Books Catalog For Undergraduate and Graduate Physics Students

(this page is under construction)

Most of the students often find it difficult to choose a book for studying a particular branch in physics. Though there are many standard books available. Nevertheless you should always feel free to choose a book which best fits you. You should never judge a book by its cover, author or anything for that matter. I strongly recommend you to explore available books and then decide which book is meant for you. Since without reading a book you can't tell whether it is a good book or not. Second thing which we should consider is notation and language of the author (by language i mean explanation). For instance if you find some book (whether or not it is popular) very understandable, you should definitely go for it.

Now, considering you have done enough exploration and still in doubt from where to start. This article gives you a glimpse of a few standard and few advanced level books which will help you in understanding the literature. Afterall we need to train ourselves to understand more technical research papers and produce our own research. In this sense books are our best friend which will form a base for us.

Reference Books for various branches of physics:

0) Newtonian Mechanics

[A] An Introduction to Mechanics by Kleppner and Kolenkow

[B] Introduction to Classical Mechanics with Problems and Solutions by Morin

[C] The Feynman Lectures on Physics - Volume 1

[D] Vibrations and Waves by A.P. French

1) Classical Mechanics

[A] Classical Mechanics by Herbert Goldstein, Poole and Safko

[B] Mechanics | Course of Theoretical Physics - Volume 1 by Landau and Lifshitz

[C] The Theoretical Minimum by Susskind and Hrabovsky

[D] Fluid Mechanics | Course of Theoretical Physics - Volume 6 by Landau and Lifshitz

[E] Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos by Steven H. Strogatz

[F] Introduction to Dynamics by Percival and Richards

2) Quantum Mechanics

[A] The Feynman Lectures on Physics - Volume 3

[B] Quantum Mechanics - Non Relativistic Theory | Course of Theoretical Physics - Volume 3 by Landau and Lifshitz

[C] Quantum Mechanics - The Theoretical Minimum by Susskind and Friedman

[D] Introduction to Quantum Mechanics by Griffiths

[E] Quantum Mechanics - Concepts and Applications by Zettili

[F] Modern Quantum Mechanics by J.J. Sakurai and Jim Napolitano

[G] A Modern Approach to Quantum Mechanics by Townsend

[H] Quantum Mechanics - Claude Cohen Tannoudji

[I] Quantum Mechanics by Eugen Merzbacher

3) Statistical Mechanics

[A] Statistical Physics | Course of Theoretical Physics - Volume 5 by Landau and Lifshitz

[B] Fundamentals of Statistical and Thermal Physics by Reif

[C] Statistical Physics of Particles by Mehran Kardar

[D] Statistical Physics of Fields by Mehran Kardar

4) Classical and Quantum Field Theory

[A] The Classical Theory of Fields | Course of Theoretical Physics - Volume 2 by Landau and Lifshitz

[B] Special Relativity and Classical Field Theory - The Theoretical Minimum by Susskind and Friedman

[C] An Introduction to Quantum Field Theory by Peskin and Schroeder

[D] Quantum Field Theory in a Nutshell by A. Zee

5) Electromagnetic Theory and Electromagnetism

[A] The Feynman Lectures on Physics - Volume 2

[B] Electricity and Magnetism by Purcell and Morin

[C] Introduction to Electrodynamics by Griffiths

[D] Elements of Electromagnetics by Sadiku

[E] Classical Electrodynamics by John David Jackson

[F] Introductory Circuit Analysis by Robert L. Boylestad

6) Optics and Applied Optics

[A] The Feynman Lectures on Physics - Volume 1

[B] Optics by Ajok Ghatak

[C] Optics by Eugene Hecht

[D] Principles of Optics by Born and Wolf

[E] Lasers - Fundamentals and Applications by Thyagarajan and Ghatak

[F] Laser Fundamentals by Silfvast

7) Relativity (SR and GR)

[A] Special Relativity and Classical Field Theory - The Theoretical Minimum by Susskind and Friedman

[B] Special Relativity by David Morin

[C] A First Course in General Relativity by Bernard Schutz

[D] Gravity: An Introduction to Einstein's General Relativity by James B. Hartle

[E] Gravitation by T. Padmanabhan

[F] Gravitation by Misner, Thorne and Wheeler

[G] Spacetime and Geometry by Sean M. Carroll

8) Thermal Physics

[A] The Feynman Lectures on Physics - Volume 1

[B] Heat and Thermodynamics by Zemansky and Dittman

[C] Concepts in Thermal Physics by  S.J. Blundell and K.M. Blundell

[D] Thermal Physics by Garg, Bansal and Ghosh

[E] An Introduction to Thermal Physics by Schroeder

9) Electronic Systems

i) Digital Systems

[A] Digital Principles and Applications by Leach, Malvino and Saha

[B] Digital Fundamentals by Thomas L. Floyd

[C] Digital Systems - Principles and Applications by Tocci, Widmer and Moss

ii) Analog Systems

[A] Analog Fundamentals - A Systems Approach by Floyd and Buchla

[B] Microelectronics - Circuit Analysis and Design by Neamen

[C] Electronic Principles by Malvino and Bates

[D] Electronic Circuits and Systems by Ryder and Thomson

10) Solid State and Condensed Matter Physics

[A] Solid State Physics by Ashcroft and Mermin

[B] Introduction to Solid State Physics by Kittel

[C] Condensed Matter Physics in a Nutshell by Mahan

[D] Modern Condensed Matter Physics by Girvin and Yang

[E] Quantum Many-Particle Systems by Negele and Orland

11) Astronomy and Astrophysics

[A] Radiative Processes in Astrophysics by Rybicki and Lightman

[B] Spectrophysics by Anne P. Thorne

[C] An Introduction to the Theory of Stellar Structure and Evolution by Dina Prialnik

[D] Stellar Structure and Evolution by Kippenhahn, Weigert and Weiss

[E] Galaxy Formation and Evolution by Mo, Bosch and White

12) Cosmology

[A] Introduction to Cosmology by Narlikar

[B] Introduction to Cosmology by Ryden

13) Modern and Nuclear Physics

[A] Concepts of Modern Physics by Arthur Beiser

[B] Modern Physics by Krane

[C] Introductory Nuclear Physics by Krane

14) Particle Physics

[A] Introduction to Elementary Particles by Griffiths

[B] Lie Algebras in Particle Physics by Georgi

 

Experimental Physics

[A] Advanced Practical Physics for Students by Worsnop and Flint

[B] Electricity and Magnetism - Volume 1 by Fewkes and Yarwood

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For Newtonian Mechanics and Computational Physics, you may refer to my previous post:

Books for Mechanics and Computational Physics

For Mathematical Physics, you may refer to the following post:

References for Mathematical Physics