My Favourite Physics Textbooks and Thoughts on Starting a Physics Journey
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| Starting off on a physics journey (with your trusty blackboard of course!) Credit: Crimson Education |
For as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to pursue physics.
And now, I’m officially about to start my college career as an excited physics
student this month, August 2024.
Naturally, I had tonnes of questions about starting off on
this crazy journey. The gap between high school and college has been the most
nerve wracking and exasperating time in my life.
Being a school student is easy enough, but going to college
and meeting new people and professors, making friends, applying for
internships, working on huge lab projects, participating in college festivals
and events and getting all the coursework completed in the same span of time-
all of it sounded way too overwhelming.
Add to this mix the fact that Physics has the reputation of
being a hard subject. While I have always coasted through my math and physics
courses in high school, it is important to note that college adds a whole layer
of nuances and technical details to this subject. There is increased focus on
independent study and research, as well as a whole flood of new math to learn
and old math to polish.
So then, why choose physics?
Put simply, for the love of learning. And I also suppose I
am also a bit of a masochist- I enjoy a challenge. I want to live a fulfilling
life knowing a little more about our world at the end of the journey than when
I started it. Physics is also a field that allows us to develop ‘problem
solving’ skills, which can be very handy in a variety of other fields such as
mathematics, data analysis, chemistry, biology and computer science. Also, I
just must know.
On the subject of learning physics, where does one start?
I got you covered, pal. Here are some physics textbook
recommendations for you to get started on your physics journey.
Side note: there is no ‘perfect’ physics textbook. There
might be a perfect textbook for you, but that you must judge for yourself. Here
I have listed several physics textbooks that I went through (pdfs you can find
on the internet) and bought, and you can skim through the first two to three
chapters to get a feel for yourself.
Disclaimer: The following content may be triggering for
physics students who get easily overwhelmed by awesomeness. Proceed with
caution. Also, ranking greats was a really haggling experience, so please cut
me some slack.
Textbooks, textbooks everywhere- which one should I pick?
1. Principles of Physics by Halliday, Resnick and Walker
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| Principles of Physics by Halliday, Resnick and Walker Credit: Flipkart |
This is a nice, calculus-based textbook
with some solid foundational theory and good problems. I technically bought
this book in high school and remember being intimidated by its width at first,
but it turned out to be a great read. I studied most of this textbook in the
last year of high school.
This textbook is perfect for complete
beginners as well as slightly older students who wish to have a convenient
reference to review formulas and concepts. In India, this textbook is a very
popular choice for students preparing for various competitive exams like JEE
and UPSC.
o
Level: High school to Undergraduate (for a first
study essentially)
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Theoretical concepts: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑
o
Mathematical treatment of physics concepts: 🌕🌕🌕🌑🌑
o
Length: Around 900 pages
2. Serway’s Physics for Scientists and
Engineers
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| Serway's Physics for Scientists and Engineers Credit: Amazon |
This is another great calculus-based
textbook that explores and explains theoretical concepts quite well- in more
detail than Halliday Resnick. It is quite well supplemented with illustrations
which make the material a lot more approachable for a fledgling first-time
physics study. It has a good collection of problems too, as well as helpful
notes and titbits in the margins.
o
Level: High school to Undergraduate (for a first
study essentially)
o
Theoretical concepts: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗
o
Mathematical treatment of physics concepts: 🌕🌕🌕 🌕 🌑
o
Length: Around 1500 pages
3. University Physics by Young and Freedman
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| University Physics by Young and Freedman Credit: Goodreads |
This is the preferred textbook for
undergraduate students who are starting out at college. I have read through the
first few chapters, and it is a great jumping off point to more technical
textbooks. Just a step above the previous textbooks, University Physics may be
just what you need if you have a background in basic physics and math and want
to start off your formal education right. Also, Newtonian Mechanics is covered
really nicely here.
o
Level: Undergraduate
o
Theoretical concepts: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗
o
Mathematical treatment of physics concepts: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗
o
Length: Around 1600 pages
4. The Feynman Lectures on Physics by
Richard Feynman
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| The 3 volumes of Feynman's Lectures with a Tips Book Credit: Wikipedia |
I started reading the first volume while I
was still in middle school, but revisiting the same chapters now, I’m just as
blown away as I was when I first laid my eyes on it. Feynmann is unsurpassed
when it comes to explaining theoretical concepts in an almost mathematical way.
The intuition you’ll gain through these volumes will carry you farther than any
other textbook can. Whatever level you might be at, the Feynman lectures are
going to teach you something new about our world. The problem book has good and
difficult problems, but they may not be what you want to start with.
o
Level: Undergraduate, Graduate and Post Graduate
o
Theoretical concepts: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕
o
Mathematical treatment of physics concepts: 🌕🌕🌗
🌑 🌑
o
Length: Around 1500 pages
5. An Introduction to Mechanics by Kleppner
and Kolenkow
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| An Introduction to Mechanics by Kleppner and Kolenkow Credit: Goodreads |
If you want a good calculus-based undergraduate
mechanics textbook with an excellent mathematical backing, Kleppner and
Kolenkow would be a good choice. Unlike some of the other undergraduate
textbooks on this list that focus more on theory, this textbook dives straight
into the deep end of the mathematical applications of the topics explored. This
is also a good Olympiad textbook.
o
Level: Undergraduate
o
Theoretical concepts: 🌕🌕🌕🌑🌑
o
Mathematical treatment of physics concepts: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗
o
Length: Around 600 pages
6. Mathematical Methods in the Physical
Sciences by Mary Boas
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| Mathematical Methods in the Physical Sciences Credit: Amazon |
Mathematics is the language of Physics. So,
after all these Physics textbooks, it may be a good idea to explore some of the
math used regularly in physics as well. Boas is a good place to start that math
journey; especially for undergraduate students. It works well as an
introduction as well as a reference book, and the topics are explained lucidly.
o
Level: Undergraduate, Graduate
o
Theoretical concepts: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑
o
Mathematics: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗
o
Length: Around 800 pages
7. Mathematical Methods for Physicists by
Arfken and Weber
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| Mathematical Methods for Physicists by Arfken and Weber Credit: Amazon |
Arfken and Weber is a math encyclopaedia,
that can prove to be very handy to a more advanced student and will be
particularly helpful (atleast I reckon) in graduate school.
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Level: Graduate, Post Graduate (ready reference)
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Theoretical concepts: 🌕🌕🌕🌑🌑
o
Mathematics: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗
o
Length: Around 1200 pages
8. Classical Mechanics by John Taylor
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| Classical Mechanics by John Taylor Credit: Amazon |
Now I’m really stepping out of my league
here, but I couldn’t really end the article without mentioning this big red
book. I skimmed through the first few pages, and then scanned the table of
contents and the rest of the book, and it seems to me, that in a couple of years’
time, this could very well become my favourite classical mechanics textbook
after learning some crucial mathematical concepts. Classical Mechanics by
Taylor seems to contain just about everything you might want to learn in
classical mechanics- most suitable for a 3rdish year undergraduate or graduate
student, according to the all-knowing internet.
o
Level: Advanced Undergraduate, Graduate
o
Theoretical concepts: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑
o
Mathematical treatment of physics concepts: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗
o
Length: Around 500 pages
There are other texts too, such as Griffiths, Giancoli,
Goldstein and more, and I’ll add to this list as I gain more first-hand
experience with them. For now, these are the books that stood out to me and
that I loved at first sight.
In an upcoming post, I’ll list some of my favourite popular
science books that I think everyone who enjoys science should read at least
once in their lives.
Nicere
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