What are you reading now? (STEM only)

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Discussion Overview

The thread discusses various STEM books that participants are currently reading or have recently read. The focus is on personal experiences with these texts, including their structure, readability, and relevance to teaching or learning specific topics in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Homework-related

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants mention reading "Physical Fluid Dynamics" by D. J. Tritton, appreciating its structure and readability for teaching purposes.
  • J. MacCormick's "Nine Algorithms That Changed the Future" is noted for its accessible explanation of widely used computer algorithms.
  • Several participants are exploring literature related to general relativity and cosmology, referencing works by S. Weinberg and others, indicating a need for clarity in creating lecture problems.
  • There are mentions of various calculus and mathematical physics texts, including Apostol's "Calculus" and Zee's "Gravitation," with participants expressing varying levels of difficulty and enjoyment.
  • Some participants are reading books on reinforcement learning and mathematical physics from a geometric algebra perspective, with concerns about the complexity of the material.
  • Gilbert Strang's linear algebra book is highlighted for its intuitive approach, while some participants express challenges with other physics texts like Purcell's "Electricity and Magnetism."
  • Discussions also touch on the relevance of foundational texts in geometry by David Hilbert, particularly in relation to automatic theorem proving.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express a range of opinions about the readability and pedagogical effectiveness of various texts, with some finding certain books challenging while others appreciate their depth. No consensus is reached regarding the best approach to learning from these texts.

Contextual Notes

Participants note varying levels of prior knowledge in mathematics and physics, which influences their experiences with the texts. Some express concerns about the complexity of the material and its presentation.

Who May Find This Useful

This discussion may be useful for students and educators in STEM fields looking for recommendations on reading materials and insights into the challenges of understanding complex subjects.

  • #451
MathematicalPhysicist said:
Always use inclusive- or when talking to me... :oldbiggrin:
... or what? :-p
 
Physics news on Phys.org
  • #452
Fundamentals: Ten Keys to Reality
By Frank Wilczeck
 
  • #453
Continued Fractions by Olds
 
  • #454
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  • #455
Mondayman said:
Toilet Training in Less Than a Day
Two words -- "Spiderman underwear". Worked for berkeboy. :smile:
 
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  • #456
berkeman said:
Two words -- "Spiderman underwear". Worked for berkeboy. :smile:
I accept that toilette training is a STEM topic, but spiderman underwear sounds like a personal theory. :-p
 
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  • #457
I only have the one experiment to support my position, but it was very successful. :smile:
 
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  • #458
caz said:
I accept that toilette training is a STEM topic
I would propose to extend STEM into STEMP, where P stands for psychology. One of the reasons is that we are in the phase when challenges to beat the pandemic or global warming have more to do with psychology than with medicine or environmental science.
 
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  • #459
Looking at a growing group of anti-corona measures and -vaccination propagandists in Germany, I'd suggest that P stands even for psychiatry, but that's indeed off-topic.
 
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  • #460
vanhees71 said:
Looking at a growing group of anti-corona measures and -vaccination propagandists in Germany, I'd suggest that P stands even for psychiatry, but that's indeed off-topic.
From the way you put it, I'm note sure whether you support measures and vaccine or are against them. But to put it on topic, a psychology book everyone should read is
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0374533555/?tag=pfamazon01-20
 
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  • #461
Of course I'm decidedly pro vaccination and also pro anti-corona measures!
 
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  • #462
vanhees71 said:
also pro anti-corona measures
Given that this is a physics forum, this sounds like you are against the sun. :wink:
 
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  • #463
caz said:
this sounds like you are against the sun.
But only superficially.
 
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  • #464
I am revising classical mechanics from kleppner and kolenkow. Studying ODE's from Ross differential equations. Going through hubbard and hubbard in my free time. Studying organic chemistry (just started) from LG WADE. Trying to give some time for OXTOBY introduction to modern chemistry.
 
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  • #465
vanhees71 said:
Looking at a growing group of anti-corona measures and -vaccination propagandists in Germany, I'd suggest that P stands even for psychiatry, but that's indeed off-topic.
I think it is growing not only in Germany. I am not sure what is my favorite argument given from them, if it is "to take vaccine will make you to turn gay" or "the implantation of devil chip in our bodies". I think the last one is a little old, not so funny anymore, so my favorite now is to take vaccine make you gay
 
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  • #466
Be warned about Purcell.
 
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  • #468
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  • #469
dextercioby said:
Well, they are from this year. By Amazon TOC they do not seem bad. But again, we need to let some months pass, to get unbiased/unpaid opinions. Anyways, in case they turn good, thanks for suggestions.
The topic of stochastic forces, I guess it's covered in Langevin equation.
Most topics look like they can be found in other books.
 
  • #470
Peskin & schroeder's Introduction to Quantum Field Theory for the problems. Matthew Schwartz's Quantum Field Theory and the Standard Model & Srednicki. Supplementing that with Gauge Fields and Strings by Polyakov.
 
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  • #471
Reviewing undergraduate courses in preparation for an MS program in Mathematics.

Anton: Elementary Linear Algebra
Abbot: Understanding Analysis
Apostol Calculus 1.

Should be done with Anton in a month. Then proceed to my worn out of copy of Axler: Linear Algebra Done Right.

Then Artin Algebra, and one of my many other Analysis books.
 
  • #472
Mr.Husky said:
I am revising classical mechanics from kleppner and kolenkow. Studying ODE's from Ross differential equations. Going through hubbard and hubbard in my free time. Studying organic chemistry (just started) from LG WADE. Trying to give some time for OXTOBY introduction to modern chemistry.
How do you like Ross Differential Equations? It is actually one of my favorite books. If you like Ross, and want to learn PDE, then there is a similar book. I forget the author but the cover is blue, and the professor worked at a university located in Honolulu? He was the guy that set fire to his office lol.
 
  • #473
Wonder if it's not too far OT to ask here when it's worth buying a book , given most of its content ( excepting cutting edge areas) is available for free somewhere on the web. I guess books do provide structure to the material that you can't find otherwise, but one may still be able to do well without it by providing your own structure.
 
  • #476
Borg said:
Trying to get a better handle on Graph Neural Networks. This seems to be a pretty good article for working up from the basics so far - https://distill.pub/2021/gnn-intro/#other-types-of-graphs-multigraphs-hypergraphs-hypernodes
That paper looks good to me ##-## for further exploration, I suggest:

9780521288811_l.jpg


##-## available from https://www.alibris.com/search/books/isbn/9780521288811 (used and in good condition) for ##$7.27 + $5.00 \rm{~shipping}##.
 
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  • #477
Reading through Introduction to Quantum Mechanics by DJ Griffiths and learning how little I retained from my undergrad...:confused:
 
  • #478
more literature than stem, but a fascinating book and a great break from the gee-whiz bullshit that constitutes most science writing, this book is a dark, semifictionalized account of selceted scientific and mathematical discoveries and both the benefits and the costs extracted from the discoverers and the world at large - beginning with the leap from the first synthetic pigment, Prussian Blue to its link with the discovery and history of cyanide, then circles back to Fritz Haber, at once the architect of chemical warfare, the man to whom a majority of the people living today owe their existence and well being, and the inventor of the gas that the Nazis used to exterminated his family after he died.

51pQZbsuBqL._SX336_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg
 
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  • #479
Until the end of time by Brian Greene, although it doesn't have any equations, the explanations of thermodynamics are crystal clear
 
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  • #480
One thing that I am reading right now is _Stronger Than a Hundred Men: A History of the Vertical Water Wheel_
by Terry S. Reynolds, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1983

Very interesting. Only a little way in, and so far reading a very deeply researched and cited exploration of the origination and precursors of the vertical waterwheel (which seems to have emerged in the first or second century BC). Documentary descriptions are scarce and epigraphical evidence dates only from much later, but there are meaningful pieces to put together, albeit requiring some logical speculation.

A revolutionary way to extract work from the natural world.

--diogenesNY
 
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