I am looking for a gift book on GR

[lalbatros]

Hello,

I have a friend who likes physics as a hobby (like me) and will have his anniversary soon.
He owns already a nice collection of classics, including MTW for example.
His oldest son just started physics at university.

What would you suggest as possible gifts for this friend?
I would consider GR as the best topic, but QM or other subject could be nice too.
The content should be of high quality, but it could "recreative" as well as very "serious" as long as it is not "blindly professional".

Thanks for yours suggestions,

Michel

 

[coalquay404]

I've just finished reading Becker, Becker, and Schwarz's "String Theory and M-Theory." It's obviously not a GR book, but it's a really nice introduction to the subject nonetheless. In fact, it's probably the first string theory book that actually feels as though it's describing a 'mature' subject.

If you're set on getting a GR book, apart from Wald (which is an obvious choice) I'd recommend Sean Carroll's book. However, since your friend already has MTW, there's nothing in Carroll that won't already be familiar to him.

A stocking filler is Dirac's beautiful little "lectures on quantum mechanics." You can get a Dover Press edition of this and it's absolutely fantastic. The amount of trouble this little thing has caused over the years is astonishing. :-)

Finally, what about https://www.amazon.com/dp/0521820812/?tag=pfamazon01-20? Some of the chapters are definitely on the "blindly professional" side of things, but the majority of the book consists of very understandable review chapters.

 

[Daverz]

Penrose, The Road to Reality
Lawrie, A Unified Grand Tour of Theoretical Physics, 2nd ed.
Pais, Subtle Is the Lord
Schweber, QED and the Men Who Made It

 

[pmb_phy]

What would you suggest as possible gifts for this friend?
I would consider GR as the best topic, but QM or other subject could be nice too.

Have you considered more than one? I.e. get a copy of both a GR book and a QM book. That could be too much money though.

I recommend that you run down to a decent book store an look around. Something may pop out at you. Steven Weinberg's GR text is a good one.

Best wishes

Pete

 

[neutrino]

Or Dirac's little book on GR, or the QM classic, Principles of QM.

 

[vanesch]

The thing is, there's nothing more silly than to offer a book to someone that that person has already. If your friend already has MTW, there's a chance he has some other classics too...

 

[robphy]

I'd suggest a book on the history or on the conceptual-development of [some aspect of] physics.

For example,
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0691122288/?tag=pfamazon01-20

I was going to suggest some books by https://www.amazon.com/dp/0691122288/?tag=pfamazon01-20