Mathematical Physics

Advanced Engineering Mathematics

5 stars (Still great!) - I used this book for my Electrical Engineering curriculum way back in 1977-1981, and I remember the pleasure I had learning Math from it. In some cases I hardly took notes in the class, but relied almost completely on the book to learn the subject. Well, it's almost 30 years later, and I've decided to re-learn the Math I loved so much but lost over the years. What a surprise to find Kreyszig's book is still around. I believe the reason for its longevity is just that it presents the complcated Math very effectively. When studying a particular subject, it was sometimes necessary for me to go back and re-read and re-read (the Math covered is not easy!), but the concept was there waiting for me to find it. I believe this book is an excellent tool for grasping some very complicates subjects. 5 stars (The all-in-one math reference book) - I love this book! I'll tell you why. As a student of Mechanical Engineering, I have taken all the mandatory Math courses that every student takes. During this time, however, I was advised to use a plethora of math books that employed different notations and had different approaches to solving the same problems. Now, this resulted in me knowing the mathematical procedures to solve problems without understanding what the math actually meant. What I desperately wanted was one all encompassing book-something like a reference manual that would contain all the information about every topic in mathematics you could ever think of, one book which would follow a consistent notation and offer a consistent approach to solving problems. This is exactly that book! This book is not meant to be a used for a first course in Engineering math. Hence, if you find yourself overwhelmed by this book, use a more detailed book dealing with your particular topic of interest and then return to this. This is how this book is meant to be used. Thanks. 1 stars ( Advanced Engineering Mathematics ) - This book is useless as a learning too...
Wiley :: Mathematics for scientists & engineers :: Mathematics & Applied :: Technology :: Science&Mathematics :: Mathematics :: Mathematical Physics :: Engineering Mathema :: Advanced Engineering Mathematics

The Road to Reality - A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe

1 stars (Who is the audience for this book?) - This is the first review I have been moved to write ... I bought this book because I like to read other people's perspectives on Physics; particularly when they are as smart as Roger Penrose undoutedly is. I have a PhD in theoretical physics (QFT) so I am hardly uneducated, or uninterested, in these topics. I found that this book tried to jump straight to an elegant mathermatical explanation without trying to impart any of the physical understanding. If you don't already know this material, this book won't help. At several points I just laughed out loud; one in particular when after explaining some arcane point in complex algebra involving a fraction, Penrose adds a comment along the lines of "I explained what a fraction was at the start of the book". He seems to be under the total delusion that you can just present the results of 20yrs of education in as many pages and people will just pick it up. I can only conclude that he is so familiar with this material that he has completely lost touch with its difficulty. The same must be said for those reviewers who liked this book; or else they are just lying to make themselves feel good; or perhaps they don't understand as much as they think they do! 5 stars (Shining brilliance!) - Penrose's book is really a thrilling experience. His intuition is brilliant. His explanations are crisp. His teaching ability can be probably only matched by Feynman. I got the book yesterday, but couldn't stop reading it so far. The first 150 pages I've read gave me a completely new perspective on complex calculus, which I had studied in undergraduate and thought I understood it. I am looking forward to other sections on differential geometry and other advanced topics. The book is very appropriate for people who have taken/are taking math courses but don't have good intuitive feel for the subjects covered---most math courses (especially, the grad ones) only emphasize the mathematics not the in...
Knopf :: Science & Astrophysics & Space Science :: Science&Mathematics :: Science :: Physical laws :: Mathematical Physics :: General :: Cosmology :: Astrophysics & Space Sc :: The Road to Reality - A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe