**Ask a monkey a physics question thread**

[Savy]

Well, my bias is clear, but I'd suggest getting a nice, thick, illustrated intro physics book.
I recommend physics as a starting point for all sciences, because I don't know of a science degree that doesn't require introductory physics.
It shouldn't be too hard to find used textbooks online.

Randall D. Knight - Physics for Scientists and Engineers is a good choice. It's available used for ~$20 after a brief google search, so practically free considering it's over 1,200 pages.

David J. Griffiths - Introduction to Quantum Mechanics is extremely well written, but does rely heavily on your background understanding of linear algebra and some other physics concepts.

Peter V. O'Neill - Advanced Engineering Mathematics is another one of my "always on the reading list" books. It's another huge compendium of a textbook, but it covers so much math that is put to regular use in any engineering field, like diff EQ and linear algebra.

Brian Bradie - A Friendly Introduction to Numerical Analysis will be extremely useful if you'll be using computers to gather and analyze data. The quirkiness of dealing with a discrete number system and not a continuous number line is interesting to unravel, and can sink your research if you aren't aware of the pitfalls.

***
Every book I've mentioned so far is in rotation for my bathroom reading materials. They are not books I used for a class and never opened again.

A good text on probability and statistics could be extremely useful, but I assume you're already solid on those topics.


Other than that, science covers a wide range of fields. There's every corner of engineering, chemistry, biology, geology, etc. Is there any field in specific which attracts you?

Physics, everything else isn't science.

I love you and your enthusiasm for science. Thank you for the suggestions. I want to get more into particle physics. I'm having a slight crisis in life that I'm wasting myself that I go through every year or so.

[BananaStand]

I'm having a slight crisis in life that I'm wasting myself that I go through every year or so.

Happy Birthday

[Savy]

Happy Birthday

Birthday isn't till August.

[MadMojoMonkey]

Physics, everything else isn't science.

Well, I didn't mention that you need to be familiar with and competent at vector calculus for most of physics. Knight goes pretty easy on the calc., but you need to know vector math and what a derivative is and how to find the derivative of some simple functions. Same for integrals. That stuff is covered in O'Neill.

You'll need to be able to think your way through a cross product in order to understand torque and how electric and magnetic fields interact. The right hand rule comes up often enough and its something students tend to struggle with.

If you're good with those foundations, then start with Knight and Griffiths. Feel free to jump right into Griffiths Intro to QM if you like, but keep the Knight text on the side just to reference. Otherwise, start with Knight and keep O'Neill as reference.

I love you and your enthusiasm for science. Thank you for the suggestions.

Aw, shucks!