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Recommended Reading

So, time for a quick update on the project: I've uploaded largely completed notes on how vectors work, and very partial notes on DC electricity and circuit rules. Later today I intend to improve them both (though possibly not finish) and then to upload proofs for the compound resistance equations given in the DC electricity document.

But the purpose of this post was a reading list, so that's what I'm giving you.

These six books are very readable, very non-technical and very broad. They should be approachable by anyone with a GCSE standard grasp of the subject, and give a flavour of the depth and breadth that further study will reach. Nevertheless, familiarising yourself with background knowledge is an incredibly useful approach. I would suggest reading all of them, but the two Pickover ones are probably the cream of the crop. The Feynman book is not actually about science, but gets you acquainted with one of the greatest minds of last century and so it really can't hurt. (Oh, and there are a few other 50 Ideas books by Joanne Baker, notably 50 Quantum Physics ideas).

That's the most general reading covered. Now, those aren't very deep and would probably not look too great on a UCAS application either (except possibly the Richard P. Feynman book. Because Feynman.) So, to develop a deeper taste for you subject, you may want to consider the following reads as well, I have not read that many yet but I intend to get started on some more pretty soon:

I have read two of the Feynman books but not the Zee. That said, all of these books are known for being quite approachable to laypeople and cover a quite large amount of physics. "The Meaning of it all" isn't a physics book, but I think it's a useful reminder of what a physicist's job really is, and an approach to philospohy of science that is very sensible.

I have read the quantum one, but not the relativity one yet. The authors are very good at explaining themselves and most people at GCSE should be able to grasp the concepts. That said, I did have to re-read large sections of the book because first time around it simply covered so much (I've heard similar for the relativity version, too).

Progressing into some more austere territory now, I have only read the book by Einstein among this list, and it's quite involved conceptually. Einstein doesn't, however, make use of too much mathematics and everyone should be able to understand the chapter on special relativity. About the others, I can only say that "The new Quantum Universe" is a comprehesive look at quantum physics, and as such it's pretty large (and looks quite expensive)- I'd read some others on this list before it. Stephen Hawking is a big name to put on a Personal Statement, and he's well known for having next to no maths in his books, so they ought to be fairly readable.

These are up at the top end- you could probably leave these as A2 reading, and the latter two really bridge into degree level by most counts. I have not read any of them, but they came highly recommended and the first two are very famous books, by very large names, the French book is more of a textbook and so I'm a little bit less sure about it personally.

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