Studying What are the best books for different subjects in science?

  • Thread starter Thread starter leon1127
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Books
AI Thread Summary
The discussion centers around creating a suggested book list for various subjects, emphasizing the value of good books over teachers for learning, particularly in advanced science. Participants highlight the difficulty in categorizing books by content type, such as mathematical, theoretical, or fictional. They reference existing resources, including two key threads on recommended textbooks and a subforum for science book reviews. External links to bibliographies and book lists are also mentioned, although one link is currently down. There is a consensus on the importance of utilizing existing lists rather than creating new ones, with a suggestion to focus on commonly recommended texts for specific courses while being cautious of biased recommendations.
leon1127
Messages
484
Reaction score
0
I am just wondering if there is any suggested book list or we can make a suggested book list for different subjects.
Because i recently realize a good book is often more useful than a good teacher (and also cheaper...)
But it is really hard to actually look at the content of it for particular subjects.
And categorise it as mathematical, theoretical, fictional, beginners, etc.
It would help infinite number of students who are interested in advance science.
 
Physics news on Phys.org
Well, with regards to textbooks, PF has at least two canonical threads

The Best Textbooks Thread (very recent)
Physics Textbooks

and a subforum

Science Book Reviews (includes non-textbooks)

Also, two very useful external links are

Chicago Undergraduate Physics Bibliography
and
http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics/Administrivia/booklist.html edit: their server is not working as of the moment I'm writing this

Also, www.amazon.com[/URL] has as very many reviews, mostly by students, of most texts.

I think this is the first time I've seen [i]all[/i] these links in one post! I'm proud of myself.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
so should we post textbooks here are over on the first link?
 
There's no need to make a new one. rachmaninoff mentioned a variety of lists so there is no point in wasting time. Out of every list that you look at, just see the ones that commonly pop up for a specific course. But be aware that some blatantly mention textbooks that they use and not actually what's good.
 
Last edited:
TL;DR Summary: I want to do a PhD in applied math but I hate group theory, is this a big problem? Hello, I am a second-year math and physics double major with a minor in data science. I just finished group theory (today actually), and it was my least favorite class in all of university so far. It doesn't interest me, and I am also very bad at it compared to other math courses I have done. The other courses I have done are calculus I-III, ODEs, Linear Algebra, and Prob/Stats. Is it a...
I’ve been looking through the curricula of several European theoretical/mathematical physics MSc programs (ETH, Oxford, Cambridge, LMU, ENS Paris, etc), and I’m struck by how little emphasis they place on advanced fundamental courses. Nearly everything seems to be research-adjacent: string theory, quantum field theory, quantum optics, cosmology, soft matter physics, black hole radiation, etc. What I don’t see are the kinds of “second-pass fundamentals” I was hoping for, things like...
Back
Top