Other Is The Road to Reality by Penrose a Good Buy for a Beginner?

  • Thread starter Thread starter iosman001
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Penrose Reality
AI Thread Summary
"The Road to Reality" by Roger Penrose is considered challenging for beginners, especially those with limited mathematical knowledge. While it offers intuitive insights into complex mathematical concepts, it requires a solid understanding of high school math to fully grasp its content. Readers familiar with other popular science books may find it significantly different in depth and complexity. Although it's not impossible for a layman to read, achieving true understanding may be unrealistic without prior familiarity with the material. Overall, it may be beneficial to skim the book first to assess personal comprehension before committing to a full read.
iosman001
Messages
4
Reaction score
1
Hello,

i live in the US and decided to get this book off of amazon i was wondering if anyone has read, or atleast skimmed (its pretty big) through it and would mind telling me if its a good buy(although if it isnt, its a little late now :-p).

also, I am pretty new to most of the theories. all of my knowledge has come from "A Brief History of Time", "The Elegant Universe", "The Universe in a Nutshell", and "Hyperspace". Do you think i could plow my way through this book or would it be way over my head?

thanks
alexsunny
 
Physics news on Phys.org
Hmmm, I haven't read it but I have skimmed it. It's a tough book for a layman with little knowledge. It is much different from the other books you mentioned. What is the level of your math knowledge and familiarity? If you don't remember at least high school math it may be very rough. It has like, what, almost 400 pages of math? It is interesting math, not boring math, and it is approached on an intuitive level rather than getting deep into technicalities, but I would say you need some familiarity and facility with basic math to be able to get through all that stuff. I would say skim it and see for yourself. It's definitely not impossible or whatever but you'd have to set finishing the book as a target.
 
  • Like
Likes Demystifier
This book's been discussed here just recently
https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/anyone-read-road-to-reality.1000552/

You could go ahead and read it, of course, but actually understanding it for a layman, who doesn't already have familiarity with mathematical content of this book, is pretty unrealistic in my opinion.
 
  • Like
Likes Demystifier, pinball1970 and hutchphd
It's also not really a textbook.
 
  • Like
Likes vanhees71 and dextercioby
thanks my issue has been fixed.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
For the following four books, has anyone used them in a course or for self study? Compiler Construction Principles and Practice 1st Edition by Kenneth C Louden Programming Languages Principles and Practices 3rd Edition by Kenneth C Louden, and Kenneth A Lambert Programming Languages 2nd Edition by Allen B Tucker, Robert E Noonan Concepts of Programming Languages 9th Edition by Robert W Sebesta If yes to either, can you share your opinions about your personal experience using them. I...
Hi, I have notice that Ashcroft, Mermin and Wei worked at a revised edition of the original solid state physics book (here). The book, however, seems to be never available. I have also read that the reason is related to some disputes related to copyright. Do you have any further information about it? Did you have the opportunity to get your hands on this revised edition? I am really curious about it, also considering that I am planning to buy the book in the near future... Thanks!
This is part 2 of my thread Collection of Free Online Math Books and Lecture Notes Here, we will consider physics and mathematical methods for physics resources. Now, this is a work in progress. Please feel free comment regarding items you want to be included, or if a link is broken etc. Note: I will not post links to other collections, each link will point you to a single item. :book:📚📒 [FONT=trebuchet ms]Introductory college/university physics College Physics, Openstax...

Similar threads

Replies
18
Views
4K
Replies
12
Views
8K
Replies
2
Views
2K
Replies
5
Views
7K
Replies
34
Views
6K
Replies
6
Views
3K
Back
Top