Reddit mentions of Fundamentals of Physics: Mechanics, Relativity, and Thermodynamics (The Open Yale Courses Series)

Open Yale Courses Fundamental Physics I & II is a strong math-based introduction to physics https://oyc.yale.edu/NODE/206. The prof is Ramamurti Shankar whose books are available at amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Fundamentals-Physics-Mechanics-Relativity-Thermodynamics/dp/0300192207/ref=sr_1_1? , https://www.amazon.com/Fundamentals-Physics-II-Electromagnetism-Mechanics/dp/0300212364/ref=sr_1_4? including a decent book called Boot Camp for Math: https://www.amazon.com/Basic-Training-Mathematics-Fitness-Students/dp/0306450364/ref=sr_1_5? Helped me a lot.

> I often see people say that the beauty of maths is that there are very rigid, well-defined rules, and when you know the rules, it's easy to use them to 'play the game'.

Bad advice, IMO. In math, as in life, you follow the rules because you understand why we have those rules and you come to agree with them. A teacher should aim to make you believe in the motivations for the rules, not just follow them. And sometimes we change the rules, when we can justify doing so.

Anyway, my advice is to pick up a different textbook, read through it and work the exercises. I was about where you are now and I picked up Apostol's Calculus (vol I) and I got a lot out of it. Spivak's Calculus is another popular recommendation. You might not be able to solve all of the problems, but that's OK: you're not pushing your limits if you never attempt something that you fail at.

Another thing you could try if you're not seeing how to apply calculus is to take some physics. You might try this course:

http://oyc.yale.edu/physics/phys-200

Shankar also wrote this book, which is supposed to be similar to the above-linked course:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0300192207

Of course, I'm sure your university also teaches physics perfectly well if you want to enroll in a real course.

i recommend the following books by shankar (who is also the author of a well known quantum mechanics book). the books are accompanied by the open yale courses on physics.

• fundamentals of physics: mechanics, relativity, and thermodynamics
  
  
• fundamentals of physics ii: electromagnetism, optics, and quantum mechanics
  
  if you have a solid background in mathematics with just a little physics, i think these would do nicely. they're modern and not overly bloated. you can gain a little from each of the core areas to have the knowledge you'd need to proceed.