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A BOOK SERIES · 2006–2026 SAMPLE

Course of Theoretical Physics

Lev Landau, Evgeny Lifshitz

4 readers recommend it across 3 discussions

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THE WORD OF MOUTH

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Original Hacker News comments, in the readers’ own words.

aristofun
Landau these days doesn’t look like a “broad coverage” at all. More like “many specific topics and areas covered in a set of books under same authors”. Also Landau was one of the last (probably the last) polymath physicists who covered a wide range of fields. I doubt it is even technically possible to cover even 30% of all modern theoretical physics in a single course with depth comparable to Landau books.
senorcrab
Freshman university textbooks have what you need. Two of the most popular are: - University Physics by Young and Freedman - Fundamentals of Physics by Halliday, Resnick, Walker - Modern Physics by Krane You might guess that real physics is not actually in freshman textbooks, and you are right. Modern physics requires rigorous mathematics. For a nonrigorous introduction/overview: - The Road to Reality by Roger Penrose If you want to actually learn almost all of physics at a high level: - Course of Theoretical Physics by Landau Note that Landau is extremely difficult. If you want to learn the math needed for modern physics (topology) in the context of physics, nonrigorously: - Geometry, Topology, and Physics by Nakahara
adyavanapalli
I agree. Feynman lectures aren't in anyway comprehensive or bible-like, but they're nonetheless very fun. As for Tipler, I'd stay far away from it haha (take it as an example of how badly a physics textbook can be written). As for bible-like/comprehensive (I don't know if anyone has written such a thing in such a vast subject), but many consider the Landau/Lifshitz "Course in Theoretical Physics" series to be an elegant summary of important results in physics. Check out the Chicago Undergraduate Physics Bibliography if you're interested in what books to study to become a physicist.

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