Download a Free, Well-Documented Physics Textbook at MotionMountain.net

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SUMMARY

The forum discussion centers around the free, well-documented physics textbook available at MotionMountain.net, authored by Christoph Schiller. While the textbook is praised for its elaborate content and illustrations, some users recommend opting for standard general relativity (GTR) textbooks instead, citing the importance of foundational texts for understanding current research. The discussion also highlights the long-standing promotion of Schiller's work and the need for supplementary mathematics resources for physics studies.

PREREQUISITES
  • Basic understanding of physics concepts
  • Familiarity with general relativity (GTR)
  • Knowledge of mathematics, particularly Linear Algebra
  • Access to online educational resources and textbooks
NEXT STEPS
  • Explore standard GTR textbooks compared at Math UCR
  • Investigate supplementary mathematics textbooks for physics, focusing on calculus and linear algebra
  • Review Christoph Schiller's Motion Mountain textbook for updates and new editions
  • Research additional online physics resources and forums for further learning
USEFUL FOR

Students returning to physics, educators seeking supplementary materials, and anyone interested in exploring general relativity and its foundational texts.

heusdens
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Go to http://www.motionmountain.net/text.html

It's not yet complete, but a remarkable well documented and elaborated Physics Textbook. Download it free!
 
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Thanks! I'm going to try it out.
 
Looks good, but does seem to cover a wide enough variety of subjects
 
looks like the perfect accompaniment to what i have, and the price is great!
 
Haha, yes, the price suits my broken arse just fine.

Thanks, I'm downloading it as I type.
 
heusdens said:
Go to http://www.motionmountain.net/text.html

It's not yet complete, but a remarkable well documented and elaborated Physics Textbook. Download it free!

The author of this web-book, Christoph Schiller
http://www.motionmountain.net/author.html
http://www.arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/9610066
has promoted it widely for many years in various web forums. I haven't seen recent versions, but back in 2001 I felt that Schiller's book is highly idiosyncratic, and it is probably not good idea for your first textbook to be idiosyncratic, since presumably you want to study a book which will ease your path to reading current research papers and arXiv eprints with understanding.

I'd suggest choosing instead one of the standard gtr textbooks, such as those compared at http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/RelWWW/HTML/reading.html#gtrmoderntext Spending fifty bucks or so for a good textbook is not unreasonable, I think, given the amount of time and energy you can expect to expend learning gtr.
 
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Christoph Schiller is a fine physicist whose book project is going into its 17th year now. I think his work on relativity is just fine and is rich on illustrations. He has spent much work on this project and gives this book to anyone who wants it. A very admirable thing IMHO.

Schiller promoting his web-book? :confused:
At any rate it is not different from some individuals here on PF who constantly promote their website. :smile:
 
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not a very good book
 
“I'd suggest choosing instead one of the standard gtr textbooks, such as those compared at http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/RelWWW...#gtrmoderntext Spending fifty bucks or so for a good textbook is not unreasonable, I think, given the amount of time and energy you can expect to expend learning gtr”



Hello Chris, the link you have posted does not work. Lurking around this forum has sparked up a new interest in Physics. I took some basic Physics courses in college, but this was long ago. The highest Math I took in college was Linear Algebra, and I did well. Would you please re-post the link? Would you be so kind as to recommend me a series (from introductory to advance) of Physics books? And my last request, what kind of Math textbooks will I need to go along with the Physics books (I’ve kept all my Math textbooks from 10 years ago)?

I thank you kindly in advance.
 
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