Recommended physics reading, for Gringo the [not feeling so] great

[Shell B]

I didn't call him because I felt like I would be intruding.

You should certainly be interested in physics. You should feel free to jump in those threads and ask questions. We love questions in lieu of assertions here.

I'll change the thread title for you.

[Paul the Human]

Look up the Big Bang on wikipedia and follow the links from there. If you find something interesting (like it's possible not to), just post about it in the physics forum and the discussion will go from there. At least... In theory.

Do it! I want to learn more, too.

[Phil]

I tried, Paul, but there is a time limit for changing the title. Thanks for the suggestion, anyway. I see that you have other debates, Shelly, but I'm particularly interested in the origins of the universe and how shit works, at the minute. Seriously, I have no idea about this kind of stuff, so I feel like a real hypocrite when I debate people on religion and then tell them how ignorant they are.

Edit: The day after we scheduled that G+ chat with Mo, I actually managed to get through to him on the phone, Shelly.

You can read any of the texts on Cosmology but to be honest you will only get a superficial understanding. To really understand Cosmology you need to know General Relativity and some Quantum Mechanics. To understand General Relativity you need an understanding of Special Relativity, To understand Special Relativity you need to understand some Mechanics. Not to mention the advanced maths that will get harder with each level. Truth is you can be an autodidact at Cosmology but the chances of that are somewhere between zero and 10-9. It would be lots simpler (and lots less painful) to attend a university or hire a private tutor.

[Gambit]

My Google Fu actually isn't that bad, so I've found quite a good bit of information. I'd still rather read a few books from authority though. The problem I have is, I'm literally starting from knowing absolutely nothing, so it's going to be a steep learning curve. I'm sure it's a common experience, but I'm like a kid who's just taken a tour of a candy factory - all those free samples have given me a rush, and now my head is spinning with possibilities.

[Phil]

My Google Fu actually isn't that bad, so I've found quite a good bit of information. I'd still rather read a few books from authority though. The problem I have is, I'm literally starting from knowing absolutely nothing, so it's going to be a steep learning curve. I'm sure it's a common experience, but I'm like a kid who's just taken a tour of a candy factory - all those free samples have given me a rush, and now my head is spinning with possibilities.

Google isn't science and can often lead on to erroneous information. Without an education in the subject, it isn't always an easy task(nor is it always possible) to separate the good from the bad. Tell you what, there is a course on Relativity and Black Holes from MIT (I think) online that is free. You only need the two texts to follow along. One is Wheeler's Intro to General Relativity and the other is Kip Thorne's book on Black Holes. Then again, you can go to a nearby university that allows one to audit courses, that is much better than trying to learn online.

[Gambit]

I tried, Paul, but there is a time limit for changing the title. Thanks for the suggestion, anyway. I see that you have other debates, Shelly, but I'm particularly interested in the origins of the universe and how shit works, at the minute. Seriously, I have no idea about this kind of stuff, so I feel like a real hypocrite when I debate people on religion and then tell them how ignorant they are.

Edit: The day after we scheduled that G+ chat with Mo, I actually managed to get through to him on the phone, Shelly.

You can read any of the texts on Cosmology but to be honest you will only get a superficial understanding. To really understand Cosmology you need to know General Relativity and some Quantum Mechanics. To understand General Relativity you need an understanding of Special Relativity, To understand Special Relativity you need to understand some Mechanics. Not to mention the advanced maths that will get harder with each level. Truth is you can be an autodidact at Cosmology but the chances of that are somewhere between zero and 10-9. It would be lots simpler (and lots less painful) to attend a university or hire a private tutor.

Thanks for that, Phil. I alluded to the fact that I need to go back to school in another thread. I'm not the sort of person to do things half assed, so I think yours is the best advice thus far. I understand enough about the field to know I'm never going to be comfortable unless I can speak from a reasonable level of authority. Now comes the hard part - getting my lazy ass back to school and committing myself to the task. I guess that comes down to how much I really want it.

[libalchris]

OK, so I came here thinking this was going to be just like any other atheist forum. Napoleon tried to clue me into the fact that it wasn't, but I'm an arrogant SOB so I basically dismissed his claim.

Anywho, here's the thing. I've noticed there are a lot of people here who are either physicists or know a great deal about the field. I, on the other hand, read some of these threads and feel like I've got an IQ of about -12.

So, what I'd like from you lovely people is to point me in the direction of some essential reading on physics. Now, I feel I need to point a few things out first. Whilst I am far from stupid, due to a childhood illness I have absolutely zero academic education. Virtually everything I know, I taught myself. So, with that in mind, I will be needing to start with baby steps. We're talking lying on my belly until I work out how to crawl.

If it helps to ease your mind that you won't be wasting your time; in every I do, within months of 'getting it' I excel beyond anyone in that area.

Thank you in advance.

While I'm not a physicist (yet, I'm about to attend college to become one)
I unfortunately can't recommend too awful much for the layman. Most of what I read is for someone with a heavy background in math. If you want to get a good math-based physics. You'll need to learn calculus (I recommend the calculus lifesaver and khanacademy.com series) and then you could read the textbook fundamentals of physics by halliday and resnick. Or if you're not a textbook guy there's The Feynman Lectures on Physics which I highly recommend.

If you don't want to go so far as calculus based physics, but know or are willing to learn high-school level physics, khnacademy.com also has a fantastic video series on physics, as well as cosmology.

All those listed above are for learning about plain physics, not more applied physics like cosmology. If you're looking for stuff like that, I could recommend "teach yourself cosmology" that requires very little math and is for the layman. I've also heard good things about "a brief history of time" though I have yet to read it myself.

Now, one video series that contains all sorts of great information in an easy to understand, math free format is cassiopeiaproject.com They have fantastic videos on the big bang, cosmology, the standard model of physics, relativity, quantum mechanics, and much much more. I HIGHLY recommend these, they're absolutely fantastic.

Hope that helps. Good luck!

[Tobie]

The book that got me into physics was "Big Bang" by Simon Singh. The title is slightly misleading, as it covers a lot more than the big bang ( a lot is history of maths and physics ) and goes into astronomy and relativity aswell.

Another book I would recommend is "Why does E=mc squared?" by Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw ( both physics professors at Manchester University, and Brian Cox is a well known physics documentary maker in the UK ) and deals with the axioms behind relativity, the maths that lead Einstein to Special and General relativity, and what they mean.

I don't know about the availability of either of these books in the US, although they should both be on the kindle.

[Kayenneh]

I myself am about to read "The Elegant Universe" by Brian Greene. My dad recommended it to me, because according to him it's easy to understand without any training in physics or mathematics.

[Shell B]

I wonder if watching recorded lectures would be more helpful. It's cheaper than attending them, in some cases.