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Can any of you give me some idea's on books?

Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 3:30 am
by CharmQuark
Hello you lot :thumbup:

Need some on maths :eh: but not to advanced :shh:
could do with some good ones on Physics and space too :thumbup:

thanks :D

Re: Can any of you give me some idea's on books?

Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 2:31 pm
by Bornerdogge
Hm what do you want exactly?

Are you looking for "popular science" books or rather something formal?

In the one case I can't recommend enough the "Nature of Physics" by Feynman, "The Elegant Universe" by Greene, "A Brief History of Time" and "The Universe in a Nutshell" by Hawking, "The Cosmic Landscape" by Susskind and (if you speak French) "Que faisiez-vous avant le big bang?" by Gunzig; in the other case "The Feynman Lectures on Physics" are really good, given you have some basics (the order in which he introduces the notions can be confusing). The Berkeley Physics courses are good too but hard to find!

About space I'd go and look what guys like Carl Sagan wrote (I haven't read any of them though), and on maths I don't know any good popular science books...

:!: I'd like to point out someting we have to remember when reading popular science books: If we understand what's explained in these books, it does not mean - by far - that we understand the subject! They can be useful to get a general idea of what's done in science, or for a scientist to easily get a broader view of his subject, but reading them doesn't make you a scientist!
(Just saying that because a friend of mine, fond of popular science books, keeps boasting about his knowledge of physics where he is not capable of understanding something as simple as vector spaces...)

Re: Can any of you give me some idea's on books?

Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 4:32 pm
by photino
Field medalist Tim Gowers' "Very Short Introduction to Mathematics" is good (if very short ;-) ). Actually, some of the other books in the "Very Short Introduction" series might be worth a look as well.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mathematics-Ver ... 0192853619

Not a textbook though - if you are out to learn the details you need a different kind of book...

Re: Can any of you give me some idea's on books?

Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 4:43 pm
by CharmQuark
Hey there Bornerdogge

Thanks for you info, I would just like to say that i would never dream of saying i understand something and i would never say i was anything like a Scientist or a physicist because it's something i will never now or ever be.....popular science is a great thing to want to learn about, i have only been studying for the past 6 months and i have come a long way, I am not one to ever claim that i know everything but i know enough to have a decent convo with guys who know a lot more than me I am gonna write them books day :D as i am going out of town for the day in a week or so to see if i can get what i need.

Thank you for your help :thumbup:

Em

Re: Can any of you give me some idea's on books?

Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 5:01 pm
by CharmQuark
Thank you Photino :D :thumbup:

Re: Can any of you give me some idea's on books?

Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 5:28 pm
by Bornerdogge
CharmQuark wrote:Thanks for you info, I would just like to say that i would never dream of saying i understand something and i would never say i was anything like a Scientist or a physicist because it's something i will never now or ever be.....popular science is a great thing to want to learn about, i have only been studying for the past 6 months and i have come a long way, I am not one to ever claim that i know everything but i know enough to have a decent convo with guys who know a lot more than me I am gonna write them books day :D as i am going out of town for the day in a week or so to see if i can get what i need.
Sure, I didn't mean this to you particularly ;) (and I don't pretend I am one either)

If I come up with more books I'll tell you!

Re: Can any of you give me some idea's on books?

Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 5:49 pm
by CharmQuark
Thank you so much :D :thumbup:

I am currently reading A Brief History of Time........wow it fries my brain :D at the minute i am trying to get to grips with spacetime hahaha :eh: it's not working at all :oops:

Re: Can any of you give me some idea's on books?

Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 8:58 pm
by tswsl1989
http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/wiki/Re ... cs_Reading

A reasonable list, with reasons as well

Re: Can any of you give me some idea's on books?

Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 10:29 pm
by CharmQuark
Thanks tswsl :thumbup:

Re: Can any of you give me some idea's on books?

Posted: Thu Jul 01, 2010 8:36 am
by mrgumby
The older I get, the more I realize how little I know.

And

The older I get, the more I run away from people who think they understand stuff.

And

I strongly suspect that "understanding stuff" is reserved for those who actually don't.

Re: Can any of you give me some idea's on books?

Posted: Thu Jul 01, 2010 2:42 pm
by CharmQuark
mrgumby wrote:The older I get, the more I realize how little I know.

And

The older I get, the more I run away from people who think they understand stuff.

And

I strongly suspect that "understanding stuff" is reserved for those who actually don't.

:crazy: Mind boggling that is :whistle:

Re: Can any of you give me some idea's on books?

Posted: Thu Jul 22, 2010 8:26 pm
by DCWhitworth
CharmQuark wrote:
mrgumby wrote:The older I get, the more I realize how little I know.

And

The older I get, the more I run away from people who think they understand stuff.

And

I strongly suspect that "understanding stuff" is reserved for those who actually don't.

:crazy: Mind boggling that is :whistle:
I always like the saying "Admire the seekers of truth, disbelieve those who claim to have found it"

Re: Can any of you give me some idea's on books?

Posted: Fri Jul 23, 2010 8:20 am
by mrgumby
yussssss

Re: Can any of you give me some idea's on books?

Posted: Fri Jul 23, 2010 9:36 am
by CharmQuark
:roll: