Which 3-5 Physics Books Would You Bring to a Desert Island?

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In summary: I guess that would include math books. Boatbuilding: A Complete Handbook of Wooden Boat Construction by Howard Irving Chapelle would be another book that would be good to bring as it is comprehensive and (way) too sophisticated for me. After finishing his syntopical reading of the leaders' speeches, he wrote an essay comparing the language used by Reagan, Carter, Gorbachev, and Qaddafi.
  • #1
angevin
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Ok, this is my first post here. I looked around the forum and sub-forums real quick. I don't know where else to post this but if this is in the wrong sub-forum then the mods or admins should feel free to move it to another subforum :

Someone you know is going to be stuck on a desert island for a significant amount of time and while he is there he wants to learn physics to pass the time away (he will be provided with supplies to allow him to focus on reading and leisure for the most part). However, there is a stipulation on how many books he can bring. He can only bring about 5 or 6 books and he has to learn physics from these alone doing syntopical reading. So what books would you recommend this person bring with him to the island if he asked for your expert advice on the matter ?

syntopical Definition from Wiktionary

Etymology Coined by Mortimer Adler in "How to Read a Book". Derived from the term Syntopicon®, a two-volume topical guide published as part of the Great Books of the Western World series.


[edit] Adjective syntopical (not comparable)


Referring to a type of analysis in which different works are compared and contrasted.
After finishing his syntopical reading of the leaders' speeches, he wrote an essay comparing the language used by Reagan, Carter, Gorbachev, and Qaddafi.

[edit] Quotations1997: Dhun H. Sethna, Investing Smart
(...) and it is their words and wisdom, accumulated over long periods of syntopical reading, that make up this text.

[edit] See also synoptic
Retrieved from "http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/syntopical" [Broken]

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/syntopical
 
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  • #2
If these may be series, I'd go for:
- the Feynman lectures
- Landau and Lifgarbagez

I don't know if I have to include math books.
 
  • #3
Boatbuilding: A Complete Handbook of Wooden Boat Construction by Howard Irving Chapelle
 
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  • #4
I would recommend that he bring 5 blank books. Writing a book takes far longer and is more mentally stimulating than reading one.
 
  • #5
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  • #6
I think angevin is trying to say that he doesn't have much money to make an entire library.

How much money are you willing to spend?

Generally, look for dover books. They are cheap.EDIT: Actually, I would buy a book telling you how to build a steam engine. And one book to tell you how to build a raft. One book to tell you how to desalinate water. And one book to tell you how to run all of the above on coconuts.
 
  • #7
Probably some books that are comprehensive and (way) too sophisticated for me:

Semi-Riemannian​ Geometry With Applications to Relativity (O'Neill)
The Large Scale Structure of Space-Time (Hawking)
Superstring theory (Green, Schwartz)
Foundations of mechanics (Abraham, Marsden)
Lie Groups (Duistermaat, Kolk)

Or, if series are allowed, I am thinking of Simon+Reed, Spivak's Dif. Geometry, Hörmander, L+L.

I think I will certainly be able to pass some time with these...
 
  • #8
First let me apologize for taking so long to respond. The motherboard on my laptop computer blew and it was not economical to fix it so I finally got around to fixing an older computer that a relative had and upgrading it some (the relative gave it to me). Thank you the replies everyone while I was away from the forum.
pfmentor said:
If these may be series, I'd go for:
- the Feynman lectures
- Landau and Lifgarbagez

I don't know if I have to include math books

I'm not a physicist but I already figured out before I posted this question that The Feynman lectures would be on the list (but you wouldn't have known that since I didn't mention it). The only physics books I have read in my lifetime are "Understanding Physics" by Isaac Asimov (which is now dated and out of print) and "Great Physicists: The Life and Times of Leading Physicists from Galileo to Hawking" by William H. Cropper (actually a mixture of a history book and a technical science book rather than just a straight up science book). Also since science teachers (whether formally or informally through authored books) like their students to be pre-taught to some degree unlike philosophy teachers let us assume that we don't have to include math books. However, even if the hypothetical person only understood basic calculus with applications to physics in pre-graduate student level degree beforehand I think just the book : "Mathematics of Classical and Quantum Physics" by Frederick W. ByronJr. and Robert W. Fuller" would be enough. However, since I said learn physics generally altogether as a whole in my first post that presupposes what I just said there to not be germane or at least not completely germane ( even though the Feynman Lectures are undegraduate level). Let us just ignore that however since this is a thought experiment. Let us not get too pedantic on that particular issue. Anyway, no math books are necessary (at least not while learning the subject that is). I think the Feynman lectures series are allowed according to my rules laid above because you can find them all in one book. I looked at the Landau and Lifschitz series real quick superficially on Amazon.com and I could not find them in a format of one book. Also the Feynman lectures were given between 1961-1964 and the Landau and Lifschitz series seem to have been written in the 80s or mostly in the 80s so maybe that fills in gaps were the Feynman lectures left off. I know events/findings/discoveries etc.. have happened in physics since that time though but since I am not a physicist I cannot judge how important they are. For instance from 1989-2000 these things happened :

*experimental evidence for only three generations of quarks and leptons are discovered
*evidence for the top quark is reported
* the t neutrino is detected

pinu7 said:
I think angevin is trying to say that he doesn't have much money to make an entire library.

How much money are you willing to spend?

Generally, look for dover books. They are cheap.

That is not what I am implying. I want to learn physics but I don't want to be a physicist (at least not at this point in my life nor for the foreseable future right now). I want a broad elite education whether in the formal context or informal context matters not to me. I will learn anyway that I can. So since I want a broad education I do not want to have to read/study more books on the topic than necessary because time is of the essence and because it is not efficient for my needs. Please only expert physicists reply in this thread. I appreciate people interested in physics in varying levels trying to help me here but I would prefer if only experts chime in here. I actually thought about emailing this question to Ivy league physics professors, MIT professors or a MIT professor and Michio Kaku but I decided it is better to try here first before bothering these people (I'm not sure they would even respond to me anyway).
 
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  • #9
jimmysnyder said:
Boatbuilding: A Complete Handbook of Wooden Boat Construction by Howard Irving Chapelle

No sorry I test as an INTP on the Myers-Briggs test so I'm not so sure that would be a useful book for me on a desert island (even though this below is a humorous not entirely serious or not a serious description) :

INTP: The Egghead

The typical INTP is a logical, abstract thinker whose intellect is ideally suited to understanding pure mathematics, linguistics, formal logic theory, and other pursuits unsuited to making a real living. The INTP can often understand even the most subtle nuances of lattice quantum chromodynamics, but cannot perform more concrete tasks such as dressing himself, operating a motor vehicle, or opening a door. An INTP may be able to tell you how to construct a nuclear reactor from a coconut and two pieces of string, but may be completely incapable of fixing a hole in a boat.

The INTP is really only suited to two careers: college professor and game show contestant. Of these career choices, only one offers the financial rewards which allows him to suport himself; for that reason, INTPs often take the other path, and become tenured academics.

RECREATION: Surprisingly, INTPs are often the hit of the party--not for their sometimes annoying habit of turning every discussion into a debate about semantics nor for their fascinating stories about Pierre de Fermat's habit of writing things in the margins of his books, but for the fact that they often show up with their pants on backwards and that if you put a Post-It note reading "Kick Me" on an INTP's back, he won't notice it no matter how many people kick him. That kind of entertainment never gets old.

COMPATIBILITY: INTPs make ideal companions to INTJs, as neither of them notices they're in a relationship.

Famous INTPs include Pierre de Fermat and almost everyone who knows what Pierre de Fermat wrote in the margins of his book.


In all seriousness though this a thought experiment so forget about your practical non-theoretical suggestions like the one above.
 
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  • #10
angevin said:
I'm not a physicist but I already figured out before I posted this question that The Feynman lectures would be on the list (but you wouldn't have known that since I didn't mention it). The only physics books I have read in my lifetime are "Understanding Physics" by Isaac Asimov (which is now dated and out of print) and "Great Physicists: The Life and Times of Leading Physicists from Galileo to Hawking" by William H. Cropper (actually a mixture of a history book and a technical science book rather than just a straight up science book). Also since science teachers (whether formally or informally through authored books) like their students to be pre-taught to some degree unlike philosophy teachers let us assume that we don't have to include math books. However, even if the hypothetical person only understood basic calculus with applications to physics in pre-graduate student level degree beforehand I think just the book : "Mathematics of Classical and Quantum Physics" by Frederick W. ByronJr. and Robert W. Fuller" would be enough. However, since I said learn physics generally altogether as a whole in my first post that presupposes what I just said there to not be germane or at least not completely germane ( even though the Feynman Lectures are undegraduate level). Let us just ignore that however since this is a thought experiment. Let us not get too pedantic on that particular issue. Anyway, no math books are necessary. I think the Feynman lectures series are allowed according to my rules laid above because you can find them all in one book. I looked at the Landau and Lifschitz series real quick superficially on Amazon.com and I could not find them in a format of one book. Also the Feynman lectures were given between 1961-1964 and the Landau and Lifschitz series seem to have been written in the 80s or mostly in the 80s so maybe that fills in gaps were the Feynman lectures left off. I know events/findings/discoveries etc.. have happened in physics since that time though but since I am not a physicist I cannot judge how important they are. For instance from 1989-2000 these things happened :

*experimental evidence for only three generations of quarks and leptons are discovered
*evidence for the top quark is reported
* the t neutrino is detected

Oops, nevermind ! I think the Feynman lectures probably cannot be found in one book. I am probably wrong. Either 1-3 books or 1-4 books seems standard for this series. So I change my mind. Series are allowed but preferably if they can be sold all at once like the Feynman series in a single bundle. Although I guess all series are allowed. Sorry (mea culpa) for the mistake but I'm only human and humans make mistakes. I can change my rules on the fly since this is my thought experiment afterall.
 
  • #11
junglebeast said:
I would recommend that he bring 5 blank books. Writing a book takes far longer and is more mentally stimulating than reading one.

Writing an expository book such as a science book without other book and periodical research/reference sources is stupid. So your suggestion is no good. That could be done writing a fictional book but fictional books are off topic here since they are not science books ! You fail !

http://blippitt.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/darth-vader-epic-fail.jpg
 
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  • #12
Angevin said:
The only physics books I have read in my lifetime are "Understanding Physics" by Isaac Asimov (which is now dated and out of print) and "Great Physicists: The Life and Times of Leading Physicists from Galileo to Hawking" by William H. Cropper (actually a mixture of a history book and a technical science book rather than just a straight up science book).

Actually, I just remembered that I also read "Hyperspace: A Scientific Odyssey Through Parallel Universes, Time Warps, and the 10th Dimension" by Michio Kaku while still in Highschool in the 1990s. I don't remember it being very tehnical though. Seems like it is was not written for specialists but for the general public. That was the first physics book I ever read.
 

1. What are the best books to bring to a desert island?

The best books to bring to a desert island are ones that you enjoy reading and can provide entertainment and knowledge. It's also important to consider the practicality of the books you bring, as they should be able to withstand the elements and keep you engaged for a long period of time.

2. How many books should I bring to a desert island?

It ultimately depends on your personal preference and the length of time you will be on the desert island. However, a good rule of thumb is to bring at least 3-5 books to have a variety of options to choose from while also considering space and weight limitations.

3. What genres of books are recommended for a desert island?

It's important to bring a variety of genres to keep yourself entertained and engaged. Some popular genres to consider are adventure, survival, fiction, non-fiction, and self-help books. It's also a good idea to bring a mix of both light and heavy reads to cater to different moods.

4. Can I bring electronic books to a desert island?

While electronic books may seem like a convenient option, they may not be practical for a desert island. They require electricity and may not be able to withstand the elements. It's always best to stick with physical books that do not require any external resources.

5. How can I keep my books safe on a desert island?

To keep your books safe on a desert island, it's important to store them in a waterproof and durable container. You can also wrap them in plastic or use a ziplock bag to protect them from any potential water damage. It's also important to keep them away from direct sunlight and extreme temperatures to prevent any damage to the pages.

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