What Are Your Favorite Textbooks for Chemical Engineering?

[vanhees71]

I'm a book addict. It's too much work to type in all the titles of the book, I've on my shelf at home ;-)).

 

[ShayanJ]

I think, for people with so many books, its better to compromise to a top 10 list, its better than having no list from them at all!

Anyway, these are all the books that I have(there are also a few books in my own language but I rarely use them):
Gravitation: Foundations and Frontiers by Thanu Padmanabhan
Quantum Field Theory and the Standard Model by Matthew Schwartz
Decoherence and the Quantum to Classical Transition by Maximilian Schlosshauer
Introduction to Quantum effects in Gravity by Viatcheslav Mukhanov and Sergei Winitzki
Special Relativity in General Frames by Eric Gourgoulhon
Modern Quantum Mechanics by Jun Sakurai and Jim Napolitano
Classical Electrodynamics by John Jackson

I'm a particle physics master's student now and my master's thesis will probably be in the field of studying Quark-Gluon plasma using AdS/CFT correspondence so its very probable I get a book or two about this subject(one of them is probably "Gauge/String Duaity, Hot QCD and Heavy Ion Collisions" by Solana et. al. and the other "Ads/CFT Duality User Guide" by Makoto Natsuume). I also plan to get Pathria's statistical mechanics textbook and also Laloe's "Do we really understand quantum mechanics?".

 

[jasonRF]

I'm a book addict. It's too much work to type in all the titles of the book, I've on my shelf at home ;-)).

I'm in the same boat. However, when I consider which books I have used often in my work in industry as an electrical engineer, the number is closer to a dozen or so. Probably the top two are

Probability, random variables and stochastic processes, 3rd edition, by Papoulis

Fields and waves in communication electronics, 2nd edition, by Ramo, Whinnery and Van Duzer.

these are not the absolute best books, but I took classes out of them so can find stuff easily and I know the notation. Most of all they have a pretty large scope, so the basic ideas of a lot of topics are included.

 

[ProfuselyQuarky]

What's scary about it?

I can barely cover a few pages of a something within a week, if I'm expected to read and understand a collection this extensive...

 

[vanhees71]

Well, my alltime favorites are

General (theory) textbooks
-------------------------------

Sommerfeld, Lectures on Theoretical Physics (6 vols.)
W. Pauli, Lectures on theoretical physics (6 vols.)
The Feynman Lectures (3 vols.)
Landau, Lifshitz, Course on Theoretical Physics (mostly vols. 2, VI, VIII-X)
Bartelmann et al Theoretische Physik (in German)

Quantum Mechanics
----------------------

J. J. Sakurai, Modern Quantum Mechanics
P. A. M. Dirac, The Principles of Quantum Mechanics
S. Weinberg, Lectures on Quantum Mechanics
J. Schwinger, Quantum Mechanics - Symbolism of atomic measurements
Messiah, Quantum Mechanics
Ballentine, Quantum Mechanics

QFT (in vacuo)
-----------------

M. Schwartz, Quantum field theory and the standard model
S. Weinberg, The quantum theory of fields (3 Vols.)
Bailin&Love, Gauge theories
J. C. Taylor, Gauge theories of weak interactions
Collins, Renormalisation

QFT (many body)
-------------------

C. Gale, J. Kapusta, Finite temperature field theory
M. LeBellac, Thermal field theory

Stat. Phys. & Kinetic theory
-------------------------------

H. Callen, Thermodynamics and an introduction to thermostatistics
F. Reif, Fundamentals of statistical and thermal physics
de Groot et al, Relativistic kinetic theory
Cercignani, The relativistic Boltzmann equation
Risken, The Fokker-Planck equation

 

[MathematicalPhysicist]

I have something like hundreds of ebooks on my harddisk.

I also have hardcopy which I purchased, something like between 30-80 books on paper copy.

If I plan on reading all these books and papers I shouldn't plan on dying in the 100000000 coming years... :-D

 

[MathematicalPhysicist]

Well, my alltime favorites are

General (theory) textbooks
-------------------------------

Sommerfeld, Lectures on Theoretical Physics (6 vols.)
W. Pauli, Lectures on theoretical physics (6 vols.)
The Feynman Lectures (3 vols.)
Landau, Lifshitz, Course on Theoretical Physics (mostly vols. 2, VI, VIII-X)
Bartelmann et al Theoretische Physik (in German)

Quantum Mechanics
----------------------

J. J. Sakurai, Modern Quantum Mechanics
P. A. M. Dirac, The Principles of Quantum Mechanics
S. Weinberg, Lectures on Quantum Mechanics
J. Schwinger, Quantum Mechanics - Symbolism of atomic measurements
Messiah, Quantum Mechanics
Ballentine, Quantum Mechanics

QFT (in vacuo)
-----------------

M. Schwartz, Quantum field theory and the standard model
S. Weinberg, The quantum theory of fields (3 Vols.)
Bailin&Love, Gauge theories
J. C. Taylor, Gauge theories of weak interactions
Collins, Renormalisation

QFT (many body)
-------------------

C. Gale, J. Kapusta, Finite temperature field theory
M. LeBellac, Thermal field theory

Stat. Phys. & Kinetic theory
-------------------------------

H. Callen, Thermodynamics and an introduction to thermostatistics
F. Reif, Fundamentals of statistical and thermal physics
de Groot et al, Relativistic kinetic theory
Cercignani, The relativistic Boltzmann equation
Risken, The Fokker-Planck equation

How did you use these books? cover to cover or as references?

Reading technical literature is a time consuming endeavour, you need to justify everything you do or read be it as an exercise or as justification of what you read.

 

[bacte2013]

[UPDATE] Undergraduate in US pursuing mathematics and microbiology majors. Most of my books are dedicated for courses and my research in the mathematics and computational microbiology:

Accelerated C++: Practical Programming by Example, A. Koenig
Additive Number Theory: The Classical Bases, M. Nathanson
Additive Number Theory: Inverse Problems and Geometry of Sumsets, M. Nathanson
Algebraic Topology, A. Hatcher
Algorithms, R. Sedgewick, et. al.
An Introduction to the Theory of Numbers, I. Niven et. al.
Applied Predictive Modeling, M. Kuhn
Biological Sequence Analysis: Probabilistic Models of Proteins and Nucleic Acids, R. Durbin, et. al.
Brock Biology of Microorganisms, M. Madigan, et. al.
Calculus with Analytic Geometry, G. Simmons
Complex Analysis, J. Bak, et. al.
Complex Analysis, L. Ahlfors
Convex Analysis, R. Rockafellar
Elements of the Theory of Functions and Functional Analysis, A. Kolmogorov, et. al.
Elementary Number Theory, D. Burton
Elementary Real and Complex Analysis, G. Shilov
Foundations of Analysis, E. Landau
General Topology, J. Kelley
Introduction to Algorithms, T. Cormen, et. al.
Introduction to Graph Theory, G. Chartrand
Introduction to the Theory of Computation, M. Sipser
Kuby Immunology, J. Owen, et. al.
Linear Algebra, Friedberg, et. al.
Linear Algebra, Hoffman/Kunze
Linear Representations of Finite Groups, J.P. Serre
Machine Learning, K. Murphy
Machine Learning, T. Mitchell
Machine Learning, P. Flach
Machine Learning with R, B. Lantz
Medical Microbiology, P. Murray, et al.
Molecular Biology of the Cells, B. Alberts, et. al.
Principles of Mathematical Analysis, W. Rudin
Principles of Virology, S. Flint
Real and Complex Analysis, W. Rudin
Real Mathematical Analysis, C. Pugh
Set Theory, T. Jech
The Analysis of Biological Data, M. Whitlock, et. al.
The Elements of Statistical Learning, T. Hastie, et al.
The Foundations of Analysis, R. Mikula
Topics in Algebra, I. N. Herstein
Topology, J. Dugundji
Topology, J. Munkres
Vector Calculus, Linear Algebra, and Differential Forms, Hubbard/Hubbard
Virology: Principles and Applications, J. Carter

 

[George Jones]

When this thread started, I had already started cataloging my books, and was about 40% done. I had intended to complete the process little-by-little over the next few weeks, but I have accelerated the process, and I should be done tomorrow. I have attached a picture of me taken exactly 10 years ago, with some of the books I then had, e.g., many of the quantum books I then had are not in view. I now am less heavy, greyer, and have many more books.

 

[Truecrimson]

Marked with an asterisk are the ones that I don't own as a hard copy (but have in my computer) nor used in a coursework but I found to be useful / like so far. (I worked on a project in quantum noise / optics in the past and now trying to use differential geometry and representation theory in quantum computation.)

The last one is not really a textbook but it made me drop biology to pursue quantum and information theory in the first place.

A First Course in Abstract Algebra - Fraleigh
Abstract Linear Algebra - Curtis
An Introduction to Information Theory - Pierce
*An Introduction to Lie Groups and Lie Algebras - Kirillov Jr.
An Introduction to Modern Cosmology - Liddle
Analytical Mechanics - Fowles & Cassiday
Basic Algebra Vol. I, II - Jacobson
Basic Complex Analysis - Marsden & Hoffman
Biology - Campbell et al.
*Classical Electromagnetism - Jerrold Franklin
*Complex Semisimple Lie Algebras - Serre
*Computational Complexity - Arora & Barak
*Do We Really Understand Quantum Mechanics? - Laloë
Elementary Analysis - Ross
Elements of Information Theory - Cover & Thomas
Information Theory - Ash
Introduction to Electrodynamics - Griffiths
Introduction to General Relativity - Ryder
Introduction to Quantum Mechanics - Griffiths
Introduction to Smooth Manifolds - Lee
*Lectures on Lie Groups and Lie Algebras - Carter, Segal & Macdonald
Lectures on Quantum Theory: Mathematical and Structural Foundations - Isham
*Lie Groups: An Approach through Invariants and Representations - Procesi
*Lie Groups Beyond an Introduction - Knapp
*Linear Representations of Finite Groups - Serre
Manifolds and Differential Geometry - Lee
Mathematical Physics - Geroch
Mathematics for Physics and Physicists - Appel
Modern Quantum Field Theory - Banks
*Physics for Mathematicians: Mechanics I - Spivak
Principles of Biochemistry - Lehninger
Principles of Genetics - Snustad & Simmons
Principles of Mathematical Analysis - Rudin
Principles of Organic Chemistry - Hornback
Quantum Computation and Quantum Information - Nielsen & Chuang
Quantum Computing Since Democritus - Aaronson
*Quantum Measurement and Control - Wiseman & Milburn
Quantum Mechanics - Cohen-Tannoudji, Diu & Laloë
Quantum Mechanics: A Modern Development - Ballentine
*Quantum Mechanics: Concepts and Applications - Zettili
*Quantum Noise - Gardiner & Zoller
*Quantum Optics: An Introduction - Fox
Quantum Processes, Systems, and Information - Schumacher & Westmoreland
Quantum Theory: Concepts and Methods - Peres
Real Mathematical Analysis - Pugh
Semi-Simple Lie Algebras and Their Representations - Cahn
Spacetime Physics (1st ed.) - Taylor & Wheeler
*Speakable and Unspeakable in Quantum Mechanics - Bell
Scientific Reasoning: The Bayesian Approach (2nd ed.) - Howson & Urbach
Statistical Physics: A Probabilistic Approach - Lavenda
Statistical Thermophysics - Robertson
Statistics - Barlow
The Nature of Computation - Moore & Mertens
*The Princeton Companion to Mathematics - Gowers (ed.)
The Quantum Theory of Fields Vol. 1 - Weinberg
Thermal Physics (1st ed.) - Kittel
Thermodynamics and an Introduction to Thermostatistics - Callen
What is Life? - Schrödinger

I'm currently waiting for Xiao-Gang Wen's Quantum Field Theory of Many-Body Systems that I ordered from Amazon.

 

[bacte2013]

^
I like Moore&Mertens book; although it is not really a learning source, it is very comprehensive on the computability. How is "Basic Algebra I&II" compared to books like Lang, Hungerford, and Birkhoff/MacLane?

 

[Truecrimson]

^
I like Moore&Mertens book; although it is not really a learning source, it is very comprehensive on the computability. How is "Basic Algebra I&II" compared to books like Lang, Hungerford, and Birkhoff/MacLane?

I took a quantum computing course from Cris Moore so I bought it without thinking too much at that time.

I've never read other algebra books that you listed so I wouldn't dare compare them, but I heard that Jacobson's writing is better motivated than Lang and Hungerford. It seems like I should check out Birkhoff & MacLane some time. (Thanks bacte2013!) But content-wise, Jacobson doesn't really have much linear and multilinear algebra while Birkhoff & MacLane doesn't have representation theory and homological algebra. (Jacobson II has much more content beyond my level.)

 

[MexChemE]

When this thread started, I had already started cataloging my books, and was about 40% done. I had intended to complete the process little-by-little over the next few weeks, but I have accelerated the process, and I should be done tomorrow. I have attached a picture of me taken exactly 10 years ago, with some of the books I then had, e.g., many of the quantum books I then had are not in view. I now am less heavy, greyer, and have many more books.

That's an impressive collection! Are the yellow books part of a series? I noticed they're all very similar.

 

[George Jones]

That's an impressive collection! Are the yellow books part of a series? I noticed they're all very similar.

That represents less than half the books that I now have.

The yellow books are published by Springer, and there are a number of series, e.g., Undergraduate Texts in Mathematics, Graduate Texts in Mathematics (white top, yellow bottom), etc.

 

[johnnyrev]

This thread scares me.

And I thought going into law was bad...

Try Theology sometime.
EDIT: texts. I meant textbooks.

 

[MexChemE]

Just got two great additions to my collection!

Treybal's Mass Transfer Operations, which is easily the best textbook I've read regarding unit operations; it was really hard to obtain a brand-new copy, as it had gone out of print since 1988. I also got Perry's Chemical Engineers' Handbook, which is as legendary as BSL as a chemical engineering reference, and with a 65% discount off its retail price, thanks to an offer made to my school's ChemE department.

Hope you're all doing great!

 

[S.G. Janssens]

Just got two great additions to my collection!

Congratulations. Few things are more satisfying than obtaining a copy of a book that has gone out of print a long time ago.

Hope you're all doing great!

I hope the same for you.

Incidentally, is the picture in your avatar a refinery? It reminds me a lot of the refineries in Pernis (The Netherlands), not far from where I live. They are beautiful at night and I love the smell, when the wind is right.

 

[MexChemE]

Incidentally, is the picture in your avatar a refinery? It reminds me a lot of the refineries in Pernis (The Netherlands), not far from where I live. They are beautiful at night and I love the smell, when the wind is right.

Indeed, it is. That's Ingeniero Antonio M. Amor refinery in Salamanca, Guanajuato, operated by PEMEX.

I do believe chemical plants at night are some of the most impressive man-made sights to behold. And most people I know would agree with us.

 

[Andy Resnick]

Here's about half of my library:

I won't list them all... Besides the 'standards' and textbooks, my top-20 list is:

Books that could/should be used as standard texts:
Theoretical Physics (Greiner, 9 vol)
Interfacial Transport Phenomena (Slattery)
Introduction to Many-Body Physics (Coleman)
Introduction to Error Analysis (Taylor)
Life in Moving Fluids (Vogel)
Advanced Light Microscopy (Pluta, 2 vol)
Mechanics of Motor Proteins and the Cytoskeleton (Howard)
Mechanical Vibrations (Rao)

Oddball titles:
Encyclopedic Dictionary of Mathematics, 2nd edition (2 vol)
The Geometry of Biological Time (Winfree)
How to Build a Working Digital Computer (Alcosser, Phillips, and Wolk)
Non-Newtonian Calculus (Grossman and Katz)
The Tragicomical History of Thermodynamics 1822-1854 (Truesdell)
Fission Product Yields and their Mass Distribution (Zysin, Lbov, Sel’chenkov)
A Million Random Digits with 100,000 Normal Deviates (RAND Corporation)
Infrared Reflectance of Aircraft Paints AFGL-TR-84-0307
Urological Oddities (Dakin)

Large-format photo/illustrations:
Nephrons and Kidneys (Oliver)
The Martian Landscape NASA SP-425
Mission to Earth: LANDSAT Views the World NASA SP-360

 

[Demystifier]

I'm a book addict.

Me too. I have much more books than I will ever be able to read.

 

[Stephen Tashi]

I've heard a perhaps apocryphal story that there was a well known math professor whose office had the typical wall of bookshelves. He dusted the shelves regularly, but on them he kept only one book. (This was obviously a symbolic statement aimed at his students and colleagues. )

My personal science library is mostly in closed cabinets and boxes. It has made an outstanding contribution to the quality of my life through the exercise it gave me as I packed and un-packed it, carried from apartment to apartment, up and down stairs, into and out of buildings.

 

[Demystifier]

but on them he kept only one book.

Which one?

 

[vanhees71]

I'm pretty sure it must have been a physics book, because if you have only one book to live with it must be a really interesting one, which leads to the conclusion that it must be one about QFT .

 

[Demystifier]

I'm pretty sure it must have been a physics book, because if you have only one book to live with it must be a really interesting one, which leads to the conclusion that it must be one about QFT .

He was a math professor, but I suspect that it was neither math book nor science book. A person with only one book must be a very practical person, so it must have been some very practical book. Perhaps a phone book or the air condition manual?

 

[vanhees71]

On the other hand mathematicians don't like practical things. So why should he have a practical book?

 

[Demystifier]

On the other hand mathematicians don't like practical things. So why should he have a practical book?

But they don't like physics either (because it's too practical, compared to math). It is also known that mathematicians are more religious than scientists are, so could it be the Bible?

 

[Mondayman]

Me too. I have much more books than I will ever be able to read.

It's a compounding issue as well. For every one book I read or work through, I order ten more from amazon. Particularly the old used hardcopies that people sell for dirt cheap.

 

[jasonRF]

It's a compounding issue as well. For every one book I read or work through, I order ten more from amazon. Particularly the old used hardcopies that people sell for dirt cheap.

I have the same problem. I try to justify it to myself this way: the cheap used copies of old books are typically the cost of a magazine or two, so if I get a magazine worth of enjoyment from it then it was a good purchase. The books I order are often books that I cannot get from my work library so I haven't had an opportunity to look through them; if they aren't worth keeping I give them away (just like discarding a magazine). Expensive books are a different story, of course ...

 

[S.G. Janssens]

On the other hand mathematicians don't like practical things.

But they don't like physics either (because it's too practical, compared to math).

My favorite books are about mathematics that is both practical and beautiful. It makes me very happy when I see that these two qualities align, but it seems rare.

 

[Demystifier]

My favorite books are about mathematics that is both practical and beautiful. It makes me very happy when I see that these two qualities align, but it seems rare.

Some examples?

 

[S.G. Janssens]

Some examples?

1. Finite-dimensional Perron-Frobenius theory in Matrix Analysis and Linear Algebra (2000) by Meyer
2. Functional Analysis (2nd edition, 1982) by Kantorovich and Akilov
3. Volume I of An Introduction to Probability Theory and its Applications (3rd edition, 1968) by Feller (a Croatian giant)
4. An Introduction to Numerical Analysis (2nd edition, 1989) by Atkinson
...

Maybe it is not as rare as I thought

EDIT: For those less familiar with these subjects, let me briefly indicate one practical topic as it appears in each of the above references 1-3, assuming that for 4 this is obvious.

1. Google's PageRank algorithm.
2. The Newton-Kantorovich theorem for the iterative solution of nonlinear systems, used in e.g. bifurcation theory and optimization.
3. Discrete probabilistic models (such as Markov chains) in statistical mechanics and macroeconomics.

Of course each book contains many more topics than just these. Also, there are relationships. For example, the algebraic treatment of Markov Chains relies heavily on Perron-Frobenius theory.

 

[Demystifier]

3. Volume I of An Introduction to Probability Theory and its Applications (3rd edition, 1968) by Feller (a Croatian giant)

I am a Croat, but I had no idea that Feller was a Croat too. Thank you for that information, you made my day.

 

[SredniVashtar]

I have the same problem. I try to justify it to myself this way: the cheap used copies of old books are typically the cost of a magazine or two, so if I get a magazine worth of enjoyment from it then it was a good purchase.

So, it's true! I do have a twin brother out there in the world!
This "it costs like a magazine" is driving me broke. The 0.01 pounds books on Amazon, which turn out to be less than 5 euro shipped at home are too big a temptation to be able to resist. And now I also have to spend money for an additional bookshelf (maybe two).
I have never bought that many magazines in the first place!

There is a silver lining to this compulsive disorder though: when I am faced with some sugary or high cholesterol treat my brain goes "Wait, this will cost you as much as a physics book from the 60s! What would you rather have?".

Books: food for the mind.

 

[Logical Dog]

Books on computer (picture):

Books in hardcopy:
what is mathematics? R. Courant.
Schaums outlines of logic.
Book of proof.
How to prove it.
How to study for a mathematics degree (lol). lara alcock
How to think about analysis. lara alcock.
Schaums outline of computer architecture.
A level physics book.
A level maths, mechanics modules books.
Introduction to mathematical philosophy, Bertrand Russel.
Elias zakons lecture notes. they are free and can be found here: http://www.trillia.com/products.html
Discrete mathematics normal L biggs.

 

[Demystifier]

Books on computer ...

And they are all, of course, acquired legally.