Best books for undergraduate physics

AI Thread Summary
Starting an undergraduate physics degree can be enhanced by selecting the right reading materials, especially when no specific reading list is provided. Recommended foundational texts include "Fundamentals of Physics" by Halliday and Resnick, which is widely regarded as a standard resource. Additionally, "Feynman's Lectures on Physics" is essential for any physics major, with a free online version available at feynmanlectures.caltech.edu. Other notable mentions include "Physics for Scientists and Engineers" by Serway and Jewett, which is also highly recommended. For those interested in general physics literature, works by popular authors such as Neil deGrasse Tyson, Brian Cox, and Jim Al-Khalili can provide engaging insights into the field.
Hawksteinman
Messages
59
Reaction score
23
I'm starting an undergraduate degree in physics on Friday (after a gap year and with a foundation year). What are the best books for undergraduate physics please (we don't have a reading list for first year) :)

And what are some general physics books I might be interested in (I recently bought an audiobook called 'Astrophysics for people on a hurry' by Niel de Grasse Tyson) and I like any books by Brian Cox, Jim Al-Khalilli, and Richard Feynman. :)
 
Physics news on Phys.org
A good standard book is Fundamentals of Physics by Halliday and Resnick. And for a physics major, I guess that Feynman's Lectures on Physics is something that you should at least be aware of. There is a free copy on-line at http://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/
 
  • Like
Likes Wrichik Basu, QuantumQuest, Lord Jestocost and 3 others
FactChecker said:
A good standard book is Fundamentals of Physics by Halliday and Resnick. And for a physics major, I guess that Feynman's Lectures on Physics is something that you should at least be aware of. There is a free copy on-line at http://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/

I have been using Feynman's Lectures, yes :)

Thanks :)
 
  • Like
Likes vanhees71
Similar to the Halliday, Resnick, and Walker books, the Serway and Jewett Physics for Scientists and Engineers is good as well.
 
  • Like
Likes Hawksteinman and Demystifier
The book is fascinating. If your education includes a typical math degree curriculum, with Lebesgue integration, functional analysis, etc, it teaches QFT with only a passing acquaintance of ordinary QM you would get at HS. However, I would read Lenny Susskind's book on QM first. Purchased a copy straight away, but it will not arrive until the end of December; however, Scribd has a PDF I am now studying. The first part introduces distribution theory (and other related concepts), which...
I've gone through the Standard turbulence textbooks such as Pope's Turbulent Flows and Wilcox' Turbulent modelling for CFD which mostly Covers RANS and the closure models. I want to jump more into DNS but most of the work i've been able to come across is too "practical" and not much explanation of the theory behind it. I wonder if there is a book that takes a theoretical approach to Turbulence starting from the full Navier Stokes Equations and developing from there, instead of jumping from...
Back
Top