Other List of STEM Masterworks in Physics, Mechanics, Electrodynamics...

[Demystifier]

STEM Bibles

By STEM I mean science, technology, engineering and math. By a bible, I mean a book which is comprehensive, big and heavy (both physically and intellectually), authoritative, and generally highly respected in the community as the standard book that contains more-or-less everything one needs to know about the subject.

The examples in physics are:

- general physics:
The Feynman Lectures on Physics (3 volumes)

- classical mechanics:
H. Goldstein et al, Classical Mechanics

- classical electromagnetism:
J.D. Jackson, Classical Electrodynamics

- general relativity:
C.W Misner, K.S. Thorne and J.A. Wheeler, Gravitation

- quantum mechanics:
Surprisingly, I don't know which of the standard QM textbooks would deserve this title.

- quantum information and computation:
M.A. Nielsen and I.L. Chuang, Quantum Computation and Quantum Information

- quantum field theory:
the old testament: S. Weinberg, The Quantum Theory of Fields Volume I
the new testament: S. Weinberg, The Quantum Theory of Fields Volume II
(There is also the Volume III on supersymmetry, but it does not have such a high reputation.)

What are your examples?

 

[Wrichik Basu]

For QM, you can surely include Griffiths' Introduction to Quantum Mechanics and Ramamurti Shankar's Principles of Quantum Mechanics. Though finding a book containing everything in QM is not possible.

For general physics, Halliday's Fundamentals of Physics and H. C.Verma's Concepts of Physics do require a mention.

 

[ZapperZ]

Solid State Physics - Ashcroft and Mermin
Intro to Solid State Physics - Kittel

Many-Particle Physics - G.D. Mahan

Introduction to Superconductivity - Tinkham

Principles of Electron Tunneling Spectroscopy - E.L. Wolf

Zz.

 

[Demystifier]

For QM, you can surely include Griffiths' Introduction to Quantum Mechanics and Ramamurti Shankar's Principles of Quantum Mechanics. Though finding a book containing everything in QM is not possible.

Those are certainly good books, but I am not convinced that they deserve the title of "bible". Does someone has other suggestions? Perhaps Cohen-Tannoudji, Diu and Laloe?

 

[Demystifier]

For general physics, Halliday's Fundamentals of Physics and H. C.Verma's Concepts of Physics do require a mention.

I am not familiar with Verma, but yes, Halliday and Resnick is a bible.

 

[Andy Resnick]

Born and Wolf "Principles of Optics"
Alberts etc. "Molecular Biology of the Cell"
Boron and Boulpaep "Medical Physiology"
Bird and Lightfoot "Transport Phenomena"

 

[DrClaude]

Those are certainly good books, but I am not convinced that they deserve the title of "bible". Does someone has other suggestions? Perhaps Cohen-Tannoudji, Diu and Laloe?

Why not Ballentine? Some time ago Messiah may have been a bible, but I think it is too old now.

 

[Demystifier]

Why not Ballentine? Some time ago Messiah may have been a bible, but I think it is too old now.

Yes, Messiah was considered bible in the past, but not any more. I was thinking about Ballentine too, but some people dispute it (e.g. @atyy ) and it does not seem to be cited very frequently.

 

[Demystifier]

Boron and Boulpaep "Medical Physiology"

It's really not my expertise, but isn't Guyton the bible of medical physiology too?

 

[MathematicalPhysicist]

Never understood the term "general physics"; isn't it included already in EM and CM and Thermodynamics?

 

[DrClaude]

Atomic and Molecular Physics: Bransden and Joachain

Are you considering also handbooks? In which case, I would add Gradshteyn and Ryzhik for integrals and Abramowitz and Stegun for mathematical functions.

 

[George Jones]

For QM, you can surely include Griffiths' Introduction to Quantum Mechanics

Sorry, but I am going to be quite critical here.

a book which is comprehensive, big and heavy (both physically and intellectually)

Griffiths' quantum mechanics book is neither comprehensive nor intellectually heavy. It is too much like the first US #1 hit by the Beatles.

 

[Demystifier]

Born and Wolf "Principles of Optics"

The same Wolf has co-authored also another bible: Mandel and Wolf, Optical Coherence and Quantum Optics.
Incidentally, another Wolf has been mentioned above in a book on quantum tunneling.

 

[Andy Resnick]

It's really not my expertise, but isn't Guyton the bible of medical physiology too?

Guyton is another good reference text. Both are good references.

 

[MathematicalPhysicist]

For QFT, Peskin and Schroeder have the size of the bible, as for "you can find more or less everything in it", it's not even true for Weinberg's textbook, well "more or less" is an ill-defined notion anyway... :-D

 

[George Jones]

a book which is comprehensive, big and heavy (both physically and intellectually), authoritative, and generally highly respected in the community as the standard book that contains more-or-less everything one need to know about the subject.

If Halliday and Resnick can be included, than a book that is a something like a grad-level Halliday and Resnick also can be included, the amazing 1400+ page "Modern Classical Physics: Optics, Fluids, Plasmas, Elasticity, Relativity, and Statistical Physics" by (Nobel laureate) Thorne and Blandford

 

[Demystifier]

If Halliday and Resnick can be included, than a book that is a something like a grad-level Halliday and Resnick also can be included, the amazing 1400+ page "Modern Classical Physics: Optics, Fluids, Plasmas, Elasticity, Relativity, and Statistical Physics" by (Nobel laureate) Thorne and Blandford

Yes. The only problem with that book is that it is still too young (and hence not yet so generally respected in the community) to be called a bible. But in a couple of yours, it will probably become a bible.

 

[vanhees71]

Here's my list. I take the freedom to also mention some German textbooks (order roughly reflects my opinion about the quality). It's for sure incomplete!

Textbook series (theory course):

A. Sommerfeld, Lectures on Theoretical Physics (6 vols)
M. Bartelmann et al, Theoretische Physik
W. Weizel, Lehrbuch der theoretischen Physik (2 vols)
R. P. Feynman, The Feynman Lectures (3 vols)
L.D. Landau, E. M. Lifshitz, Course on Theoretical Physics (10 vols)
W. Pauli, Lectures on Theoretical Physics (6 vols)
W. Greiner et al Theoretical Physics (13 vols)

QM:

P.A.M. Dirac Principles of Quantum Mechanics
W. Pauli, Principles of Wave Mechanics
L. Ballentine, Quantum Mechanics
J. J. Sakurai, Modern Quantum Mechanics
S. Weinberg, Lectures on Quantum Mechanics
A. Sommerfeld, Atombau und Spektrallinien (Wellenmechanischer Ergänzungsband)
Messiah, Quantum Mechanics (2 vols.)

Classical Physics:

K. Thorn, R.D. Blandford, Modern Classical Physics

E&M:

J. Schwinger et al, Classical Electrodynamics
J. D. Jackson, Classical Electrodynamics (2nd edition; 3rd is spoiled by using SI and Gaussian units in one book!)
M. Schwartz, Principles of Electrodynamics
D. J. Griffiths, Introduction to Electrodynamics

(Quantum) Optics:

M. Born, E. Wolf, The Principles of Optics
J. C. Garrison, R. Y. Ciao, Quantum Optics
M. O. Scully, M. S. Zubairy, Quantum Optics
L. Mandel, E. Wolf, Optical Coherence and Quantum Optics

Relativistic Quantum Field Theory:

S. Weinberg, Quantum Theory of Fields (3 vols)
A. Duncan, The Conceptual Framework of Quantum Field Theory
M. D. Schwartz, Quantum Field Theory and the Standard Model
D. Bailin, A. Love, Introduction to Gauge Field Theory

Thermodynamics and (Quantum) Statistics:

H. B. Callen, Thermodynamics and an Introduction to Thermostatistics
A. Katz, Principles of Statistical Mechanics
F. Reif, Fundamentals of Statistical and Thermal Physics

Thermal QFT

J. I. Kapusta, C. Gale, Finite-temperature Field Theory
M. Le Bellac, Thermal Field Theory
M. Laine, A. Vuorinen, Basics of Thermal Field Theory

Kinetic Theory

C. Cercignani, G. M. Kremer, The relativistic Boltzmann Equation
S. R. de Groot, W. A. van Leeuwen, Ch. G. van Weert, Relativistic Kinetic Theory
H. Risken, The Fokker-Planck Equation

 

[jasonRF]

Golub and Van Loan, Matrix Computations.
Collin, Field Theory of Guided Waves.

 

[Demystifier]

@vanhees71 that's a great list, but many of those books do not satisfy all the criteria for being called a "bible". Some are not so big, some are not so well known, ...

And BTW, I am surprised that you didn't mention the Greiner et al series (14 vols).

 

[Frimus]

IMHO
An Introduction to Modern Astrophysics
by Carroll and Ostie also qualifies under STEM Bibles category.

 

[TeethWhitener]

March's Advanced Organic Chemistry is a 2-volume monster that covers just about everything you can think to do with carbon.

 

[DrClaude]

I should add Gerhard Herzberg 4-volume Molecular Spectra and Molecular Structure.

 

[Demystifier]

I should add Gerhard Herzberg 4-volume Molecular Spectra and Molecular Structure.

Isn't it 3-volume?

 

[Demystifier]

Knuth - The Art of Computer Programming, 4 volumes.

(Knuth is also known as the creator of TeX.)

 

[Demystifier]

Reed and Simon - Methods of Modern Mathematical Physics (4 volumes on functional analysis in physics).

 

[Demystifier]

Spivak - A Comprehensive Introduction to Differential Geometry (5 volumes)

 

[Demystifier]

Bourbaki - Elements of Mathematics (9 volumes in 12 books).
Mathematicians, do you really read this?

 

[MathematicalPhysicist]

Bourbaki - Elements of Mathematics (9 volumes in 12 books).
Mathematicians, do you really read this?

@Demystifier did you read all the books you recommend here? ;-)

 

[Dr Transport]

What about Slater's Theory of Atomic Physics I & II along with his series Quantum Theory of Molecules I- IV

And I can't believe that someone hasn't thrown in Morse and Feshbach either...

 

[martinbn]

EGA/SGA

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Éléments_de_géométrie_algébrique

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Séminaire_de_Géométrie_Algébrique_du_Bois_Marie

 

[Dr Transport]

if you going to throw down the gauntlet with math books,
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0122947576/?tag=pfamazon01-20

 

[ShayanJ]

Herbert Schildt, C++, the complete reference
Éric Gourgoulhon, Special Relativity in General Frames: From Particles to Astrophysics
Thanu Padmanabhan, Gravitation: Foundations and frontiers

P.S.
Padmanabhan's theoretical astrophysics(in 3 volumes) also comes to my mind, but I haven't read it myself, so I'm putting it down as a maybe.

 

[vanhees71]

Uups. That I should have indeed done ;-)). It's in now!

Also I don't think that for a textbook to become "bible status" it doesn't need to be big. To the contrary. Sometimes a shorter text that comes to the point quickly is better than many words. A prime example is the 6-volume series by Pauli. Much content on a few pages without being too sparse in explaining the calculations. A masterpiece!

 

[atyy]

Why not Ballentine? Some time ago Messiah may have been a bible, but I think it is too old now.

Here's my list. I take the freedom to also mention some German textbooks (order roughly reflects my opinion about the quality). It's for sure incomplete!

Textbook series (theory course):

A. Sommerfeld, Lectures on Theoretical Physics (6 vols)
M. Bartelmann et al, Theoretische Physik
W. Weizel, Lehrbuch der theoretischen Physik (2 vols)
R. P. Feynman, The Feynman Lectures (3 vols)
L.D. Landau, E. M. Lifshitz, Course on Theoretical Physics (10 vols)
W. Pauli, Lectures on Theoretical Physics (6 vols)
W. Greiner et al Theoretical Physics (13 vols)

QM:

P.A.M. Dirac Principles of Quantum Mechanics
W. Pauli, Principles of Wave Mechanics
L. Ballentine, Quantum Mechanics
J. J. Sakurai, Modern Quantum Mechanics
S. Weinberg, Lectures on Quantum Mechanics
A. Sommerfeld, Atombau und Spektrallinien (Wellenmechanischer Ergänzungsband)
Messiah, Quantum Mechanics (2 vols.)

Classical Physics:

K. Thorn, R.D. Blandford, Modern Classical Physics

E&M:

J. Schwinger et al, Classical Electrodynamics
J. D. Jackson, Classical Electrodynamics (2nd edition; 3rd is spoiled by using SI and Gaussian units in one book!)
M. Schwartz, Principles of Electrodynamics
D. J. Griffiths, Introduction to Electrodynamics

(Quantum) Optics:

M. Born, E. Wolf, The Principles of Optics
J. C. Garrison, R. Y. Ciao, Quantum Optics
M. O. Scully, M. S. Zubairy, Quantum Optics
L. Mandel, E. Wolf, Optical Coherence and Quantum Optics

Relativistic Quantum Field Theory:

S. Weinberg, Quantum Theory of Fields (3 vols)
A. Duncan, The Conceptual Framework of Quantum Field Theory
M. D. Schwartz, Quantum Field Theory and the Standard Model
D. Bailin, A. Love, Introduction to Gauge Field Theory

Thermodynamics and (Quantum) Statistics:

H. B. Callen, Thermodynamics and an Introduction to Thermostatistics
A. Katz, Principles of Statistical Mechanics
F. Reif, Fundamentals of Statistical and Thermal Physics

Thermal QFT

J. I. Kapusta, C. Gale, Finite-temperature Field Theory
M. Le Bellac, Thermal Field Theory
M. Laine, A. Vuorinen, Basics of Thermal Field Theory

Kinetic Theory

C. Cercignani, G. M. Kremer, The relativistic Boltzmann Equation
S. R. de Groot, W. A. van Leeuwen, Ch. G. van Weert, Relativistic Kinetic Theory
H. Risken, The Fokker-Planck Equation

It's disheartening to see Ballentine's garbage personal theory promoted.

 

[vanhees71]

It's only you who thinks Ballentine's book is garbage. It's standard QT explained in a modern way. There's a bit too much "interpretation" in the book to my taste, but it also doesn't hurt to have some.

 

[atyy]

It's only you who thinks Ballentine's book is garbage. It's standard QT explained in a modern way. There's a bit too much "interpretation" in the book to my taste, but it also doesn't hurt to have some.

Ballentine fundamentally contradicts at least 4 of the other books (Dirac, Weinberg, Sakurai, Messiah) you listed as QM bibles.

 

[vanhees71]

Where? You claim this from time to time, so please give a clear reference!

 

[atyy]

Where? You claim this from time to time, so please give a clear reference!

All of those 4 have collapse, which Ballentine mischaracterizes and repudiates.

Ballentine's error is not an incidental error (eg. the Feynman lectures have errors, but they are incidental, and can be corrected without disturbing the main thrust), but deep in his book, and explains why he also gets the result of the watched pot effect wrong.

 

[vanhees71]

Well, that's an interpretational issue. As you well know, I'm also a proponent of the minimal interpretation and I also think that there's no need for a collapse. If some filter is used for preparation (e.g., in the Stern-Gerlach experiment taking only one partial beam with determined magnetic quantum number $m$) it's working is well explained within the realm of local interactions of the Standard model, where by construction for sure is no instantaneous collapse. It's a sloppy description of a filter-preparation procedure which works FAPP in many cases, but it's contradicting the very construction of local relatistic QFTs.

All there is really physical about QM, i.e., the probabilistic description based on Born's rule is the very same in Ballentine as in any other standard QT textbook. The main point, why I recommend Ballentine is his use of the rigged-Hilbert space formalism in a physicist's way, avoiding much confusion about continuous spectra.

 

[atyy]

It's really not my expertise, but isn't Guyton the bible of medical physiology too?

Not mine either, but I've heard that Guyton is especially good for the heart.

 

[atyy]

Polchinski, String Theory

Hinman, Fundamentals of Mathematical Logic

Henry Gray, Anatomy

Kardar, Statistical Physics of Particles
Kardar, Statistical Physics of Fields

 

[Dragon27]

SICP

 

[Marc Rindermann]

If Halliday and Resnick can be included, than a book that is a something like a grad-level Halliday and Resnick also can be included, the amazing 1400+ page "Modern Classical Physics: Optics, Fluids, Plasmas, Elasticity, Relativity, and Statistical Physics" by (Nobel laureate) Thorne and Blandford

personally I wouldn't include Halliday and Resnick. In my opinion the only criterium this book matches is its volume.

 

[rootone]

Newton's principia wins as candidate for the old testament.

 

[sweet springs]

Panofsky Phillips Classical Electricity and Magnetism
Landau Lifsitz Classical Theory of Field
P.A.M. Dirac Theory of Relativity & Principles of Quantum Mechamics
Kubo Ichimura Statistical Mechanics

Those are my memorable texts ever.

 

[sweet springs]

A classic of mechanics,
Galileo Galilei, Dialogues Concerning Two New Sciences [1638] http://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/galilei-dialogues-concerning-two-new-sciences

As for STEM, STEAM is also used with Art added.

 

[jedishrfu]

You guys have left Lev Landau in the dust. He had several concise books on all areas of physics most notably:

English editions
Note that reprints and revised editions are not listed.

Volume 1

• L. D. Landau, E. M. Lifshitz (1960). Mechanics. Vol. 1 (1st ed.). Pergamon Press. ASIN B0006AWV88.
  • L. D. Landau, E. M. Lifshitz (1969). Mechanics. Vol. 1 (2nd ed.). Pergamon Press. ISBN 978-0-201-04146-0.
  • L. D. Landau, E. M. Lifshitz (1976). Mechanics. Vol. 1 (3rd ed.). Butterworth-Heinemann. ISBN 978-0-7506-2896-9.

Covers classical mechanics without special or general relativity, in the Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formalisms.

Volume 2

• L. D. Landau, E. M. Lifshitz (1951). The Classical Theory of Fields. Vol. 2 (1st ed.). Addison-Wesley. ASIN B0007G5B42.
  • L. D. Landau, E. M. Lifshitz (1959). The Classical Theory of Fields. Vol. 2 (2nd ed.). Pergamon Press.
  • L. D. Landau, E. M. Lifshitz (1971). The Classical Theory of Fields. Vol. 2 (3rd ed.). Pergamon Press. ISBN 978-0-08-016019-1.
  • L. D. Landau, E. M. Lifshitz (1975). The Classical Theory of Fields. Vol. 2 (4th ed.). Butterworth-Heinemann. ISBN 978-0-7506-2768-9.

Covers relativistic mechanics of particles, and classical field theory for fields, specifically special relativity and electromagnetism, general relativity and gravitation.

Volume 3

• L. D. Landau, E. M. Lifshitz (1958). Quantum Mechanics: Non-Relativistic Theory. Vol. 3 (1st ed.). Pergamon Press.
  • L. D. Landau, E. M. Lifshitz (1965). Quantum Mechanics: Non-Relativistic Theory. Vol. 3 (2nd ed.). Pergamon Press.
  • L. D. Landau, E. M. Lifshitz (1977). Quantum Mechanics: Non-Relativistic Theory. Vol. 3 (3rd ed.). Pergamon Press. ISBN 978-0-08-020940-1.

Covers quantum mechanics without special relativity.

Volume 4

• https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Vladimir_Berestetskii&action=edit&redlink=1, E. M. Lifshitz, L. P. Pitaevskii (1971). Relativistic Quantum Theory. Vol. 4 (1st ed.). Pergamon Press. ISBN 978-0-08-017175-3.
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Vladimir_Berestetskii&action=edit&redlink=1, E. M. Lifshitz, L. P. Pitaevskii (1982). Quantum Electrodynamics. Vol. 4 (2nd ed.). Butterworth-Heinemann. ISBN 978-0-7506-3371-0.

The original edition was two books, labelled part 1 and part 2. The first had general aspects of relativistic quantum mechanics and relativistic quantum field theory, leading onto quantum electrodynamics. The second continued on with quantum electrodynamics and what was then known about the strong and weak interactions. These books were published in the early 1970s, at a time when the strong and weak forces were still not well understood. In the second edition, the corresponding sections were scrapped and replaced with more topics in the well-established quantum electrodynamics, and the two parts were unified into one, thus providing a one-volume exposition on relativistic quantum field theory with the electromagnetic interaction as the prototype of a quantum field theory.

Volume 5

• Statistical Physics. Vol. 5 (1st ed.). 1951.
  • Early version: L. D. Landau (1938). Statistical Physics. Clarendon Press. ASIN B00085BKZG.
  • Statistical Physics. Vol. 5 (2nd ed.). 1968.
  • L. D. Landau, E. M. Lifshitz (1980). Statistical Physics. Vol. 5 (3rd ed.). Butterworth-Heinemann. ISBN 978-0-7506-3372-7.

Covers general statistical mechanics and thermodynamics and applications, including chemical reactions, phase transitions, and condensed matter physics.

Volume 6

• L. D. Landau, E. M. Lifshitz (1959). Fluid Mechanics. Vol. 6 (1st ed.). Pergamon Press. ISBN 978-0-08-009104-4.
  • L. D. Landau, E. M. Lifshitz (1987). Fluid Mechanics. Vol. 6 (2nd ed.). Butterworth-Heinemann. ISBN 978-0-08-033933-7.

Covers fluid mechanics in a condensed but varied exposition, from ideal to viscous fluids, includes a chapter on relativistic fluid mechanics, and another on superfluids.

Volume 7

• L. D. Landau, E. M. Lifshitz (1959). Theory of Elasticity. Vol. 7 (1st ed.). Pergamon Press.
• L. D. Landau, E. M. Lifshitz (1970). Theory of Elasticity. Vol. 7 (2nd ed.). Pergamon Press. ISBN 978-0-08-006465-9.
• L. D. Landau, E. M. Lifshitz (1986). Theory of Elasticity. Vol. 7 (3rd ed.). Butterworth-Heinemann. ISBN 978-0-7506-2633-0.

Covers elasticity theory of solids, including viscous solids, vibrations and waves in cystals with dislocations, and a chapter on the mechanics of liquid crystals.

Volume 8

• L. D. Landau, E. M. Lifshitz (1960). Electrodynamics of Continuous Media. Vol. 8 (1st ed.). Pergamon Press. ISBN 978-0-08-009105-1.
• L. D. Landau, E. M. Lifshitz, L.P. Pitaevskii (1984). Electrodynamics of Continuous Media. Vol. 8 (2nd ed.). Butterworth-Heinemann. ISBN 978-0-7506-2634-7.

Covers electromagnetism in materials, includes a variety of topics in condensed matter physics, a chapter on magnetohydrodynamics, and another on nonlinear optics.

Volume 9

• E. M. Lifshitz, L. P. Pitaevskii (1980). Statistical Physics, Part 2: Theory of the Condensed State. Vol. 9 (1st ed.). Butterworth-Heinemann. ISBN 978-0-7506-2636-1.

Builds from the original statistical physics book; more applications to condensed matter theory.

Volume 10

• E. M. Lifshitz, L. P. Pitaevskii (1981). Physical Kinetics. Vol. 10 (1st ed.). Pergamon Press. ISBN 978-0-7506-2635-4.

Presents various applications of kinetic theory to condensed matter theory, on metals, insulators, and phase transitions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Course_of_Theoretical_Physics

 

[sweet springs]

W. Pauli, Principles of Wave Mechanics

I like this book two. A small defect I found in the first chapter is that he mistreats momentum of particle in infinite potential well.

 

[atyy]

You guys have left Lev Landau in the dust.

vanhees71 got that in post #18.