Best physics books...

[Marco12]

I want to get some physic books, I was thinking physics of the impossible by Kaku or Elegant Universe by Brian Greene maybe even Hawking's new book the "The Grand Design"

What do you guys suggest???

[The legend]

I have read "The Grand Design" and "theory of everything" by Stephen Hawking and they are quite good.

Other few:
-> Carl Sagan - The Cosmic Connection
->Steven Weinberg - A Moderm View of the Origin of the Universe
-> Elegant Universe(as you said)
...............

[Marco12]

Thank you, I will be checking those out.

[The legend]

Actually i have more, just felt lazy to write them down :biggrin:....tell me if you want!

[humanino]

Penrose's Road to reality

[Adyssa]

I've read a few "physics for laymen" books over the years - by Stephen Hawking, Paul Davies, Carl Sagan.. maybe a few more that I can't remember. All have been interesting but it's a kind of wide-eyed interesting if you know what I mean, I'm no physicist. :P

My favourite is "Genius: Richard Feynman and modern physics" a biography of Richard Feynman by James Gleick, it's a riveting read. Soon after I bought "Six Easy Pieces" by Feynman and thoroughly enjoyed it also, and since then I've bought "The Red Books" a 3 part physics lectures from Feynman and hunted around the internet for any video lectures I could find (there's quite a few on YouTube and other such places). What an amazing person he was and such a good teacher! I don't feel like I understand QED at all (haha! >.> ) but it's fun trying to!

On the topic of biographies, I also enjoyed "Einstein: His life and universe" by Walter Isaacson. He explains a little of the physics and maths along the way, but it's much more a biography than a science text, as is Feynman's.

[mheslep]

...My favourite is "Genius: Richard Feynman and modern physics" a biography of Richard Feynman by James Gleick, it's a riveting read. Soon after I bought "Six Easy Pieces" by Feynman and thoroughly enjoyed it also, and since then I've bought "The Red Books" a 3 part physics lectures from Feynman and hunted around the internet for any video lectures I could find (there's quite a few on YouTube and other such places). What an amazing person he was and such a good teacher! I don't feel like I understand QED at all (haha! >.> ) but it's fun trying to!Second Gleick's Feynman bio. That bit about Feynman and Freeman Dyson together on road trip across the US, staying in a $0.50/night hotel (http://www.feynmanphysicslectures.com/remembering-richard-feynman/freeman-dyson-road-trip), etc, changed my view of Dyson a bit when he shows up here in my shop for briefings a few times a year.

[Chronos]

I recommend 'Gravitation' by Misner, Wheeler, Thorne.

[Andy Resnick]

I want to get some physic books, I was thinking physics of the impossible by Kaku or Elegant Universe by Brian Greene maybe even Hawking's new book the "The Grand Design"

What do you guys suggest???

I suggest avoiding "The Grand Design"- it's terrible. What are you trying to learn about?

[Marco12]

I suggest avoiding "The Grand Design"- it's terrible. What are you trying to learn about?

I wanna learn more about M-theory and you know some good read on theoretical physics :)

[_Tully]

They tout 'The Grand Design' as being about M-theory, when they mention it about twice through the whole book. I enjoyed it for the history lessons, but it ends abruptly and is quite disappointing.

[Marco12]

They tout 'The Grand Design' as being about M-theory, when they mention it about twice through the whole book. I enjoyed it for the history lessons, but it ends abruptly and is quite disappointing.

I already order it, I wanna order another one thought. I really like and been following Michio Kaku, but I dont know if his books are kinda old?

[_Tully]

This book is great and has plenty of problems.

http://www.amazon.com/Basic-Physics-Self-Teaching-Guide-Guides/dp/0471134473/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1291383920&sr=8-1

[Ebola_V1rus]

I have 'The Elegant Universe' by Brian Greene. I'd rate it as mediocre, there are some interesting aspects to it (the history of M theory for example) and some negative (terrible god forsaken examples). I would not recommend you spend your hard earned, or freely given, currency on it.

[muppet]

I'd disagree with the above evaluation of The Elegant Universe, but strongly recommend The Fabric of the Cosmos by Brian Greene. QED: the strange theory of light and matter is brilliant (popular lectures by Feynman).
The Road to Reality is, I'd suggest, as much about maths as it is about physics. If you get that be prepared to start from the Pythagorean theorem ... and I'd also say that the criticism of The Grand Design is well justified.

As an afterthought, I'd also take Chronos' suggestion of MTW's Gravitation with a pinch of salt- unless you really want to learn of course... :wink:

[Nabeshin]

I recommend 'Gravitation' by Misner, Wheeler, Thorne.

:rofl: