Science
Related: About this forumRequest: advice on a book on learning physics.
Hi, I'm a semi-retired statistician and I'm interested in beefing up my knowledge of physics. I last studied physics in the late 60s - so I'm probably old enough to be your dad - and, hey, get off my lawn!!!!
Physics was always a second love to me. I could quite easily have majored in it, but I chose stats and have no regrets.
Now, in my old age, I'm seeking to rekindle my affection for physics. I'm thinking about buying two books, one on classical physics and one on modern physics. I've pretty well decided on the modern one (Modern physics for scientists and engineers, by Morrison) but am having some problems with the more classical stuff. So, I'm looking for some advice as to a suitable text books. The one I'm thinking of is Sears and Zimansky. I'm pretty sure S & Z was what I used way back when, but my copy left home some time ago without saying goodbye (that's what friends and family are for, aren't they?)
So, my question to you, good people, is "Is S & Z a good way to go?". I can get a good condition second-hand copy for 30 bucks (both 10th and 11th editions), so it's not a major investment. And the list of topics in S & Z is just what I want...viz...
Mechanics
Thermodynamics
Waves/acoustics
Electromagnetism
Optics
Modern physics (which I'll ignore and go with Morrison)
Answers to odd-numbered problems
Some comments on Amazon suggest that S & Z are more high school level than undergraduate university. My maths background is pretty strong, so (basic/not so basic) calculus, line integrals, Fourier transforms etc etc are fine, so I'd appreciate a book on that level.
Any advice would be gratefully received...and get off my lawn!!!!!
Cheers
izquierdista
(11,689 posts)Can't do any better than that. It's even worthwhile going back to re-read for the fourth or fifth time.
caraher
(6,278 posts)You won't get a bunch of textbook problems to work, but the Feynman Lectures are basically the best single set of books not only on a broad range of physics topics but on how to think like a physicist. By all means go through the standard texts, but if you want to do it right read Feynman!
SwissTony
(2,560 posts)Looked at the boxed set on Amazon and it was rated 5 stars by everyone except by one rater and his problem was about printing quality, not content.
Plus it's always nice to have stuff by Feynman.
A rater on Amazon suggested that you could get round the lack of exercises by buying a book with solved/unsolved problems e.g Schaum's. I can live with that.
seeviewonder
(461 posts)worked under Feynman before receiving his Ph.D. My professor was a wise man, but nowhere near the intellect of Feynman.
Warpy
(111,277 posts)Courses are in alphabetical order so you'll have to scroll a bit to get to Physics.
I've done their art history and history courses so far and they've been OK. I understand their math courses are outstanding, maybe I'll do those next--just for fun, not because somebody told me I had to.
http://www.khanacademy.org/
Joe Shlabotnik
(5,604 posts)Last edited Tue Mar 20, 2012, 09:46 AM - Edit history (1)
couldn't get any of the vids to load-temp. problem?----------------nevermind,I just had to use Google chrome browser to get them to work.
SwissTony
(2,560 posts)Only a few videos (all maths) and they were wonderful.
Looks fantastic. And not just to me - some of the comments are along the lines of "Why couldn't someone do this years ago".
Dead_Parrot
(14,478 posts)dipsydoodle
(42,239 posts)I'm an old fart too but still love maths. I'd looked around recently for books on pure maths for some timely reminders and was appalled at the prices. That site looks very handy.
jobendorfer
(508 posts)I've had good luck with these -- your mileage may of course vary. Good luck!
General Physics: Halliday & Resnick, _Fundamentals of Physics_, very standard freshman physics text
Modern Physics: Beiser, _Modern Physics_, or Tipler & Llewellyn, _Modern Physics_.
Mechanics: Taylor, _Classical Mechanics_. Incredibly well-written for a physics text.
Optics: Hecht.
Electromagnetism: Griffiths, _Introduction to Electrodynamics_.
All of these assume a basic knowledge of calculus and that you can handle straightforward linear differential equations ( if you can separate variables, you're good! )
These books also do a pretty good job of teaching you the math as you need it -- bits of linear algebra, vector calculus, etc. The statistics & probability background will really help you with modern physics, when you start getting introduced to pilot waves, and definitely with thermodynamics. The Taylor book is really, really good -- the author did his undergrad work at the Cambridge tripos, he does a great job of illuminating the mathematical underpinnings of mechanics. If you run across a thermodynamics book that you like, please let me know ...
Feynman's books are good but I got a lot more out of them when I read them the second time, after a couple of years of study.
Another book that's very interesting, in a way that positively *will* hurt your brain, I guarantee it, is Penrose's _Road to Reality_, which is about 1,000 pages long and the physics starts around page 400, after a long and scenic tour through some very deep math. I am very much stuck around page 120, and have been for about four years
For what it's worth, I'm a software guy about to cross to the wrong side of fifty, and I'm working the same sort of program you are -- that is, interested in physics, 25 years away from my last calculus course. PM me if you'd like to exchange email addresses. Maybe we can help each other get unstuck from time to time.
Regards & good luck,
J.
eridani
(51,907 posts)Still consult it occasionally. I'm sure many over 50 nerds also do that.
seeviewonder
(461 posts)"A Journey Across the Subatomic Cosmos" by Isaac Asimov and "The Elegant Universe" by Brian Greene.
SwissTony
(2,560 posts)I've ordered a copy of Halliday and Resnick (and Walker). That should be sufficient for my purposes.
I've also made a deal with my wife. If she buys me Feynman for Xmas, I'll take her to Paris in autumn. Now that's what I call a win/win.
Again, thanks for your input.