I mean in the sense of being a classic, highly praised and known as a book that can change someone's life forever
Ask HN: What Is the SICP of Physics?
1–8 of 8 posts
Re: Ask HN: What Is the SICP of Physics?
#2No personal opinion here, since I haven't read it, but there is a:
Structure and Interpretation of Classical Mechanics
https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/structure-and-interpretation-...
...with Gerald Sussman as one of the authors. The Feynman Lectures on Physics might be what you are looking for:
Re: Ask HN: What Is the SICP of Physics?
#3No personal opinion here, since I haven't read it, but there is a: Structure and Interpretation of Classical Mechanics https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/structure-and-interpretation-... ...with Gerald Sussman as one of the authors. The Feynman Lectures on Physics might be what you are looking for: https://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/
"Sussman and Wisdom make a bold experiment in communicating mathematical physics: they say exactly what they mean. Even a computer can follow their equations. By using this textbook, students painlessly master Scheme, a minimalist programming language, at the same time. This empowers them to go beyond the simplistic integrable systems that dominate the traditional course, to the richness of nonlinear resonance and chaotic dynamics. The hard core of rigor is softened by a personal and enthusiastic writing style"
How come I never heard of this before?
Re: Ask HN: What Is the SICP of Physics?
#4No personal opinion here, since I haven't read it, but there is a: Structure and Interpretation of Classical Mechanics https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/structure-and-interpretation-... ...with Gerald Sussman as one of the authors. The Feynman Lectures on Physics might be what you are looking for: https://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/
There are some good resources here including some nicely formatted HTML versions of the book: https://github.com/sicmutils/sicmutils/wiki/SICM-and-FDG-Lea...
^ The Github repo contains a Clojure version of the Scheme library used by the book.
Re: Ask HN: What Is the SICP of Physics?
#5Has to be The Feynman Lectures on Physics
Re: Ask HN: What Is the SICP of Physics?
#6No personal opinion here, since I haven't read it, but there is a: Structure and Interpretation of Classical Mechanics https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/structure-and-interpretation-... ...with Gerald Sussman as one of the authors. The Feynman Lectures on Physics might be what you are looking for: https://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/
It's a great resource but I don't think SICM is quite comparable to SICP because it's not aimed at complete beginners. If you know or remember nothing about Physics it will be a tough read and you'll be lost quickly.
Personally I like the Theoretical Minimum lectures [0] - they are very clear and concise.
Re: Ask HN: What Is the SICP of Physics?
#7Has to be The Feynman Lectures on Physics
When reading Feynman, don't miss the fact that the original audio recordings are now freely available [1], which, even speaking as someone with a strong preference for reading vs. listening or watching instructive material, shouldn't be missed. Feynman's sheer enthusiasm for the material is hard to get across in print.
In the spirit of SICP, I also like Spivak's less conventional Physics for Mathematicians [2], but, as the title suggests, this assumes more, or at least different, mathematical prerequisites than most introductory mechanics texts. "Strong undergraduate maths background — at least one course each in linear algebra and differential equations, say, or equivalent self-study — with a bit of motivated extracurricular work in differential geometry" sounds about right, but here I'm basically just describing my own background when approaching the book, so YMMV.
[1] https://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/flptapes.html
[2] https://archive.org/details/physics-for-mathematicians-mecha...
Re: Ask HN: What Is the SICP of Physics?
#8Has to be The Feynman Lectures on Physics
When reading Feynman, don't miss the fact that the original audio recordings are now freely available [1], which, even speaking as someone with a strong preference for reading vs. listening or watching instructive material, shouldn't be missed. Feynman's sheer enthusiasm for the material is hard to get across in print. In the spirit of SICP, I also like Spivak's less conventional Physics for Mathematicians [2], but,…
Uff, that's massive. Thank you for this comment, I didn't realize we had the audio recordings for the lectures.