Morrison and Boyd, Organic chemistry
Guidurati, Econometrics
Samuelson, Economics
Ask HN: What's the best textbook you've read?
61–70 of 72 posts
Re: Ask HN: What's the best textbook you've read?
#62Introduction to Probability, by Blitzstein and Hwang. Builds your intuition for the most unintuitive subject.
Haven't read the book but the lectures are good!
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2SOU6wwxB0uwwH80KTQ6ht66...
Re: Ask HN: What's the best textbook you've read?
#63Computer Networks by Tanenbaum
Entertaining and insightful.
Re: Ask HN: What's the best textbook you've read?
#64"Best" is a vague metric, but one textbook I am always happy to recommend is the Princeton Companion to Mathematics. The book is a selective review of the most significant ideas in maths and mathematical research. The great editorial process is what sets this book apart from the rest: each chapter is authored by an outstanding expert in his/her particular field (among which several fields medalist the likes of Terenc…
I read almost all of it cover to cover when I was an undergrad in math, when I still had intention of going to grad school, to get a sense of which area(s) of math I'd like to pursue further.
It is incredibly illuminating and I also recommend it highly.
Re: Ask HN: What's the best textbook you've read?
#65MPLS-Enabled Applications: Emerging Developments and New Technologies by Ina Minei and Julian Lucek.
There are a lot of books out there on MPLS services, but this one stands out for me because of the way it is written: the subject matter is clearly explains some very complex topics in a way that even a beginner network engineer could grasp, while not being a wordy tome that you never get around to finishing.
Re: Ask HN: What's the best textbook you've read?
#66A bit late to this party, but: Campbell et al.'s "Biology" is the best textbook I've ever read. It starts at entry level but goes really deep. Everything is explained very well and beautifully illustrated. To add context to the "hard" scientific content, there are also interviews with leading researchers in biology who provide their points of view on the main themes of the book.
There is a bewildering confusion of editions and versions of this book, but look for a book called "Biology" or "Campbell Biology" with Neil A. Campbell and Jane B. Reece in the author list, but not necessarily listed first. There is what I believe to be an abridged version called "Biology: Concepts and Connections", and something called "Biology: A Global Approach", which may just be the name for the newest editions.
Re: Ask HN: What's the best textbook you've read?
#67Introduction of Quantum Mechanics and Introduction to Electrodynamics, both by David J. Griffiths. He also wrote Introduction to Elementary Particles, but I have not read that one. Both books masterfully take exceptionally complex fields and break them down into easily digested chunks, with a clear progression of ideas as you go through the book. Do note that these are "Introduction" books written for Junior/Senior P…
>Griffiths Yes! I actually jumped in this thread to recommend Griffiths' Electrodynamics. Even the review sections on how to think about things like divergence and curl is particularly well done by Griffiths.
Definitely, Griffith's Electrodynamics was a lot of fun. Still fondly recall working through the problems.
Re: Ask HN: What's the best textbook you've read?
#68A bit late to this party, but: Campbell et al.'s "Biology" is the best textbook I've ever read. It starts at entry level but goes really deep. Everything is explained very well and beautifully illustrated. To add context to the "hard" scientific content, there are also interviews with leading researchers in biology who provide their points of view on the main themes of the book. There is a bewildering confusion of ed…
Yep, that's the one I was going to say :-)
"It goes really deep" is, unfortunately, a relative description. Half-way through my undergraduate studies, I had pretty much outgrown it and needed more specialized books.
Nonetheless, it is a superb entry-level college textbook that covers the entire breadth of modern biology. The text is very understandable and gives more background information than is needed for a typical introductory lecture to any given topic (while still emphasizing the salient points so you don't get confused). Apart from the above-mentionend interviews, it also includes sections on current methods in biology, which are pretty handy when you're new to the field. Plus, the illustrations are simply excellent: pretty to look at and a huge help for understanding. On the whole, I find it to be one of the most aesthetically pleasing textbooks I know. (Beaten only by Futuyma's "Evolution".)
My best investment in university so far!
Re: Ask HN: What's the best textbook you've read?
#69A bit late to this party, but: Campbell et al.'s "Biology" is the best textbook I've ever read. It starts at entry level but goes really deep. Everything is explained very well and beautifully illustrated. To add context to the "hard" scientific content, there are also interviews with leading researchers in biology who provide their points of view on the main themes of the book. There is a bewildering confusion of ed…
Yep, that's the one I was going to say :-) "It goes really deep" is, unfortunately, a relative description. Half-way through my undergraduate studies, I had pretty much outgrown it and needed more specialized books. Nonetheless, it is a superb entry-level college textbook that covers the entire breadth of modern biology. The text is very understandable and gives more background information than is needed for a typica…
Gilbert's "Developmental Biology" is another great (and really good-looking) textbook. It almost made me want to go into developmental biology, just for the textbook :D
Re: Ask HN: What's the best textbook you've read?
#70Visual Complex Analysis - Needham. A lot of great pictures, exerything is explained (and shown ) geometrically. Complex differentiation/integration, non-Euclidean geometry, vector fields etc. Mathematics and its History - Stillwell. Wonderfully written. From the ancients to the 20th century, covers the mathematics (in a lot of detail) and lives of major mathematicians (potted bios). Concrete Mathematics - Knuth et al…