I have currently started and completed a lot of Ks3 physics papers. I have decided to go right back to basics so now I feel that I can start working at GCSE level but the only reference I can find to do this is BBC Bitesize. but I find that this only covers some parts and not others, I want something more in depth and can anyone point me in the right direction without me having to pay for an online course?
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Every once in a while, we get a question asking for a book or other educational reference on a particular topic at a particular level. This is a meta-question that collects all those links together. If you're looking for book recommendations, this is probably the place to start.  All the questions linked below, as well as others which deal with more specialized books, can be found under the tag  (formerly ).  If you have a question to add, please edit it in. However, make sure of a few things first:   The question should be tagged  It should be of the form "What are good books to learn/study [subject] at [level]?" It shouldn't duplicate a topic and level that's already on the list   Related Meta:
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Note: I will expand this question with more specific points when I have my own internet connection and more time (we're moving in, so I'm at a friend's house).  This question is broad, involved, and to some degree subjective.  (I started out as a physics-only student, but eventually decided to add a mathematics major. I am greatly interested in mathematics; the typical curriculum required for physics students is not deep or thorough enough; mathematics is more general (that means work!); and it only requires a few more classes. Naturally, I enjoy  immensely.)  This question asks mainly of undergraduate-level study, but feel free to discuss graduate-level study if you like.  Please do not rush your answer or try to be comprehensive. I realize the StackOverflow model rewards quick answers, but I would rather wait for a thoughtful, thorough (on a point) answer than get a fast, cluttered one. (As you probably know,  produces clear, useful writing; and a properly-done comprehensive answer would take more than a reasonable amount of time and effort.) If you think an overview is necessary, that is fine.  For a question this large, I think the best thing to do is focus on a specific area in each answer.    Update: To Sklivvz, Cedric, Noldorin and everyone else: I had to run off before I could finish, but I wanted to say I knew I would regret this; I was cranky and not thinking clearly, mainly from not eating enough during the day. I am sorry for my sharp responses and for not waiting for my reaction to pass. I apologize.  Re: Curricula:   Please note that I am not asking about choosing your own curriculum in college or university. I did not explicitly say that, but several people believed that was my meaning. I will ask more specific questions later, but the main idea is how a physics student should study mathematics (on his or her own, but also by choosing courses if available) to be a competent mathematician with a view to studying physics.  I merely mentioned adding a mathematics major to illustrate my conclusion that physics student need a deeper mathematical grounding than they typically receive.   And now I have to run off again.
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I'm an aspiring physicist who wants to self study some Quantum Physics. My thirst for knowledge is unquenchable and I can not wait 2 more years until I get my first quantum physics class in university, so I want to start with a self study. I am enrolled in a grammar school and the most gifted among the gifted (not my description, mind you, I hate coming off as cocky, sorry) are enrolled in a special 'project'. We are allowed to take 3 school hours a week off in order to work on a project, which can be about anything you want, from music to mathematics. On the 4th of April we have to present our projects. Last year an acquaintance of mine did it about university level mathematics, so I thought, why not do it about university level physics? It is now the 3rd of October so I have half a year. My question is, where can I conduct a self study of quantum physics? Starting from scratch? And is it possible for me to be able to use and understand the Schrödinger equation by April? What are good books, sites, etc. that can help me? My goal is to have a working knowledge of BASIC quantum physics and I would like to understand and be able to use the Schrödinger equation. Is this possible? What is needed for these goals?
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I have finish my BSc in physics. I want to work in a interdiscipline like biophysics or econophysics. Because these are mainly physics, one can study higher with spending little effort to understand biology or economy concept. However, I think that having a stable knowledge in other discipline would also help you better in researching. Since I have studied physics, mathematics isn't a problem, therefore I can skip it to shorten the study time, which means the amount of time I spend will approximate to the master degree duration (I hope so). Another point is I can be more flexible than one who only know his/her specialization.  The biggest disadvantage is I don't have a master degree, of course.
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My name is Aniket and I have started 11th class recently. I have studied only my school textbooks( Books) and I am not happy with them.  I want to learn Algebra,i.e, all the topics covered in algebra 1 and 2. I want to learn algebra enough to master up to 12th class, but I am very confused which is the best book to achieve all of my goals.  Book Price = less than $17 (American Dollars) And I don't want an eBook.  Any suggestions would be very appreciated, thank you!
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EDIT:  I was aware of the supposed duplicate.  But I'm interested in a clear and focused path through the basics to advanced theoretical physics such as string theory - a path that avoids studying engineering physics - for a pure mathematician with no physics background.  I can't see in the supposed duplicate where this path is outlined.  ...  I'm a pure mathematics PhD student in Riemannian geometry / geometric analysis.  My main interests are in Einstein manifolds, Ricci flow, harmonic maps, and Yang-Mills theory.    I have no training whatsoever in physics:  I've never even picked up the typical 1,500 page textbook titled Physics for Scientists and Engineers etc.  I've only ever read pure mathematics and can handle any level of pure mathematics to any level of abstraction.  I'd like to learn the background and basics in theoretical physics motivating the above areas of geometric analysis to develop physical intuition: general relativity, gauge field theories, and the standard model of particle physics, etc.  Ideally I also want to learn advanced theoretical physics such as quantum field theory, string theory, and sypersymmetry.  I'd like a structured path through basic to advanced theoretical physics for a mathematician with no physics training.  I have looked at many standard references in these areas but their assumptions on the physics background of the reader does not align with my background.  These standard references all start talking and explaining things in physics notation, terminology, concepts, and intuition that is assumed on the reader.  Question:  As a pure mathematician, how do I learn basic through to advanced theoretical physics in an clear, focused and structured way?  What books should I read?  Are there books tailored to a target audience like myself: a pure mathematician with no physics background?  If required, I'm happy to start from scratch by working through a 1,500 page physics textbooks.  However, after progressing through mathematics one realises that starting with working through the typical 1,500 page calculus textbook, such as Stewart Calculus, is unnecessary because those books are tailored to engineers.  Instead, one can start with a book on set theory, proof, and logic, and then go straight into standard undergraduate books like Rudin Principals of Mathematical Analysis and Herstein Topics in Algebra, etc.  Indeed, many universities offer a streamlined program of study for pure mathematics majors that avoids wasting time on engineering calculus.  Question:  Is it the same situation in physics?  Are those 1,500 page physics textbooks targeted mostly at engineers and is there a focused and streamlined path through theoretical physics that starts at the start of theoretical physics and gets to advanced theoretical physics such as quantum field theory and string theory without having to learn engineering physics?  I would be VERY grateful for someone to provide some book recommendations and possibly a structured path for achieving the above.
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How and from where does a mathematician learn physics from a mathematical stand point? I am reading the book by Spivak . The first couple of pages of Lecture 1 of the book summarizes what I intend by physics from a mathematical stand point. I wanted to find out what are the other good sources for other branches of physics.
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So I am an undergraduate in Electrical Engineering. We had a course on Physics in our freshman year which is equivalent to Classical Mechanics I as taught in MIT. I am interested in studying advanced classical mechanics (which includes Lagrangian formulation and other stuff) as equivalent to Classical Mechanics lecture by Susskind. I wanted to know are they any prerequisites which I should know about before taking this course.   In general what are the prereqs for this course?
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To give you some background, I have a grasp on the basics of statistics and probability theory and even remember touching Bayes theorem at the university data mining course. But being a few years away from the university made my math got extremely rusty (so much for last-minute pre-exam cramming). While I remember various random basic concepts, there are a lot of gaps in my understanding of them.  What would be a good material (a book, a site, or otherwise equally accessible medium) to revise the fundamentals and go beyond basics? I'd like a book that can be actually read as a book (most statistics books are really dry and are close to being reference material, rather than a book).
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Just curious:  Is there any book or resource that teaches  (quantum mechanics) only without wave mechanics stuff - meaning that the book assumes wave mechanics background.
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I want to delve into Cartan's formulation of General Relativity but it don't really know where to look. Does anyone have any book suggestions?
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Please recommend undergraduate-level textbooks on electrodynamics which emphasize practical applications and real life examples. Please describe the book's level and contents and its intended audience in as much detail as possible.   Please provide both applications from everyday life for curious students as well as engineering applications from a physics perspective.
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I am a physics Master's student.  I have good grades, with CGPA above 9(/10)(However, all courses in my university are graded on a curve so the actual marks are significantly lower than 90%). This has been my marks throughout my undergraduate and graduate courses and I was happy because this was above average. Also, my summer projects in UG were usually computational and any difficulty I had in theoretical aspects I attributed it to my inexperience in advanced Physics.   However, recently I have started to work on pure theoretical project and while reading for the project I realized that I consistently miss some details from each topic. I understand the general idea, can re-derive most of the equations(with some effort) however when I discuss things with my professor or when I read further topics I realize that I have missed certain key-details. This is exactly similar to the case of me missing a few key questions in my exams and getting that 9 grade point instead of 10(or at-least I think so). I was not worried about this before but now I realize that there is some flaw in the way I study (but I do not know what).   Since I want to apply for Physics PhD I realized that I will need to have solid concepts and it would be best to correct my mistakes but I do not know how or even what could be the reason for my imperfect understanding.  Any direct suggestion would help or even certain general guidelines on what I can do.    Things I've tried recently -   1) I've started to written down almost everything I read. This is slightly laborious but is certainly helping. It also helps me to gloss over the things I read previously when I come back the next day.  2) I completely avoid smartphone when I'm library/study room so that I won't get distracted. Not sure if it helps me solve the above problem but certainly helps me study better in general.  3) I've tried to read the topics from several sources. The books I am reading is somewhat like a collection of research papers and hence does not have a exercises. So I though reading from various sources might help get better ideas but it's not really helping because most other sources are too high level as an introductory text. But this will probably help me in cases where it's practical to do this.  4) Somewhat similar to point (1)- I am trying reread, whenever I can, what I've done until that point. But not sure how much this will help me in filling the gaps.
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I have a background in QFT, GR and differential geometry at the level of a master student in theoretical physics. I would like to touch the area of CFT. I know the textbook of Philippe Di Francesco. It may be too big for the beginner like me. Are there some good introductory lectures or textbooks adapted to the needs of beginners?
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I took an introductory chemistry course long ago, but the rules seemed arbitrary, and I've forgotten most of what I learned.  Now that I have an undergraduate education in physics, I should be able to use physics to learn general chemistry more effectively.  What resources, either books or on-line, are useful for physicists to learn the fundamentals of chemistry?  I'm not enrolled at a university, so official courses and labs aren't realistic.  Please note that I am not looking for books on specialized advanced topics, but a general introduction to chemistry that takes advantage of thermodynamics, statistical mechanics, and quantum mechanics while requiring little or no prior knowledge of chemistry.
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seems like a really hot topic and I'd like to start reading about. I am looking for the best introduction at my level, i.e. I have a background in QFT, CFT and general relativity at the level of a master student in theoretical physics. What would you recommend me to start tackling the subject? I have been looking for resources and so far I have noticed:  -this synthetic introductory lectures by Horatiu Nastase:   -the videos of lectures done by P. Vieira at Perimeter for Perimeter Scholar International students:   -the subject starts entering the most recent textbooks on string theory. We have the Schwartz and Becker (  ) and also the Kiritsis (  )  I probably missed a lot of resources, as the literature on the subject is already quite huge. I would really appreciate some advice on that, as I already had the frustration of losing my time on not-so-good books when started to learn something new, so if I could (to the best) avoid that this time...
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I want to learn more about calculus on manifolds and Riemann Geometry. I have been reading the book Geometry, Topology and Physics by Nakahara. But I find that it is difficult to read due to the lack of theorems and proofs.  I would like to find a book that has a clear structure and is on a level suitable for a Ph.D student in Mathematics.  Thanks in advance!