- #1
Coelum
- 97
- 32
Dear PFer's,
I am looking for brief, conceptual books covering several physics fields. They should satisfy the following criteria:
1) brevity: optimal length between 100 and 200 pages
2) clarity: typically written by masters, go straight to the point and explain it very well
3) breadth: they should cover a major domain
4) depth: in spite of their brevity, they go deep to the core of the matter
5) originality: they present a non-trivial point of view on the subject matter.
Exercises or problems are nice to have but not a prerequisite.
To give you a concrete idea of what I am looking for, here is the list of the books I selected (and carefully read) so far:
1) Classical Mechanics: "Mechanics" by Landau, Lifsic
2) Thermodynamics: "Thermodynamics" by Fermi
3) Statistical Thermodynamics: "Statistical Thermodynamics" by Schroedinger
4) Relativity: "The Meaning of Relativity" by Einstein.
After writing down the list, I realized that all authors are Nobel Laureates. That is not required, but looks to me like no coincidence.
Here is the list of fields I want to cover next, for which I need help:
5) Electromagnetism: my best candidate is "Electrodynamics and Classical Theory of Fields and Particles" by Barut (not by a Nobel laureate and a bit too long but seems very well written and has lot of good problems)
6) Quantum Mechanics: candidates are "Notes on Quantum Mechanics" by Fermi (hard to read since it is just handwritten notes with little text) and "Mathematical Foundations of Quantum Mechanics" by Von Neumann (too biased towards math, of course)
7) Quantum Field Theory: my best candidate is "Lectures on Quantum Mechanics" by Dirac, but it seems too focused on a specific problem (quantum theory on curved surfaces).
Before you post your proposals, let me add a remark: I am NOT looking for textbooks, especially introductory ones. You can safely assume that I have been exposed to the basic material before and I know the required math. If I do not, I will take a detour like I already did, e.g., for tensor calculus.
Thanks a lot in advance for your help,
Francesco
I am looking for brief, conceptual books covering several physics fields. They should satisfy the following criteria:
1) brevity: optimal length between 100 and 200 pages
2) clarity: typically written by masters, go straight to the point and explain it very well
3) breadth: they should cover a major domain
4) depth: in spite of their brevity, they go deep to the core of the matter
5) originality: they present a non-trivial point of view on the subject matter.
Exercises or problems are nice to have but not a prerequisite.
To give you a concrete idea of what I am looking for, here is the list of the books I selected (and carefully read) so far:
1) Classical Mechanics: "Mechanics" by Landau, Lifsic
2) Thermodynamics: "Thermodynamics" by Fermi
3) Statistical Thermodynamics: "Statistical Thermodynamics" by Schroedinger
4) Relativity: "The Meaning of Relativity" by Einstein.
After writing down the list, I realized that all authors are Nobel Laureates. That is not required, but looks to me like no coincidence.
Here is the list of fields I want to cover next, for which I need help:
5) Electromagnetism: my best candidate is "Electrodynamics and Classical Theory of Fields and Particles" by Barut (not by a Nobel laureate and a bit too long but seems very well written and has lot of good problems)
6) Quantum Mechanics: candidates are "Notes on Quantum Mechanics" by Fermi (hard to read since it is just handwritten notes with little text) and "Mathematical Foundations of Quantum Mechanics" by Von Neumann (too biased towards math, of course)
7) Quantum Field Theory: my best candidate is "Lectures on Quantum Mechanics" by Dirac, but it seems too focused on a specific problem (quantum theory on curved surfaces).
Before you post your proposals, let me add a remark: I am NOT looking for textbooks, especially introductory ones. You can safely assume that I have been exposed to the basic material before and I know the required math. If I do not, I will take a detour like I already did, e.g., for tensor calculus.
Thanks a lot in advance for your help,
Francesco