(Part 3) Reddit mentions: The best physics books

Friend asked for a similar list a while ago and I put this together. Would love to see people thoughts/feedback.

Very High Level Introductions:

• Mr. Tompkins in Paperback
  
  • A super fast read that spends less time looking at the "how" but focused instead on the ramifications and impacts. Covers both GR as well as QM but is very high level with both of them. Avoids getting into the details and explaining the why.
    
    
• Einstein's Relativity and the Quantum Revolution (Great Courses lecture)
  
  • This is a great intro to the field of non-classical physics. This walks through GR and QM in a very approachable fashion. More "nuts and bolts" than Mr. Tompkins but longer/more detailed at the same time.
    
    
    Deeper Pop-sci Dives (probably in this order):
    
    
• Quantum Theory: A Very Brief Introduction
  
  • Great introduction to QM. Doesn't really touch on QFT (which is a good thing at this point) and spends a great deal of time (compared to other texts) discussing the nature of QM interpretation and the challenges around that topic.
    
• The Lightness of Being: Mass, Ether, and the Unification of Forces
  
  • Now we're starting to get into the good stuff. QFT begins to come to the forefront. This book starts to dive into explaining some of the macro elements we see as explained by QM forces. A large part of the book is spent on symmetries and where a proton/nucleon's gluon binding mass comes from (a.k.a. ~95% of the mass we personally experience).
    
• The Higgs Boson and Beyond (Great Courses lecture)
  
  • Great lecture done by Sean Carroll around the time the Higgs boson's discovery was announced. It's a good combination of what role the Higgs plays in particle physics, why it's important and what's next. Also spends a little bit of time discussing how colliders like the LHC work.
    
• Mysteries of Modern Physics: Time (Great Courses lecture)
  
  • Not really heavy on QM at all, however I think it does best to do this lecture after having a bit of the physics under your belt first. The odd nature of time symmetry in the fundamental forces and what that means with regards to our understanding of time as we experience it is more impactful with the additional knowledge (but, like I said, not absolutely required).
    
• Deep Down Things: The Breathtaking Beauty of Particle Physics
  
  • This is not a mathematical approach like "A Most Incomprehensible Thing" are but it's subject matter is more advanced and the resulting math (at least) an order of magnitude harder (so it's a good thing it's skipped). This is a "high level deep dive" (whatever that means) into QFT though and so discussion of pure abstract math is a huge focus. Lie groups, spontaneous symmetry breaking, internal symmetry spaces etc. are covered.
    
• The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory
  
  • This is your desert after working through everything above. Had to include something about string theory here. Not a technical book at all but best to be familiar with QM concepts before diving in.
    
    Blending the line between pop-sci and mathematical (these books are not meant to be read and put away but instead read, re-read and pondered):
    
    
• A Most Incomprehensible Thing: Intro to GR
  
  • Sorry, this is GR specific and nothing to do with QM directly. However I think it's a great book acting as an introduction. Definitely don't go audible/kindle. Get the hard copy. Lots of equations. Tensor calculus, Lorentz transforms, Einstein field equations, etc. While it isn't a rigorous textbook it is, at it's core, a mathematics based description not analogies. Falls apart at the end, after all, it can't be rigorous and accessible at the same time, but still well worth the read.
    
• The Theoretical Minimum: What You Need to Know to Start Doing Physics
  
  • Not QM at all. However it is a great introduction to using math as a tool for describing our reality and since it's using it to describe classical mechanics you get to employ all of your classical intuition that you've worked on your entire life. This means you can focus on the idea of using math as a descriptive tool and not as a tool to inform your intuition. Which then would lead us to...
    
• Quantum Mechanics: The Theoretical Minimum
  
  • Great introduction that uses math in a descriptive way AND to inform our intuition.
    
• The Road to Reality: A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe
  
  • Incredible book. I think the best way to describe this book is a massive guidebook. You probably won't be able to get through each of the topics based solely on the information presented in the book but the book gives you the tools and knowledge to ask the right questions (which, frankly, as anybody familiar with the topic knows, is actually the hardest part). You're going to be knocking your head against a brick wall plenty with this book. But that's ok, the feeling when the brick wall finally succumbs to your repeated headbutts makes it all worth while.

>With quizzes, can you use someone else's quizzes? Say another teacher wants to use the same quiz or you're collaborating with someone at another campus.

You can, how easy it is depends on how your school is setting things up how easy it is. If you are collaborating with another AP Physics 1 class, and you want to run pretty much the same stuff, the easiest way would be to share a class with each teacher having their own section. You could share everything, but control your own assignment and due dates, as well as grading only your own stuff.

Otherwise, the way that always works is to have one teacher export the quiz, send it to the other and import it. This however will not allow you to work together on the quiz, just transfer finished quizzes.

Finally, there is also something called Commons, which would allow anyone in the world to share anything, rubrics, assignments, quizzes, whole classes, and everything inbetween. However I am not sure if that is in general release now, or still only in certain districts.

Anyway, here is my go to "New Physics Teacher" list.

Books

TIPERS

• TIPERs: Sensemaking Tasks for Introductory Physics
  
• Newtonian Tasks Inspired by Physics Education Research: nTIPERs
  
• E&M TIPERs: Electricity & Magnetism Tasks
  
• Ranking Task Exercises in Physics
  
  TIPERs are a fantastic resource for including conceptual thinking assignments. Answer keys are generally available if you talk to your school's Pearson Rep. IMO, the E/M book is the weakest, in part because it ignores that circuits are a thing. I would start with the first as it is a general overview, and go from there.
  
  

  General Physics Education
  

  
  

• Five Easy Lessons: Strategies for Successful Physics Teaching
  
• Hands-On Physics Activities with Real-Life Applications
  
• Tutorials In Introductory Physics and Homework Package - This is less helpful as you get further in your career and are more comfortable designing your own assignments, but was very helpful when I first started.
  
• Thinking Physics: Understandable Practical Reality - If you like Hewitt's next time questions you'll love these.
  
• Teaching Introductory Physics - Pretty much all physics teachers should read this at some point, such a fantastic resource.
  
• Teaching High School Physics Volume I - First of a three volume set, I like these, but they were written by one of my college profs, so I am biased.
  
  

  Websites
  

• Pretty Good Physics - While mostly an AP resource, tons of teacher made materials are available. If you want access to the good stuff (tests and such) those are keep in PGP-secure, there are instructions on how you can gain access.
  
• PheT
  
• Compadre - Tends to be hit or miss for me, but a good collection of resources.
  
• AP Physics HTML 5 Sims - A collection of simple simulations written by an AP Physics teacher, good for introductory labs.
  
• New Jersey Center for Teaching and Learning - Another collection of materials for all types of courses, particularly handy if you have any ESL students and know none of the language.
  
• Physics Classroom - Pretty much the defacto online physics textbook.
  
  

  Youtube
  

• Lasseviren1 - Great Calc-physics tutorials
  
• Flipping Physics
  
• Minutephysics
  
• Veritasium
  
  If anyone else has suggestions let me know, I will try to keep an up to date list to post for all of the "I'm new to physics help!" posts. I might add an AP section.
  

I love science books. These are all on my bookshelf/around my apt. They aren't all chemistry, but they appeal to my science senses:

I got a coffee table book once as a gift. It's Theodore Gray's The Elements. It's beautiful, but like I said, more of a coffee table book. It's got a ton of very cool info about each atom though.

I tried The Immortal Life of Henrieta Lacks, which is all about the people and family behind HeLa cells. That was a big hit, but I didn't care for it.

I liked The Emperor of all Maladies which took a long time to read, but was super cool. It's essentially a biography of cancer. (Actually I think that's it's subtitle)

The Wizard of Quarks and Alice in Quantumland are both super cute allegories relating to partical physics and quantum physics respectively. I liked them both, though they felt low-level, tying them to high-level physics resulted in a fun read.

Unscientific America I bought on a whim and didn't really enjoy since it wasn't science enough.

The Ghost Map was a suuuper fun read about Cholera. I love reading about mass-epidemics and plague.

The Bell that Rings Light, In Search of Schrödinger's Cat, Schrödinger's Kittens, The Fabric of the Cosmos and Beyond the God Particle are all pleasure reading books that are really primers on Quantum.

I also tend to like anything by Mary Roach, which isn't necessarily chemistry or science, but is amusing and feels informative. I started with Stiff but she has a few others that I also enjoyed.

Have fun!

In response to your request for "a book that might help" you decide on physics...

I actually hated my first exposure to physics in high school, but my freshman mechanics course really got me excited about the subject matter. The textbook we used was excellent and is called "An Introduction to Mechanics" by Kleppner and Kolenkow (link).

If you have made up your mind on classical physics, check out an introductory text on Special Relativity. There is a highly readable and mathematically completely unintimidating text by a man named Helliwell (link) that I like! I'll warn that it completely skips a tensor-based approach (which would actually be useful later on) in favor of a trivial-algebra-based approach that does miss out on some of the beauty of the subject but does manage to blow your mind if you've never seen the material before.

There are other books out there that are potentially superior, but these are the ones I like, although I will say that in my opinion nothing beats Kleppner and Kolenkow in clarity or material at its level. I hope this helps, and if it doesn't, shoot me a PM and I'll get back to you!

Good luck!

Edited: formatting, grammar.

Griffiths is the go-to for advanced undergraduate level texts, so you might consider his Introduction to Quantum Mechanics and Introduction to Particle Physics. I used Townsend's A Modern Approach to Quantum Mechanics to teach myself and I thought that was a pretty good book.

I'm not sure if you mean special or general relativity. For special, /u/Ragall's suggestion of Taylor is good but is aimed an more of an intermediate undergraduate; still worth checking out I think. I've heard Taylor (different Taylor) and Wheeler's Spacetime Physics is good but I don't know much more about it. For general relativity, I think Hartle's Gravity: An Introduction to Einstein's General Relativity and Carroll's Spacetime and Geometry: An Introduction to General Relativity are what you want to look for. Hartle is slightly lower level but both are close. Carroll is probably better if you want one book and want a bit more of the math.

Online resources are improving, and you might find luck in opencourseware type websites. I'm not too knowledgeable in these, and I think books, while expensive, are a great investment if you are planning to spend a long time in the field.

One note: teaching yourself is great, but a grad program will be concerned if it doesn't show up on a transcript. This being said, the big four in US institutions are Classical Mechanics, E&M, Thermodynamics/Stat Mech, and QM. You should have all four but you can sometimes get away with three. Expectations of other courses vary by school, which is why programs don't always expect things like GR, fluid mechanics, etc.

I hope that helps!

Hi, I've taught physics and developed curriculum (for better or worse) for the last ten years. I work in an independent school so I may not be able to transfer all of my experiences to you if you work in public school, but the following steps have helped me immensely.

1. Use your standards, but also break them down into actionable (for the student) objectives. I use the NGSS as a framework since my school doesn't use the state standards. Here is an example of what I mean. These are the units for the course I will be teaching next year. This represents the 4th iteration of this course in 5 years! The course is designed for 9th graders as we are a physics first school.
   
   
2. Create your major assessments. This may be difficult since you haven't taught physics before. Here is an example of my WIP unit 1 test (which you are free to pilfer if you like). The books I mention below also come with a wealth of suggested problems that can be altered depending on the level of your students or what you are trying to accomplish.
   
   
3. Check out Arnold Arons and 5 Easy Lessons for a comprehensive guide to student misconceptions and teaching strategies that are backed by research. Arons is expensive, but has more suggested problems. 5 Easy lessons draws heavily from Arons and is much cheaper so if you just want the quick and dirty pedagogy go with that. These books are geared for introductory physics at the college level, but relevant concepts can easily be transferred to the high school level.
   
   
4. The modeling curriculum mentioned is nice because it comes with a ton of stuff ready made, but if you haven't done a workshop you may struggle to implement it well. Check out physport.org for research backed resources that may help you find a curriculum or curriculum plan you like.
   
   
5. Feel free to PM me with questions. I have done lots of curriculum development on my own and it can feel overwhelming. I'd also be happy to look at things you create and offer feedback. I'm no expert by any means, but an extra pair of eyes is always good.

The books others have suggested here are all great, but if you've never seen physics with calculus before, you may want to begin with something more accessible. Taylor and Goldstein are aimed at advanced undergraduates and spend almost no time on the elementary formulation of Newtonian mechanics. They're designed to teach you about more advanced methods of mechanics, primarily the Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formulations.

Therefore, I suggest you start with a book that's designed to be introductory. I don't have a particular favorite, but you may enjoy Serway & Jewett or Halliday & Resnick.

Many of us learned out of K&K, as it's been something of a standard in honors intro courses since the seventies. (Oh my god, a new edition? Why?!) However, most of its readers these days have already seen physics with calculus once before, and many of them still find it a difficult read. You may want to see if your school's library has a copy so you can try before you buy.

If you do enjoy the level of K&K, then I strongly encourage you to find a copy of Purcell when you get to studying electricity and magnetism. If you are confident with the math, it is far and away the best book for introductory E&M—there's no substitute! (And personally, I'd strongly suggest you get the original or the second edition used. The third edition made the switch to SI units, which are not well-suited to electromagnetic theory.)

By the way: if you don't care what edition you're getting, and you're okay with international editions, you can get these books really cheaply. For instance: Goldstein, S&J, K&K, Purcell.

Finally, if you go looking for other books or asking other people, you should be aware that "analytical mechanics" often means those more advanced methods you learn in a second course on mechanics. If you just say "mechanics with calculus", people will get the idea of what you're looking for.

I personally quite like Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw's works, Why Does E=mc^2 and The Quantum Universe which talk about relativity and quantum mechanics respectively. I found these very accessible when I was doing my A-Levels (which I think is the equivalent of American High School) and they require absolutely no knowledge of maths.

If you're more interested in Grand Unified Theories (which I assume is what you're thinking of when you talk about two forces being the same force) then the only thing that comes to mind is The Elegant Universe which I've never read personally but I have heard very good things about it. It's about String Theory which is one possible GUT theory of everything (not quite the same as a GUT, see the reply) but does cover a few other areas as well.

Another book which I've heard good things about, but again haven't read myself, is In Search Of Schrodinger's Cat which has more of a focus on quantum mechanics.

Personally I would read both of Cox and Forshaw's stuff first because they are both very short so won't take long to get through. Then you can move on to one of the others, which are both a bit longer.

If you ask nicely on /r/physics or something similar they might also be able to suggest other things you would like.

Edit: There might be a Feynman Lecture or two that interests you as well but bear in mind that these are aimed at undergrads.

Edit2: I also just did a quick google search of site:reddit.com/r/physics books which threw up some pretty good results.

Edit3: String theory n'est pas un GUT, pardon my french.

While you likely won't have any issues with learning the content, teaching physics is a very, very different beast than teaching mathematics. There are similarities, for sure. Lots of them. But there are also vast differences.

If you're serious about teaching physics, especially at the AP level, look into these resources:

• Five Easy Lessons: Strategies for Successful Physics Teaching
  
  
• Teaching for Conceptual Understanding in Science. Conceptual understanding in physics is essential. If students can solve complex physics problems mathematically, but can't explain things conceptually, then their true understanding of physics is quite limited.
  
  
• Look into Modeling Instrucution, a research-based method of teaching physics. Frank Noschese's blog has a collection of videos explaining the methodology, and the American Modeling Teachers Association holds workshops in the summer around the US.
  
  
• Teaching Introductory Physics. While Five Easy Lessons is an awesome resource, it's footnote compared to this. It's basically the bible of physics education.
  
  
• Physics! Blog! by Kelly OShea. See her model building posts in particular for what an excellent physics class looks like. It probably looks absolutely nothing like what the physics classes you took looked like. But it's what a 5-star physics class should look like.
  
  Feel free to PM me if you have any questions. I have lots more to say on the subject :P

So, here's a weird recommendation for a NewAge sub, but it is 100% woo-free: The Lightness of Being is a primer for beginners on quantum physics, as well as the history of science that lead us there.

In spiritual terms, it's pretty meager to the uninitiated, but reading it alongside The Recognition Sutras (good mysticism, so-so philosophy, only a pinch of woo) has been a transformative experience for me.

It's one thing to hear a New Age guru, tell you that all of existence is awareness and that awareness itself is responsible for the spontaneous creation of all energy and matter, but it is an entirely different fucking experience to learn that, literally, the foundation of modern physics is not empty space, but a flexible Grid, which could rightfully be called consciousness, which spontaneously manifests quarks, the building blocks of atoms. In short, universal consciousness spontaneously manifests the energy which creates matter.

Philosophically speaking, you are this Grid. As Carl Sagan said:

>“The cosmos is within us. We are made of star-stuff. We are a way for the universe to know itself.”

Forewarned: both of these books are intellectual heavy-lifting. But woo is easy, science is not.

EDIT: As far as a 'practice' goes, I actually use theory to guide my practice: if a meditation technique or tantra allows me to experience universal consciousness, or get close to it, I keep doing it. Otherwise I don't.

There's a lot of fun and interesting physics and astronomy that can be understood with little more than solid algebra skills. Add a little bit of introductory calculus, and there's a lot to keep you busy. If you're brave enough to dive into calc, I recommend this book.

Since you expressed particular interest in Astronomy, I would suggest using that as an anchor point. Get a good Astrophysics text like An Introduction to Modern Astrophysics by Carroll and start there. Inevitably, you will come upon concepts that you're shaky on-- luckily this is the age of the internet! I find HyperPhysics is a great resource (which appears to be down at the moment).

If you find that Newtonian physics is tripping you up, I recommend Basic Physics: A Self-Teaching Guide to fill in the gaps.

Second this! Of course use responsibly and in moderation. Tolerance can build up pretty quickly - even though weed is way less dangerous than alcohol, mcdonalds, much of advertising, and porn (all IMO), it's still good to be respectful of the plant and yourself, and not go overboard.

Try to expose yourself to meaningful, thought provoking things while high - don't just watch Airplane! and order a Pizza (although these are, of course, exceedingly enjoyable activities while high as well). Read a book on philosophy (Doubt: A History), physics (The Lightness of Being), or some great poetry, watch an awesome documentary (Baraka), go for a hike somewhere beautiful, take a long shower with the lights off and have some time alone with your thoughts, that kind of thing.

I'd also recommend a good nootropic stack to reduce the short term memory loss and paranoia that can come with cannabis - piracetam, bacopa, ashwaghanda, fishoii, and a COX-2 inhibitor like ibuprofin, naproxin, etc. There's a good longecity thread on this.

Also keep a notebook handy.

The quality and size of the mirror will only start to matter when you're doing real research. For example, what I'm doing requires me to resolve much smaller fluctuation in index of refraction than what you would get from "standard" optical equipment. This does not, by any means, mean that you can't observe Schlieren effects with cheaper mirrors and lenses. For simple demonstration/proof of concept purposes, you can get away with almost any optical grade.

For example, this is an image of shock diamonds formed outside of a compressible jet that I did as a demonstration for my lab:

http://i.imgur.com/yfWByA0.jpg

This was done with two very cheap 2" plano-convex lenses purchased from Thorlabs (http://thorlabs.us/) and 1 very cheap 55 mm lens attached to a very cheap $300 camera. As you can see, the physical phenomenon is easily observed using rather low grade equipment.

I would highly recommend that anyone who is interested in Schlieren photography to go out and experiment with it. It is a lot of fun. You can observe some very cool physics with just a couple of hundred bucks for the setup. One other thing to keep in mind is that you can do Schlieren with off-axis parabolic mirrors OR lenses. I HIGHLY recommend that you start with lenses before moving to mirrors. They are significantly easier to align and setup than your typical "z-type" Schlieren mirror systems. Purchase yourself 2 lenses and an optical rail (you can find all of it on Thorlabs), and you will be able to setup your system quite easily. I don't have time to go through all the technical details, but you should read about different Schlieren methods online and learn how they work.

If you would like to see some amazing examples of Schlieren and Shadowgraph images, I HIGHLY recommend Van Dyke's book on Album of Fluid Motion (http://amzn.com/0915760029).

Really interested, actually! But I'm curious about a few things:

When exactly will it start in January? And when will it end? Will it be in the evenings? Which days of the week?

Will we need a text book? I have a Dover book on basic analysis already which I haven't cracked open.

Where will the class be held?

I had an incredibly hard time with calculus as a university student. I took it 5 times because I kept dropping it or withdrawing or not getting a passing grade. I almost got kicked out of my program because I pushed the limits of how many times I could repeat the course. There was a general disinterest on my part, but now, almost 10 years later, I am much more fascinated and genuinely interested in math, number theory, and also in many ways, analysis.

I started reading a book recently that finally explained what calculus actually was in simple terms. I feel like it's the first time that was ever done for me and I can say that helped my interest.

Anyway, I'd really hope to attend your class! The reason I'm curious about exact start date is that I'll be away from the HRM until mid-January. And it's a bummer to miss the first few classes of anything!

In Search Of Schrodinger's Cat by John Gribbin is a very readable physics and quantum physics history sketch. Might be slightly dated now, although I can't think of anything directly contradicted by recent work. Then again, I'm not actually a physicist :)

The Quark and the Jaguar is quite a bit more complicated, but still quite accessible to the layperson and has a lot of interesting stuff.

Slightly less sciency, more maths/logic/computation is Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid

A Guinea Pig's History of Biology is pretty much what the title says, although there's an awful lot about fruit-flies too. Quite a good review of the history of biological experimentation, especially genetics.

H2O: A Biography of Water from a previous editor of Nature, covers water across a variety of fields. The second half of the book is mostly a rant about cold fusion and homoeopathy though, from what I recall, but the first half makes up for it.

Most general-audience things by Richard Feynman are well worth the read. He's got some great physics lectures, and his autobiography (Surely You're Joking, Mr Feynman?) is fun, but more for the anecdotes than the science.

Those are off the top of my head. If its something in a particular field, I might have some other ideas I'm currently forgetting.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Why-Does-mc2-Should-Care/dp/0306819112

I'm currently reading this. It's called "E=mc2 and why should we care". It's by Brian Cox and another chap who make the equation easy to understand and why it is what it is. Although it's not strictly cosmology, it does make it easier to understand certain theories. Also, it's nicely written.
There's some great books out there by Brian Cox (if you're familiar with him?) about the universe etc...

Happy Hunting and I hope your friend goes far

Oh man. Where do I begin?

It started with Edward Feser. Then Aquinas.

I recently compiled my 'short list' of books that were foundational for a Master's:

Start here:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0764807188/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/019925995X/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Then go here:

https://www.amazon.com/Story-Christianity-Vol-Church-Reformation/dp/006185588X

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0061855898/ref=pd_sbs_14_t_0?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=T5D86TV1MTCSQAYZ4GHR

G.K. Chesterton is always a good supplement (Heretics and Orthodoxy):

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ALKPW4S/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Bible Study:

https://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Testament-Anchor-Reference-Library/dp/0385247672/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1477868333&sr=1-1&keywords=raymond+brown

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1585169420/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0809147807/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

(Jewish perspective on NT): https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0195297709/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

After you've gotten through these (or maybe interspersed), get into de Chardin -- but be careful, because he toes the line into heresy with the noosphere stuff.

Then, start reading the theoretical physicist priests in our faith, Stanley Jaki, for example.

And this. This.

Finally, try to muddle through Spitzer. These guys have more smarts in their little finger than I will ever have.

Edit: I refreshed the thread and saw that you've already found Feser. Excellent. Are you familiar with John C. Wright as well? Sci-fi-writer-former-atheist-now-traditionalist-Catholic.

I'm interested in any science + metaphysics books you've come across too. . .

John Gribbin is a favorite science author of mine. In Search of Schrödinger's Cat is a cornerstone for understanding quantum physics as a layman and the follow-up Schrodinger's Kittens and the Search for Reality is also very good.

Michio Kaku is another good one. Rudy Rucker's nonfiction is definitely worth a look.

Dealers of Lightning: Xerox PARC and the Dawn of the Computer Age is a pretty awesome account of the lab that pretty much single-handedly invented the modern computer age.

And lastly (offhand) there's nothing better than The Structure of Scientific Revolutions for a view on how our notions of what the Big Ideas are in science change.

Alright, I feel very excited to answer this question mainly because I always had a deep love for physics and maths.

Now the first thing to remember is that, you need to explore for yourself. Think of these subjects as the oceans, or space. Even though we know somethings about them, we do not know everything, and are always in uncharted territory.

You need to try and explore and find out which topics you like more, what arouses your curiosity, is it nuclear physics? is it astronomy? is it quantum mechanics?

The same goes for maths, do you like abstract maths, set theory? game theory? Statistical maths?

I love quantum mechanics and for me, these were the best books to arouse my curiosity for the subject.

In search of Schrodingers cat (https://www.amazon.in/Search-Schrodingers-Cat-Updated/dp/0552125555)

and

The trouble with physics (this is a vaster book talking about string theory as well) (https://www.amazon.in/Trouble-Physics-String-Theory-Science/dp/0141018356/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=the+trouble+with+physics&qid=1557578480&s=books&sr=1-1)

​

Moreover, try to look for online resources. One thing that I loved doing was looking at everyday objects and then wondering how they work.

And then just googling, "How blank works?"

for example, how do bulbs and tubelights work? How does a car engine work? Why is the sky blue? Think of the most absurd questions that you can ask yourself. Don't be afraid if they sound stupid.

Also, I would suggest you become a member of your local library if possible. Libraries are a great resource to find interests and hobbies.

And, tell your family and teachers too. Just tell them that you are interested in so and so topics and ask them for help.

I look forward to seeing you in the academic world.

If you ever need advice or help, then feel free to PM me.

P.S. I don't really care about age, but just in case you wish to know, I am 19.

Feynman's Six Easy Pieces is a great introduction to quantum mechanics. Gary Zukov's book The Dancing Wu Li Masters doesn't have a great reputation among physicists because it strays a bit into mysticism, but I think it's a pretty good read. Capra's Tao of Physics is in the same category. For an easy-to-understand discussion of the weirdness of quantum mechanics, Fred Kuttner and Bruce Rosenblum's Quantum Enigma: Physics Encounters Consciousness is excellent.

This is an Amazon list of books on the subject that I found helpful:

Robert Kroese, author of Schrödinger's Gat

I would recommend Introduction to "Elementary Particle Physics" by David Griffiths

Its generally considered a higher-level undergrad book, but as a PhD student I still look at it from time to time, especially if I want to teach a specific subject. He will review the SR and Quantum for you, but at a level that you'd want to have seen it before. There's calc and a little bit of linear algebra, but at such a level that you could learn them for the first time through this text (assuming you've had SOME Calc before)

From there, the next level is sort of "Quarks and Leptons" by Halzen and Martin, which people are generally less excited about, but I enjoyed it.

After that, the top standard that even theorists seem to love is "High Energy Hadron Physics" by Martin Perl, where there are parts of that text that I still struggle with.

Use:
http://www.amazon.com/Basic-Physics-Self-Teaching-Guide-Guides/dp/0471134473/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265739762&sr=8-1
This as a starter if you are completely new to physics, it is a non technical book with not a lot of math in it

http://www.amazon.com/Physics-IB-Diploma-K-Tsokos/dp/0521708206/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265739900&sr=1-2

and

http://www.amazon.com/Physics-IB-Diploma-Study-Guides/dp/0199151415/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265739900&sr=1-1

The IB books should be fine, you do not need highly technical college textbooks that may or not have answers and solutions with them. The IB course also covers basic university physics so you should be fine.

As for video supplements:
http://oyc.yale.edu/physics/fundamentals-of-physics/content/syllabus


http://khanacademy.org/ for basic theory and some calculus help

You might want to ask http://www.reddit.com/r/physics though.
I also hope you have a good calculus background, it is pretty much essential.

This is also a good online supplement
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/HFrame.html

First of all, I see what you're saying. That being said, I don't think calling a novel "pseudo-philosophy" amounts to a dismissal of the ideas contained in the book. Certainly, tracking ideas rather than character development or imagery is a good way of reading a book. However, to give an analogy, there is clearly a difference between this book on quantum mechanics and this one. The former is not really science while the latter is. The same goes for Motorcycle Maintenance versus Word and Object. MM presents some philosophical ideas, while W&O is a central work of philosophy that contributes directly to a field of professional philosophy. That doesn't mean that MM isn't a great novel, but it doesn't have the kind of rigor that would allow it to serve as the basis for a serious philosophical inquiry. In other words, if W&O makes a claim you don't agree with, you can't cite MM as a legitimate source for a rebuttal. They're just simply not on an equal philosophical level. At the same time, you don't want to give W&O to a highschooler in order to help them start learning to track ideas when they read. MM is clearly better for that. MM may be a very enriching book, but that doesn't make it philosophy. And calling something "not philosophy" is not a criticism. It's simply a classification. In other words, you wouldn't put MM in the philosophy section of an academic library alongside Quine, Davidson, Russell, etc. - even if it's worth putting somewhere else.

Griffiths is beautiful written but pretty hardcore.

I studied maths rather than physics, and I enjoyed Lancaster's Quantum Field Theory for the Gifted Amateur

You're going to need a lot of maths that you won't have covered before, so it will take time. It's very rewarding though.

I don't know of any decent online particle physics resources. But there are two good books at the undergraduate level I can think of Griffiths and Halzen and Martin

For superconductivity you want to learn many body quantum mechanics, ie non-relativistic quantum field theory. The most common recommendation is Fetter and Walecka, but I might consider Thouless to be superior on account of it being 1/3rd the length and probably only covers core topics. If you feel like dropping a lot of money, Mahan is very good, but also somewhat exhaustive. Might be worth having as a reference depending on how serious you get. I would get F&W and Thouless simply on account of how cheap they are.

There are plenty of interesting ways to learn it without learning math. My college offered a qualitative course on physics where we learned formulas, but rarely used them. There are also plenty of good books. I also found I was much better at the math in my physics classes than in math classes, because it made more sense. Obviously the high-level stuff though takes a lot of math.

Somewhat related: This is one of the best non-mathy books on quantum physics I've read

> we never experience forces large enough to require more precission

Yet, we're discussing a video game where we use black-hole powered technology to form Einstein-Rosen bridges providing FTL travel between the Earth and the Moon. I'm pretty sure that if we're going to discuss whether a portal is moving or not, you need to use the Einstein calculations for what is moving. (Remember that the original question surrounding this was "can portals be placed on moving objects" and someone said "yes, because the sun is going around the middle of the galaxy.")

> if you found sources that shows things at a BA level of physics

I already provided three Wikipedia pages (with actual quotes from actual Einsten) and a textbook by potentially the most famous teacher in theoretical physics. I'm not sure just what you're looking for, if not a different textbook or something. General Relativity isn't really an intro physics topic.

That said, here are some texts that I found really helpful:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QED:_The_Strange_Theory_of_Light_and_Matter if you want a explain-to-Mom level of how quantum physics works, as explained by the guy who won a nobel prize for figuring out a really easy way to explain quantum physics to theoretical physicists. Altho given the pictures in it, I wouldn't recommend getting the Kindle version.

"Six Not So Easy Pieces" https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004P1JDYY/ref=dp-kindle-redirect if you want relativity explained by the same guy, with math at the level of Wizard of Oz Scarecrow math. :-) Again, it's probably best to skip the Kindle version for this. ("Six Easy Pieces" is great if you don't have much understanding about science or physics at all, but I assume you know enough to skip explanations of the Scientific Method and the concept of Symmetry/Concervation laws and stuff like that.)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002TJLF7W/ref=dp-kindle-redirect goes into the topic as well, in an understandable way, coming at it from a somewhat orthogonal direction.

https://www.amazon.com/Quantum-Universe-Anything-That-Happen-ebook/dp/B006U6IBEU/ref=sr_1_6 is another take on quantum physics and how it interacts with relativity. It presents it in a very different way from QED, and if you really get interested I'd recommend reading both those books.

> you can stabilise wormholes wit antimatter

Negative matter, yes, which means negative gravity rather than negative charge. And the portal gun has a black hole in it. That's because it's fiction. :-)

Nevertheless, if you're going to argue "the portal is moving because the Solar system orbits the galaxy," you're going to have to use Newtonian physics to make that argument, which is wrong in the fictional space of the game. Because according to Newton, there's no such thing as a black hole or an Einsten-Rosen wormhole, as these concepts just don't have any meaning in an environment where space is absolute and there's no upper limit on relative velocity. And according to Einstein, the portal isn't moving just because the surface it is on is orbiting.

And if you want some fiction about how portals would actually work, there's this https://www.amazon.com/Timemaster-Robert-L-Forward/dp/0312852142/ref=asap_bc written by a physicist guy who built the gravity detectors they took up in the space shuttle. (I thought it was the "forward mass detector" like the one at the front of the space ship. Nope. The Robert Forward Mass Detector.)

> ISS accelerometer should show close to 0g as it is in free fall

Exactly! So the ISS isn't accelerating, is it? Which means it's undergoing inertial movement. That, right there, is general relativity. The only other question to ask is "why does it look like it's bending, if it's really going in a straight line?" That's basically general relativity right there. :-)

Textbooks (calculus): Fundamentals of Physics: http://www.amazon.com/Fundamentals-Physics-Extended-David-Halliday/dp/0470469080/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1398087387&sr=8-4&keywords=fundamentals+of+physics ,

Textbooks (calculus): University Physics with Modern Physics; http://www.amazon.com/University-Physics-Modern-12th-Edition/dp/0321501217/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1398087411&sr=8-2&keywords=university+physics+with+modern+physics

Textbook (algebra): [This is a great one if you don't know anything and want a book to self study from, after you finish this you can begin a calculus physics book like those listed above]: http://www.amazon.com/Physics-Principles-Applications-7th-Edition/dp/0321625927/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1398087498&sr=8-1&keywords=physics+giancoli

If you want to be competitive at the international level, you definitely need calculus, at least the basics of it.
Here is a good book: http://www.amazon.com/Calculus-Intuitive-Physical-Approach-Mathematics/dp/0486404536/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1398087834&sr=8-1&keywords=calculus+kline
It is quite cheap and easy to understand if you want to self teach yourself calculus.

Another option would be this book:http://www.amazon.com/Calculus-4th-Michael-Spivak/dp/0914098918/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1398087878&sr=8-1&keywords=spivak
If you can finish self teaching that to yourself, you will be ready for anything that could face you in mathematics in university or the IPhO. (However it is a difficult book)

Problem books: Irodov; http://www.amazon.com/Problems-General-Physics-I-E-Irodov/dp/8183552153/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1398087565&sr=8-1&keywords=irodov ,

Problem Books: Krotov; http://www.amazon.com/Science-Everyone-Aptitude-Problems-Physics/dp/8123904886/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1398087579&sr=8-1&keywords=krotov

You should look for problem sets online after you have finished your textbook, those are the best recourses. You can get past contests from the physics olympiad websites.

Here are some books I would suggest looking at:

Cahn and Goldhaber -- A very low math book that documents the discoveries many of the most important advancements in particle physics of the last fifty or so years.

Halzen and Martin -- One of the best introductions to particle physics out there. It's very readable and timeless. It does have some math though.

I would also suggest looking for information on the following things, but I don't have time to dig up suitable references for you:

The construction of Fermilab basically transformed the area west of Chicago from farmland to a technical corridor. There must be some historical sources on this change.

Partice physicists have produced a huge amount of innovation as a side effect of wanting to do effective research. The most common example is the internet. They also pioneered distributed computing (ie the Grid) which was the predecessor of the "Cloud." For the construction the LHC, junctions that allow current to be continuously passed from regular-conduction to super-conducting circuits were invented. And don't forget that one of the earliest particle accelerators, the cyclotron in Chicago, showed that it was possible to split the atom.

Here's mine

To understand life, I'd highly recommend this textbook that we used at university http://www.amazon.com/Campbell-Biology-Edition-Jane-Reece/dp/0321558235/ That covers cell biology and basic biology, you'll understand how the cells in your body work, how nutrition works, how medicine works, how viruses work, where biotech is today, and every page will confront you with what we "don't yet" understand too with neat little excerpts of current science every chapter. It'll give you the foundation to start seeing how life is nothing special and just machinery (maybe you should do some basic chemistry/biology stuff on KhanAcademy first though to fully appreciate what you'll read).

For math I'd recommend doing KhanAcademy aswell https://www.khanacademy.org/ and maybe a good Algebra workbook like http://www.amazon.com/The-Humongous-Book-Algebra-Problems/dp/1592577229/ and after you're comfortable with Algebra/Trig then go for calc, I like this book http://www.amazon.com/Calculus-Ron-Larson/dp/0547167024/ Don't forget the 2 workbooks so you can dig yourself out when you get stuck http://www.amazon.com/Student-Solutions-Chapters-Edwards-Calculus/dp/0547213093/ http://www.amazon.com/Student-Solutions-Chapters-Edwards-Calculus/dp/0547213107/ That covers calc1 calc2 and calc3.

Once you're getting into calc Physics is a must of course, Math can describe an infinite amount of universes but when you use it to describe our universe now you have Physics, http://www.amazon.com/University-Physics-Modern-12th/dp/0321501217/ has workbooks too that you'll definitely need since you're learning on your own.

At this point you'll have your answers and a foundation to go into advanced topics in all technical fields, this is why every university student who does a technical degree must take courses in all those 3 disciplines.

If anything at least read that biology textbook, you really won't ever have a true appreciation for the living world and you can't believe how often you'll start noticing people around you spouting terrible science. If you could actually get through all the work I mentioned above, college would be a breeze for you.

Not sure about the other topics, but if you really want to learn about the science of time dilation, I would recommend checking out Brian Greene's free courses on Special Relativity (either the conceptual one or the really math-centered one) and perhaps A Most Incomprehensible Thing by Peter Collier (a math-centered book that can potentially take the layman from high school mathematics to the equations of General Relativity).

Well a good intro. textbook is Fundamentals of Physics by Halliday, Resnick, and Walker. This is a full freshman physics book, so it has a little bit of everything, but I used it a lot through my entire undergraduate degree.


Had a class that technically required Theory of Relativity by Pauli but the teacher used their own notes so I never read the book.


My favorite book that deals with relativity is Exploring Black Holes by Taylor and Wheeler. Took an undergrad class where this was the main textbook and loved it.

So this book might do you http://www.amazon.ca/Quantum-Field-Theory-Gifted-Amateur/dp/019969933X

I have never read it though so no guarantees. To gain a surface understanding of the standard model (like enough to understand the above comment) would require about six months of intro QFT and to do that you would want a solid understanding of NRQM and Advanced E&M along with a pretty solid footing in special relativity

I agree completely. Textbooks like Landau Lifschitz are not great for introducing physics to the student.

For more general physics, if you haven't studied it at the uni level before, "American-style" standard physics textbooks are honestly going to give you the best introduction to many areas of physics. Ones I used extensively and can recommend are Young and Freedman

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0321501217/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_-ws1Cb3SQ65YT

and Halliday and Resnick

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1118230728/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_4Bs1CbBC9XGB6

They're far better pedagogically than older textbooks. If you're doing an undergraduate degree, they won't cover everything, but still a surprisingly large amount.

Looks like your question has been answered, but I have a book recommendation:

http://www.amazon.com/Why-Does-mc2-Should-Care/dp/0306817586

I think you'll enjoy it. It explains the answers you've asked for and a lot more, in a pretty approachable way.

Sorry, I'm just reading your comment now, 2 months late.

You touched on an important point though. Actually, it's sort of the reason I asked this question because I didn't want to get any false ideas. Remember this, the Copenhagen interpretation (just like the several other interpretations) are trying to explain things that we see in practice, in the real world. Any interpretation has to explain the experimental results.

The experimental evidence says our world is clearly stranger than our common sense/experience tells us. Like you said, "Where did the first classical system come from"? If observation occurs because something in a quantum state interacted with something in a "classical" state (whatever that is), what was the first observation that collapsed the first wave.

Many people will try to brush this aside, which is also part of Copenhagen, but really it's a question that's somewhat left to philosophers. Some people say "God" or "Consciousness", others channel the Many Worlds interpretation. Either way, we don't know how to explain why the universe appears classical because the world is definitely modeled most accurately by Quantum Theory. Researchers are putting bigger and bigger things into superposition all the time. Even objects big-enough to be visible to the naked-eye

If you're interested in that subject, check out the Quantum Enigma. It asks these questions in depth, and it's not one of those new-age books that are so easily dismissible.

My Recommendations:

Quantum: Einstein, Bohr, and the Great Debate about the Nature of Reality

Brian Greene Has Three Wonderful Books

The Quantum World: Quantum Physics for Everyone

The first one, is mostly history with a fair bit of Quantum/Particle physics.

Brian Greene covers topics from cosmology, quantum physics, and he is also a string theorist so he touches upon that.

The Quantum World is a more detailed introduction to quantum physics.

Oh mate, please do! I've read it 4 times now. It is perfectly written. Goes way back and explains the very fundamentals and pillars of the theories. Well worth the read! Let me know what you think of it when you pick it up!

In Search Of Schrodinger's Cat: Updated Edition https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0552125555/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_F7WCxbZ9F449T

> I studied it for A-level (age 16-18 in the UK, but likely has more content than the American equivalent) and did some applied maths, but I'm pretty rusty.

You might want to start by studying classical mechanics and electrodynamics then.

• • 
    
    Anyway, as to your main question:
    
    Townsend, [A Modern Approach to Quantum Mechanics*](http://www.uscibooks.com/townsend3.htm) (amazon)
    
    This one starts more sensibly than most QM textbooks which try to (sorta) re-hash the historical development of the subject and are filled with problems and explanations with unnecessarily gnarly formulae.
    
    I think it gives a better idea of what quantum mechanics is about and how to think about it than e.g. Griffiths’s book.
    
    If you want something more introductory, it’s possible Townsend’s other book might suit you better – I haven’t looked at it though.

So when you say "up the ante" do you want to

(1) Read about more exotic topics in general (ie. like popular books, videos, etc.)
(2) Read a rigorous textbook about physics.

If you enjoying teaching yourself, here are some undergraduate classical mechanics textbooks:

http://www.amazon.com/Physics-1-David-Halliday/dp/0471320579

http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Mechanics-Daniel-Kleppner/dp/0521198216

You'll need to know calculus and vectors, which might be difficult to learn simultaneously with the physics.

I'm not trying to bash option (1) either; learning about topics in general is exciting and will motivate you to learn more.

I also really like "Where Does the Weirdness Go?" for easing into some of the interesting applications/meanings of quantum theory. Recommend for anyone who likes that stuff!

Cool contest!

I like this physics book for college but it's slightly over 10.00, so if that is too far 1984 happened to have a price drop at the same time as prime day. Good luck all! Which deal should I take?!

Because he doesn't exist. And I don't mean that in a small way. Think about it. What would the entire universe look like, from our perspective, if it came into being by entirely natural causes—i.e., predictable functions of nature we can measure and observe, which do not require conjecture about the supernatural in order to best describe those laws? It would look exactly as it does to us now.

We live on a rock orbiting a thermonuclear reactor which is trapped, along with billions of other rocks, on a wobbling grid of energy, only a tiny percentage of which we detect. The true mystery as to these matters of FACT, are not going to be made any clearer to our understanding by simply assuming it all to be some sort of clever trick, devised by the Israelite god of war Yahweh, or any other bonze-age myth.

"The real miracle is, there are no miracles" - Albert Einstein.

Read this:

Why Does E=mc2?: (and Why Should We Care?) by Professor Brian Cox

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Why-Does-mc2-Should-Care/dp/0306817586/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1255099632&sr=8-1

In Search of Schrodingers Cat is a great book on the origins of quantum physics. Really well written and easy to understand.

The two "classic" intro physics texts are Kleppner and Kolenkow for mechanics and Purcell for E/M. These are pretty standard for honors intro physics classes across the US.

Both are good books which are considerably more theoretical and rigorous than the typical "Physics for Scientists and Engineers" that I'm guessing you're using (and will not leave results like the ones you give unjustified, for example).

Nevertheless, I don't think you're going to find many physics textbooks written with the strict, precise logic of a proper math book (at the undergraduate level, at least). Physicists are simply interested in different things than mathematicians.

Also, remember that physics is a science, and it is informed by both logical deductions AND experiments.

There's a book about this... its both excellent and terrible at the same time ... The book does a great job explaining some points, it really gets down to your level and treats you like a kid (this is a good thing).. but then it makes giant leaps of logic leaving you wondering what the heck just happened. I read it like 3 time and still don't understand parts of it. Why does E=mc^2?

Halliday & Resnick would be my recommendation. We used their Physics, Parts 1&2 when I was a student, not their Fundamentals of Physics, which seems to be a different book (and the two books were published simultaneously for a while; I was never sure what the difference was).

If you want individual books, try Kleppner & Kolenkow for mechanics, and Purcell for E&M. Those are often used in honors sections of freshman physics, since the problems tend to be a bit harder. There's also Newtonian Mechanics by A.P. French, which was used for freshman mechanics at MIT for a while (not sure if it still is). French's introductory books on Special Relativity and Quantum Physics are also good. But for relativity my favorite intro-level book is Spacetime Physics by Taylor & Wheeler.

Get this book.

Also, this book seems good. Granted I knew QFT by the time I started reading that book.

QFT is hard. Obtaining an thorough understanding it is probably the hardest thing I've ever accomplished in my life. To be honest, nothing that can be understood via words or verbal explanations will lead you to understanding QFT. You HAVE to work through the math. The words which we use to describe "virtual particle" fail the concept so miserably that we might as well not try (in my opinion).

If Griffith's is the furthest you'll go in QM and an UG book is the furthest you'll go in CM, you'll have a rough task ahead of you. Luckily, Klauber is EXTREMELY thorough and walks you through everything.

I would STRONGLY recommend The Theoretical Minimum by Leonard Susskind and George Hrabovsky. While not strictly focused on QM, it’s an excellent introduction to physics and some of the basic mathematics required.

For anyone interested in finding about more about this type of stuff, I am reminded me of these super old videos of fluid motion, and I can't recommend the entire series highly enough.

There are also the books An album of fluid motion and A gallery of fluid motion which have a ton of cool pictures.

I guess I'm frustrated because you're completely wrong and people are agreeing with you. The level of scientific illiteracy in these comments is disturbing. It's good that you recognize that you could be wrong and that you've actively tried to find out. I would recommend Why e=mc^2? (and why should we care?) as an excellent and accessible book exploring these topics.

One helpful way of learning is discussing our understanding of the ideas after we read about them. That's one thing that really helped me.

When it comes to the big bang, it is primarily about the expansion of space. The existence of matter is kind of a happy-accident that still needs explaining. Basically, during the big bang, there were particles and their anti-particles being created and colliding with one another and turning into pure energy. These should have annihilated each other completely, canceling them out. Instead, matter seems to have won out. Finding out the answer to that is one of the big questions facing physics these days.

I can admit that your ideas sounds good and seem consistent. The problem is that they aren't at all reflective of reality.

You can get to e=mc^2 using pythagous' theorm and a helping hand from a professor.

This book does a good job of it. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B002TJLF7W/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

A good read (which almost baby steps you through the processess) is Quantum Enigma by Rosenblum and Kuttner. Its very light hearted but informative, almost as if the two old boys are competing with eachother to make YOU understand. I loved the read and am looking forward to pick it up again soon after finishing some other books.

Not exactly what you are looking for, but the textbook with the lowest barrier to entry is (imo) QFT for the Gifted Amateur.

I would say that after Griffiths's QM book (also recommended) you are ready for your first (but probably not your last) attempt at Gifted Amateur.

If you know calculus, all you are lacking to get started on Griffiths is linear algebra.

Good luck!

I have a book that I got as a gift that most aero folks should love (I'm an aero guy too). It's called "An album of fluid motion" by Van Dyke. Amason has a paperback version. http://www.amazon.com/Album-Fluid-Motion-Milton-Dyke/dp/0915760029

There's a great book on the subject called Where Does The Weirdness Go?: Why Quantum Mechanics Is Strange, But Not As Strange As You Think, that I highly suggest reading.

It's a great intro to quantum mechanics.

Oh good! It's even more BS-ey than I had realized!

My knowledge of quantum physics is limited to what one can learn from popular books (1, 2, 3 ). Could you try to explain the differences between the underlying models/assumptions on which Orch-OR is based, and the models/assumptions in established/standard physics? I would appreciate it.

As LibraryLass says, we can't create energy. The energy is already there, in the form of mass. We just turn it into another useful form - heat (and then into electricity, if it's inside a generator).

But splitting atoms doesn't cause this heat to automatically be released. The reason we get so much heat is because, after splitting atoms, we're left with new atoms - and, crucially, the new atoms weigh less - have less mass, in science-speak - than the old atoms! This tiny bit of difference in mass is why we get so much energy out. We haven't created energy - it was there, in the form of mass. It no longer exists as mass, it's just changed to another form. That's because the new atoms, in total, contain fewer "neutrons" - one of the very tiny things that makes up atoms - than the old atoms.

This is not like any chemical reaction. However much mass you start with in chemistry, you always end up with the same amount (although some of this mass might have started or ended as a gas in the atmosphere that's difficult to weigh).

So how much energy is equivalent to a tiny bit of mass? Well, Einstein worked out that E=mc^2 - energy is equal to mass times the speed of light squared. The speed of light is a really big number. When we square it, it becomes even bigger. So just a tiny bit of mass is equivalent to a lot of energy.

As for why E=mc^2 - that's not really something that can be done properly in ELI5. I've just read half a book explaining it, and I still don't quite understand the last chapter. But let's just say that if you search this forum for "relativity" and "spacetime" you'll read lots of weird things. Einstein played around with the maths surrounding these weird things - and when he started thinking about momentum and how that fits into his weird spacetime world, his famous equation just kind of popped out of there, after solving many pages of formulas.

Two good introductions to physics and science in general:

Bill Bryson (popular and quite funny): A Short History of Nearly Everything

Brian Cox (slightly more serious, but still a fairly easy read): Why Does E=mc2?: (And Why Should We Care?)

I did MedLab at uni and have about the same level of maths. This book is a pretty good place to start...
http://www.amazon.com/The-Quantum-World-Physics-Everyone/dp/067401832X

Check this book out, The Quantum World, I'm no mathematician but this gave me a great understanding of what Quantum Physics actually is.. We're talking about the fabric of reality itself. It may change your perspective on a lot of things once you turn a few pages.

His videos don't plug the related book(s), but I found them to be worthwhile as well. Everyone learns a little differently, your mileage may vary.

https://www.amazon.com/Quantum-Mechanics-Theoretical-Leonard-Susskind/dp/0465062903

https://www.amazon.com/Theoretical-Minimum-Start-Doing-Physics/dp/0465075681

I highly recommend this book if you'd like to learn more. I can't speak for the validity of all the science in it, but it explained things very well to me, as a layman. http://www.amazon.com/Where-Does-Weirdness-Go-Mechanics/dp/0465067867

Woot, I might be kinda late for this. I need anything that covers Simple Harmonic Motion or Waves ( or both ) in depth. I tried Fundamentals of Physics but it wasn't on par with what we're doing on class. If it's possible it should contain many exercises as well.

Not exactly PDE focued, but I have this as a coffee table book:
An Album of Fluid Flow

Less math and more pictures of fluid flow demonstrations. Still pretty though.

One book that is both inexpensive and generally well received is Peter Collier's A Most Incomprehensible Thing: Notes Towards a Very Gentle Introduction to the Mathematics of Relativity.

Shankar is a good quantum book, for an advanced undergraduate. Townsend is more elementary (for an intermediate undergraduate). And of course there's Feynman lectures volume 3 for something yet more basic. (And this one's at least free.)

If you have a have a math background up to ODEs and PDEs, this book is great. https://www.amazon.com/Most-Incomprehensible-Thing-Introduction-Mathematics/dp/0957389450/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1475030510&sr=1-1&keywords=a+most+incomprehensible+thing

He's also an author. That specific book titled " Why Does E=mc^2 " breaks the equation and relativity down to an understandable topic and you don't have to do the math, unless you want to.

He's got a few other books out that are on my wishlist. I really enjoyed the one listed above, I've read it twice so far. Will probably read it again this weekend.

I can't believe no one has discussed the observer effect in quantum physics yet! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Observer_effect_(physics)

Let's see if I can give a brief description without screwing it up too badly. Depending on the type of test you perform, you can make light photons act like a wave OR a particle. They have gone on to perform experiments where they make 'weak' measurements on the light before you randomly choose which test to do, and those weak measurements show that the light knows what type of test you are doing before you do the test. This means that your test's interaction with the light actually sent information back in time. Since all matter fundamentally acts the same as light (as a wave 'function' that collapses when measured), and since all matter is entangled since the big bang, somehow the order of matter of the whole universe was determined at the beginning of the universe by some future observer. This is all 'hypothetical' of course.

If you're interested I'd highly recommend this book http://www.amazon.com/Quantum-Enigma-Physics-Encounters-Consciousness/dp/0199753814

I'm currently reading Why does E=mc^2 by Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw and, whilst my brain is melting into a small puddle, it clearly does...

I won't pretend I understand most of the maths (even when they try to explain it in simple terms) but experimentation clearly shows the theory to be correct.

It always seems to me that these loons don't understand how scientists think at all. Scientists love being wrong! Every time they're wrong, it opens up a new thing for them to explore.

Hm... I would have to say Griffiths' particle physics book and Halzen and Martin begin to cover the transition between undergrad-level knowledge and the general area I work in. Although for what I actually work on, I don't know if there are any textbooks. It's a pretty niche field.

Thanks very much for the advice! We are using A Modern Approach to Quantum Mechanics by John S. Townsend.

Edit: Amazon Link

This book is really good for explaining all this stuff, and it never gets any more complicated mathematically than using Pythagorus

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Why-Does-mc2-Brian-Cox/dp/0306819112/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1397213085&sr=8-1&keywords=why+does+e+mc2

If you're in the mood for a book, Why Does E = MC Squared is a really good and accessible explanation.

The Theoretical Minimum is an outstanding series of books. It goes beyond most popular physics books, demanding that the reader learn a bit more math, but isn't overwhelming.

My favorite book on teaching physics, written by A. Arons

http://www.amazon.com/Teaching-Introductory-Physics-Arnold-Arons/dp/0471137073

This might help.

I found it quite interesting.

This scenario is written about in the book Why does e=mc^2 and why should we care?

Good book; a bit heady at times.

I used University Physics. I like it. I thought the concepts were explained pretty clearly. You can buy a student solutions manual for it that has step-by-step solutions to the odd problems. And I don't have it, but you can also buy a study guide for it.

I like this calculus book: https://www.amazon.com/Calculus-7th-James-Stewart/dp/0538497815

And this is Halliday and Resnick https://www.amazon.com/Fundamentals-Physics-David-Halliday/dp/111823071X/ref=sr_1_3?crid=9SK20IQF11Z5&keywords=halliday+and+resnick+fundamentals+of+physics&qid=1567697861&s=books&sprefix=hallida%2Cstripbooks%2C124&sr=1-3

Most of your questions can be answered by reading a text such as Quarks and Leptons. Chapters 13 and 14 go through the structure of the Standard Model Lagrangian. You can also use a program like MadGraph to compute scattering amplitudes and Feynman diagrams.

Schrodinger's Kittens and the Search for Reality: Solving the Quantum Mysteries

If you want to teach a kid quantum mechanics, I highly recommend "Where does the Weirdness go?"
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0465067867

I think this book by Collier. should match up relatively^haha well with what you're looking for.

Here and here. You can also check out a local library if you just want to review.

It might also be that I simply don't understand enough of either. I have only read Einstein's relativity stuff a couple of times and the quantum mechanics books I've read are pretty low level.

I also tried to make it pretty ELI5, so it's probably pretty wrong to start. I dunno. I can armchair physics OK, but everything I know is probably wrong somehow.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Basic-Physics-Self-Teaching-Guide-Guides/dp/0471134473

Get a textbook and read as much as you can over the summer. I used http://www.amazon.com/University-Physics-Modern-12th-Edition/dp/0321501217/ref=pd_sim_sbs_b_3?ie=UTF8&refRID=1RBCYB472H3734SN700S

"Why does E equal MC squared?"

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Why-Does-mc2-Should-Care/dp/0306819112

Probably too late for you to read this but I actually have a book to suggests that spends quite some time dealing with this very subject.
http://www.amazon.com/Why-Does-mc2-Should-Care/dp/0306817586

Any one any thoughts on "the theoretical minimum" by Leonard Susskind? Decent place to start?

https://www.amazon.com/Theoretical-Minimum-Start-Doing-Physics/dp/0465075681/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1538567639&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=the+theoretical+minimum&dpPl=1&dpID=41mYr5xwzeL&ref=plSrch

Frank Wilczek - The lightness of being:
https://www.amazon.com/Lightness-Being-Ether-Unification-Forces/dp/0465018955

here you go

https://www.amazon.com/Theoretical-Minimum-Start-Doing-Physics/dp/0465075681?SubscriptionId=AKIAILSHYYTFIVPWUY6Q&tag=duckduckgo-fpas-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=0465075681

https://www.amazon.com/Theoretical-Minimum-Start-Doing-Physics/dp/0465075681

Check out the Quantum Enigma:
http://www.amazon.com/Quantum-Enigma-Physics-Encounters-Consciousness/dp/0199753814/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1346167652&sr=1-1&keywords=quantum+enigma

A Modern Approach to Quantum Mechanics By Townsend is the text that my class used. It's approachable and thorough, and requires only minimal prereq knowledge to get started (EM, Linear Algebra, some calculus, Complex numbers).

https://www.amazon.com/Basic-Physics-Self-Teaching-Karl-Kuhn/dp/0471134473/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1481747179&sr=8-1&keywords=basic+physics+a+self-teaching+guide

http://www.amazon.com/Basic-Physics-Self-Teaching-Karl-Kuhn/dp/0471134473/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1453932112&sr=8-1&keywords=introduction+to+physics

Why Does E=mc2 by Brian Cox, Jeff Forshaw

The Goldilocks Enigma by Paul Davies

Quantum Field Theory for the Gifted Amateur

Either homeschool them or send them to a mosque school. I homeschooled my kids and I support my mosque school. For physics I used Basic Physics. There is no reason why homeschooling or a mosque school shouldn't be better than public schools.

Not sure if it's exactly what you're looking for, but I just read a book called Quantum Enigma: Physics Encounters Consciousness. It's written by physics professors, so it's not very metaphysical / philosophical, but it does discuss the reality of the counterintuitive weirdness of quantum mechanics.

I just wanted to point out one thing, not necessarily settle any arguments. Einstein's equation you wrote is a bit wrong. It should be E=mc2+(1/2)mv2. I think this is right, although I am a bit tired and too lazy to double check (sorry). Anyways, the reason we only remember the E=mc^2 part is because if a relatively small object (for example 1kg) is at zero velocity, then there is a huge amount of energy involved in the total mass. Theoretically, it could power a city for 100 years. This was the ground breaking part, and it lead physicists to discover the atomic bomb -> a lot of energy in little mass.

*This book is the source of what I (brutally) said.