Best Physics Book

bigerst

then go through high school physics first, again i recommend giancoli. starting from there do calculus based textbooks

Jorriss

I think if you learned these five books well, you have a very solid grounding in physics and would have plenty of freedom in what you could learn later.

'Arbitrary Intro book'

'Classical Mechanics' by Taylor
'Introduction to Electrodynamics' by Griffiths
'Introduction to Thermal Physics' by Schroeder
'Quantum Mechanics ...' by Zetilli

But! If you don't know introductory physics fairly well yet, do that first.

dydxforsn

They do start from the beginning, but people say that (and I agree with them) because they are so difficult intellectually, there is a slightly strange order to the material that can be off-putting to the beginner - but it's all there. There are the problems with them that I already mentioned, and I would elaborate further, but honestly a quite long discussion could be had about this. However, the Feynman Lectures are so profound that I would fell odd if I didn't repeat one last point because up until now it seems like I've largely insulted them - they're one of the best physics textbooks ever written. A truly amazing and unique experience to get standard undergraduate physics from one of the greatest physicists of all time (indeed legend goes that part of the reason why Feynman agreed to write the undergraduate lecture series is because to his knowledge no previous giant in physics had written a comprehensive lecture series like the Feynman Lectures.)


Anyways, if you are just beginning physics (and know basic Cal 1/2 differential and integral calculus), I would recommend a standard university physics book that is cal based instead of the Feynman Lectures (the Feynman Lectures simply satisfy the kind of book you created this thread for, they're just really difficult..) And as many have said, these [generic university physics] books are largely equivalent, and having worked as an undergraduate physics tutor for a while and reading various university textbooks that were lying around because I was always bored, they are all largely the same (save one book trying - and somewhat succeeding on those boring afternoons heh - to be more "entertaining" by occasionally giving "interesting" "everyday" situations in which the physics topics contained showed up in everyday life.. Such as the infrared sensing gland that causes a strike reflex in rattlesnakes...) I was actually somewhat surprised. How they can charge 200$ for these books baffles me. A very very big tip would be to buy a slightly older edition of a university physics book at a much lower price as somebody mentioned previously.

Daverz

In addition to the Feynman Lectures, I'd recommend an old edition of Resnick & Halliday e.g. Physics, 3rd ed.:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listi...condition=used

I know of some very old books that tried to cover a large swath of theoretical physics, the one by Joos and the one by Kompaneyets.

http://www.amazon.com/Theoretical-Ph.../dp/0486652270

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_no...ripbooks%2C271

azizlwl

I like Essential University Physics by Richard Wolfson.
Using Problem-Solving Strategy tool, IDEA

coreluccio

The new Resnick & Halliday (Fundamentals of Physics, 9th) is terrible. Used it for my wave motion and optics intro physics course this past fall. Really bad book. Avoid at all costs if you can.

MrRobotoToo

Here are some titles you may want to look at

"The Six Core Theories of Modern Physics " by Stevens

"From Newton to Mandelbrot: A Primer in Theoretical Physics" by Stauffer, Stanley, and Armstrong

"Theoretical Concepts in Physics" by Longair

"Theoretical Physics" by Joos

"Basic Theoretical Physics" by Krey and Owen

"Compendium of Theoretical Physics" by Wachter and Hoeber

"A Unified Grand Tour of Theoretical Physics" by Lawrie

MrRobotoToo

One more--probably closer to what you're looking for

"Handbook of Physics" by Benenson, Harris, Stocker, and Lutz