Cosmology and Astrophysics through problems: Padmanabhan

[ergospherical]

I’ve really been struggling with this book since I started it a couple of days ago. It’s essentially a problem book designed to teach you about astrophysics, structure formation, radiation, fluid dynamics, etc. through a curated set of questions.

Some of the questions take a ridiculously long time, and others I’d have no clue how to attempt without generous hand-holding from the (admittedly very well-written) solutions. This is more of an issue for the astrophysics-based sections than the more familiar GR-based sections.

Any thoughts? Am I using this book incorrectly? Presumably Padmanabhan’s other (conventional) textbook on structure formation would serve as an ideal companion, but I feel that’d sort of defeat the entire point of this book (which is to learn through direct exposure).

 

[pasmith]

I suspect you are using it incorrectly.

The author makes it plain in the Preface that the book is intended to be a supplement to 'the conventional modes of learning' (p. xvi) and in the section entitled 'How to use this book' that 'If you know nothing about a subject, I am not certain whether this book - by itself - can help you to master it. In such a situation, it is best to use this book as a supplement to a more introductory conventional textbook.' (p. xxi).