Physics books
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These Physics books are recommended by Art of Problem Solving administrators and members of the <url>index.php AoPS-MathLinks Community</url>.
Before adding any books to this page, please review the AoPSWiki:Linking books page.
Contents
Books by subject
Astrophysics and Cosmology
Chaos Theory
- Chaos: Making a New Science by James Gleick
Introductory Textbooks
- Conceptual Physics by Paul Hewitt
- Physics for Scientists and Engineers by Paul A. Tipler and Gene Mosca
Advanced Textbooks (with calculus, useful for USAPhO, IPhO, and advanced study)
- Physics by Halliday, Resnick, and Krane (not to be confused with "Fundamentals of Physics" by Halliday, Resnick, and Walker)
- Introduction to Classical Mechanics by David Morin
- Electricity and Magnetism by Purcell and Morin
- The Feynman Lectures on Physics by Feynman
Note: There are two introductory physics texts by Halliday and Resnick. This happened because after their first textbook had existed for a decade, some colleges began asking for an easier version.
- Physics* by Resnick, Halliday, and Krane is in its 5th edition (published 2002). This book is often called "HRK". It is the recommended book for Olympiad preparation. The current editor is Paul Stanley, former academic director of the US Physics team. This edition has many challenging problems in it.
- Fundamentals of Physics* by Halliday, Resnick, and Walker is in its 10th edition (published 2013). This edition describes the basic physics of the same topics as HRK. However, it goes into less detail, omits some of the interesting calculations, and has fewer challenging problems. Although this is a good book, it is not written to train students to the same level of problem-solving ability as HRK. So HRK is recommended for those interested in improving their problem-solving ability to the level of the USAPhO or similar olympiad physics competitions.
Relativity, Quantum Mechanics, Particle Physics
- Dreams of a Final Theory by Weinberg
- The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory by Brian Greene.
- The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality by Brian Greene.
- Warped Passages: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Universe's Hidden Dimensions by Lisa Randall.
- General Relativity from A to B by Geroch
- Spacetime Physics by Taylor and Wheeler
- Quantum Mechanics in Simple Matrix Form by Jordan
- Modern Physics by Krane
Books of Problems
- Thinking Physics by Lewis Carroll Epstein (a book of conceptual problems for beginners and intermediate-levels)
- Problems and Solutions in Introductory Mechanics by David Morin (A good book for preparing to the F=ma exam and for practicing basic mechanics)
- 200 Puzzling Physics Problems by Gnadig (USAPhO / IPhO level problems)
- 300 Creative Physics Problems with Solutions by Holics (USAPhO / IPhO level problems)
- Physics to a Degree by Thomas and Raine (USAPhO / IPhO level problems)
- Thinking Like a Physicist by Thompson (USAPhO / IPhO level problems)
General interest
- A Brief History of Time by Steven Hawking
- The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes
- 'Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!' (Adventures of a Curious Character) by Richard P. Feynman, et al.
- The Road to Reality: A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe by Roger Penrose.
