Beginning to learn about theoretical physics.

[Shinyscience]

Well after reading Phil's Death From the Skies I began to read some more books on similar subjects. Well I eventually worked my way to The Black Hole War by Leonard Susskind and was more engrossed in the ideas of theoretical physics then just about anything else in my life. I really want to read and learn more about this subject.

I definitely plan on going back to school next semester just to take some physics/astronomy/math classes no idea exactly what yet. I have only take a basic astronomy class and a basic physics class at the college level and 4years of HS math.

My next list of books looks something like this so far.

Cosmic Landscape -Leonard Susskind
The Dancing Wu Li Masters -Gary Zukav (anyone read this? will it mostly all be repeated information? If I was able to understand most of The Black Hole War should I bother reading this?)
A Briefer History of Time -Stephen Hawking
The Universe In a Nutshell -Stephen Hawking

Where do I go from here if I want to start learning more of the math behind these ideas and not just get them explained to me in a basic form.

[tashirosgt]

You must take calculus. If you havent't been in school recently, you might want to start with a simpler math class as preparation for that. The actual details of science are not as poetic and anecdotal as the books you've been reading.

[jaksichj]

You must take calculus. If you havent't been in school recently, you might want to start with a simpler math class as preparation for that. The actual details of science are not as poetic and anecdotal as the books you've been reading.

I second that notion, heartily. In Feynman's Tips for physics students...he says in no uncertain terms: Be able to perform differentiation and integration readily... and for some of us that means: practice, practice, practice... :cool:

[Cougar]

My next list of books looks something like this so far.

Cosmic Landscape -Leonard Susskind
The Dancing Wu Li Masters -Gary Zukav (anyone read this? will it mostly all be repeated information? If I was able to understand most of The Black Hole War should I bother reading this?)
A Briefer History of Time -Stephen Hawking
The Universe In a Nutshell -Stephen Hawking


I wouldn't recommend reading any of those. I'd recommend:


Big Bang, the origin of the universe [2004] by Simon Singh
The Quark and the Jaguar, Adventures in the Simple and the Complex [1995] by Murray Gell-Mann
The Mystery of the Missing Antimatter [2007] by Helen Quinn & Yossi Nir
Cosmic Clouds: Birth, death, and recycling in the galaxy [1997] by James Kaler
Blind Watchers of the Sky, The People and Ideas that Shaped Our View of the Universe [1996] by Rocky Kolb
The Inflationary Universe, the quest for a new theory of cosmic origins [1997] by Alan H. Guth

[Shinyscience]

Just something I came across that I found interesting
Standford has some of their physics lectures online.
The math is slowing me down but luckily I can google anything I don't understand and get a pretty good explanation.

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=stanforduniversity&view=playlists

Just sharing incase anyone was interested.


Also thank you for the further reading recommendations.