot is an okay read, not bad but it just gives a backround on the higgs and what they hope will be revealed with the recent cern experiment (if you read up on the higgs before their isnt a whole lot of new material but still a worth a read if you need a refresher etc.)
And just for good measure - I'd be very interested in Time - just a personal prefrence, a really good read on this topic (and a unique view on it) is called "The end of time" by Julian Barbour, but it is a very heavy read!
Just a few books I have that I'd say are worth as read.
), a good book I'd recommend would be "the trouble with physics" by Lee Smolin and "the fabric of the cosmos" - two good books on physics and I really enjoyed the first but I found both very interesting and have read both on more than one occasions, if you want something a bit more recent a book called "higgs" by Jim baggot is an okay read, not bad but it just gives a backround on the higgs and what they hope will be revealed with the recent cern experiment (if you read up on the higgs before their isnt a whole lot of new material but still a worth a read if you need a refresher etc.)And just for good measure - I'd be very interested in Time - just a personal prefrence, a really good read on this topic (and a unique view on it) is called "The end of time" by Julian Barbour, but it is a very heavy read!
Just a few books I have that I'd say are worth as read.
Check out http://www.frankwilczek.com/
I'm reading his "The Lightness of Being" which is very well written, funny as well, but probably not the most understandable as it's pretty heavy going in the Quantum physics realm.
I'm reading his "The Lightness of Being" which is very well written, funny as well, but probably not the most understandable as it's pretty heavy going in the Quantum physics realm.
Just curious if you went for any of the books suggested by Freakbro or myself, and if so what do you think of them
Not yet, but will pick up End of Time that looks interesting.
I got a couple of others before you guys posted.
Why Does E=MC2 and Why Should We Care
and Chris Hadfields book (although that's not theoretical physics)
was hopping for something really modern, but doesn't appear to be anything. as CERN has been operating for a few years and off course experiments are done all the time which change thinking and others are planned for the future and its always interesting reading about ones in early development.
one I did come across which I'll get as well is, which seems to be the most recent. Its to do with CERN and Higgs
The Particle at the End of the Universe
by Sean Carroll
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I really enjoyed Brian Greene's books. Reading The Elegant Universe during my A-Levels really got me hooked on theoretical physics. I'd recommend that or 'Fabric of the Cosmos' to begin with, they explore string theory but a big portion of both books cover things like relativity and quantum theory. Hidden Reality is good but the others cover a lot more.
If you're looking for more quantum related material then 'In Search of Schrodinger's Cat' is a great read. Gribbin is great at covering the science as well as the scientists and his writing is very easy to read. (Can a book about quantum theory be a 'page turner'?) The book itself is some 28 years old but don't let that put you off - it's excellent, besides, quantum theory was pretty much finished by the 70s
. The follow-on book 'In search of Schrodingers Kittens' is also very good but read that second.
If you're looking for more quantum related material then 'In Search of Schrodinger's Cat' is a great read. Gribbin is great at covering the science as well as the scientists and his writing is very easy to read. (Can a book about quantum theory be a 'page turner'?) The book itself is some 28 years old but don't let that put you off - it's excellent, besides, quantum theory was pretty much finished by the 70s
. The follow-on book 'In search of Schrodingers Kittens' is also very good but read that second.I really didn't enjoy this one. They felt the need to explain Pythagoras theorem (would anyone under the age of 12 that hasn't covered this in school be reading this book?) yet they cover incredibly difficult conceptual ideas - poorly.
Ahh cool, End of time is a good (crazy) read, I've seen those books you've posted but not read them, looks like they were covered in other books I've got, it's pretty hard to get anything too modern as the big issues are still unresolved (really well explained in the trouble with physics) and it seems a lot of the books out their are the same information just presented a little different,
Keep me posted on what you think of the ones you read, just to see if they end up a missed opportunity and are worth a read.
Keep me posted on what you think of the ones you read, just to see if they end up a missed opportunity and are worth a read.
Finally finished it.
Overall I thought it was very good and set out what it aimed to do. The audience it is aimed at needs to explain that.
I found the pace mixed though. Bits where to easy and laboured (which 2can understand seeing its aims) other bits seemed to be skipped over to fast.
However I did learn stuff and the last chapter was brilliant.
Is there any decent books in the Higgs boson yet, preferably written after the fairly recent LHC initial results. Or for the time being, higgs" by Jim maggot / The Particle at the End of the Universe by Sean Carroll, I don't think either talk about the initial LHC results though.
Those are the ones I really like, explain the current model, why it's wrong. Then go on to talk about the two or three best competing new theories and how close or if they can be tested.
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Associate
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The trouble with popular Physics books is that a lot of the material they cover is either incorrect or so simplified that it becomes useless knowledge. Like it or not, in order to gain a proper understanding of pretty much any concepts in Physics one must be versed well in mathematics - i.e. basic calculus, linear algebra, matrices, complex numbers, trigonometry...
If you really do want to learn Physics then actual textbooks (or just anything that's not popular science) are the way to go - I can highly recommend "Feynman's Lectures on Physics" (all volumes), they are not too complicated and can be understood by anyone with decent knowledge of the maths topics I outlined above.
As unfortunate as it is, popular science books are often rubbish - the only one that's any good which I've read is "The Trouble with Physics" by Lee Smolin. Avoid Brian Greene's books as he is a very strong advocate of String Theory and I'd also avoid Brian Cox's books as they are too simplified.
If you really do want to learn Physics then actual textbooks (or just anything that's not popular science) are the way to go - I can highly recommend "Feynman's Lectures on Physics" (all volumes), they are not too complicated and can be understood by anyone with decent knowledge of the maths topics I outlined above.
As unfortunate as it is, popular science books are often rubbish - the only one that's any good which I've read is "The Trouble with Physics" by Lee Smolin. Avoid Brian Greene's books as he is a very strong advocate of String Theory and I'd also avoid Brian Cox's books as they are too simplified.
Soldato
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Particle at the end of the universe seems to be very good, had quite low expectations of it.
Really enjoyed "why does e=mc2", despite also being massively sceptical. Really pleasant narrative style throughout that actually sounds like Jeff Foreshaw. Absolute genius. Pretty much agree that there are some sections that become rather quickly bogged down, but overall enjoyable.
Really enjoyed "why does e=mc2", despite also being massively sceptical. Really pleasant narrative style throughout that actually sounds like Jeff Foreshaw. Absolute genius. Pretty much agree that there are some sections that become rather quickly bogged down, but overall enjoyable.
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Soldato
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