So You Want to Learn Physics (2016)

Post by BeetleB » Mon, Nov 05, 2018, 5:03 PM UTC

Koshkin wrote: post #108

BeetleB wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think I appreciate the point you are making, but you have gone a little too far in making that point. I've gone through a physics education, and I can attest that one can learn the material, be good at taking exams, and still do a poor job of applying it to the real world. The other extreme is as problematic, though. Knowing certain formalism in mathematics can really help in expressing a physics principle - and at…

> wary of anyone claiming strong physics knowledge Well, that depends. Faraday was a great physicist (his claims, whatever they may have been, notwithstanding).

Post by __Joker » Tue, Nov 06, 2018, 6:37 AM UTC

andrepd wrote: post #23

Well I disagree with many of the book choices, but if there's one thing that's absolutely spot-on is this: >One big problem is that a lot of the popular books written about physics (especially those by famous physicists) are incredibly speculative and tend to present an unrealistic view of what the study of physics is all about. When you're learning physics, it's good to avoid these types of speculative books, and st…

Post by derangedHorse » Wed, Nov 07, 2018, 1:30 PM UTC

anonytrary wrote: post #89

derangedHorse wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree. As someone who doesn't know much about Physics, certain things I read in the Feynman lectures today still stick with me. Like if you drop a heavy object onto the floor, its temperature rises by a minuscule amount lol.

> Like if you drop a heavy object onto the floor, its temperature rises by a minuscule amount lol. Tidbits like this are not a substitute for a working knowledge of physics. The Feynman Lectures are not a substitute for undergraduate courses. You'll get more out of the Feynman Lectures after completing the main undergraduate courses.