Good Books for Physics: ZapperZ's List

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For undergraduate:

Classical Mechanics: Corben and Stehle Classical Mechanics in Dover edition. It gets overlooked a lot, but it's actually got everything from Newton's laws to Action/Angle Variables to Lagrangians for continuous fields concisely and clearly exposed.

Thermodynamics: Herbert Callen Thermodynamics and an Introduction to Thermostatistics. Also has a good section on nonequilibrium stuff and an solid introduction to Stat. Mech.

Electromagnetism: Griffith Electromagnetism. I don't see a problem with it as much as some people do.

Quantum Mechanics: Shankar Principles of Quantum Mechanics is very good for self-study, but I find it verbose at times.

Statistical Mechanics: Because I think the Reif is a terrible book, I have to go with the Callen again, although the Feynman lectures on stat. mech. aren't bad, they aren't great. There really is no good stat. mech. book.

For graduate:

Classical Mechanics: It's almost a tie between the Goldstein and the Corben & Stehle. The Goldstein has a lot of depth on things like nonlinear dynamics, but the Corben & Stehle is so concise and thorough it's hard to ignore.

Quantum Mechanics: Sakurai is still the classic, although I like the Baym as well.

Statistical Mechanics: Pathria has some good stuff, but like with undergrad. there really is no good stat. mech. book.

Having not taken a graduate E&M course, I can't comment, although I like the Melvin Schwartz in Dover edition, as it uses Special Relativity and Lorentz invariance to introduce magnetism, which is a nice touch.

All of this ignores the Landau series, which can be a difficult read if you don't already know the subject, but is an acknowledged masterpiece of every subject.
 
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Introductory Calculus-Based:
U - Physics 5e - Resnick, Halliday & Krane!

NOT

U - Fundamentals of Physics 7e - Resnick, Halliday & Walker

Huge difference...!
 
Nusc, you told me to get 7e for a calculus-based book! :P

It's okay though. My 7e order just came in today, and I am entirely pleased. I know most of the stuff anyway.
 
...


I'm terribly sorry...
 
The university I'll be attending uses 7e, so all is fine.
 
How convienient. Did you know ahead of time before you purchased the book?
 
Nusc said:
Analytical Mechanics - Cassiday & Fowles

Classical Mechanics - Goldstein

How much do they differ in difficulty?

They're on completely different levels. The first one is for undergraduates. I used it in my second year, right after general physics (Halliday & Resnick). Goldstein is a graduate-level book. Actually, it's now Goldstein, Poole & Safko. And Goldstein died last February, alas, at the age of 82.
 
Who's the third author Krane or Walker? hehe
 
hi... could anyone of you please suggest a book on biophysics... thankyou...
 
Oh I was talking about the 5e.
 
In detail, would anyone speculate how much these books differ in difficulty?

Analytical Mechanics - Cassiday & Fowles

Mechanics (Course of Theoretical Physics) Lifshi_tz & Landau
 
Classical mechanics of particles and rigid bodies / Kiran Chandra Gupta
I think this book is very good for UG level. Especially if you don't want to skip any details. Marion's book is mostly based on this.

I am looking for an introductory Geometry & topology book. I couldn't see any in the list...
 
Nusc said:
In detail, would anyone speculate how much these books differ in difficulty?

Analytical Mechanics - Cassiday & Fowles

Mechanics (Course of Theoretical Physics) Lifshi_tz & Landau

As I noted earlier, Cassiday & Fowles is an intermediate undergraduate-level book. Lifsh_itz & Landau is graduate level like Goldstein, and it's probably more difficult than Goldstein.

All of L&L's books had a fearsome reputation among my fellow students when I was in graduate school.