How to get a grounding in physics?

[Nichiren-123]

I'm currently 20 yrs old. I've always liked physics and was doing A levels in all 3 sciences + maths before I dropped out because of severe mental illness. I'm now at a point in my life where I'm not under obligation to go back to study or work straight away and I have ALLOT of time on my hands.
When I was in hospital I considered other career options (computing, forestry, environmental studies) but I still often think about studying physics again.
What I want to do is to study physics on my own (but not to the depth of a full time course), including the stuff they don't teach at A level.
I want to do this to get a high level general overview of the whole of physics to know if it's something that would continue to hold my interest into the future.
So basically, what I'm after is something (I.e. a book) broad, but not too deep which I can complete in a short amount of time (maybe 3 - 12 months)?
Hope that's not too specific :D

Thanks,
N-123

 

[Neutron1]

Hello N-123,

good to read that you are wiling to spend some time in physics, you won't regret it. You do need some maths too however. With math you need algebra, and eventually have to do calculus. There are some very good videos online for that, I don't know if I can post links, but you could youtube.com professor leonard. I used Adams - calculus for the math part.

Also you could use Physics for Scientists & Engineers with Modern Physics - Giancoli, it covers everything in physics, but it is hard to learn from if you have zero knowledge about physics.

Hope it helps a little bit.

Good luck, and if you have any questions just ask them! Glad to help you out!Neutron1