From: hlee@unixg.ubc.ca (Henry Lee)
Subject: Re: Particle/Cosmology/Relativity Texts?  *** A SHORT LIST ***
Followup-To: sci.astro
Organization: University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C., Canada
Date: Sat, 29 Aug 1992 04:47:58 GMT
Expires: Sat, 3 Oct 1992 05:00:00 GMT

<All follow-ups to sci.astro>

In <1992Aug27.133009.18938@tellab5.tellabs.com> jcj@tellabs.com (JCJ) writes:
>1) standard model of particle physics

HL: I learned about the standard model from a Lagrangian point of view.
HL:
HL: 	MODERN ELEMENTARY PARTICLE PHYSICS
HL:	Gordon Kane
HL:	Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1987.
HL:
HL: I'm sure others more knowledgeable can suggest other texts as well.

>2) general relativity

HL: How about another good ol' standard :
HL:
HL:	GRAVITATION AND COSMOLOGY 
HL:	(Principles and Applications of the General Theory of Relativity)
HL:	Steven Weinberg
HL: 	John Wiley & Sons, 1972.

HL: Still pretty good in basic concepts for a 20 year old book!
HL: You want an example of something a little more current?
HL: Something a little more "geometric" in formulation?
HL: How about :
HL:
HL:	A FIRST COURSE IN GENERAL RELAVITITY,
HL:	Bernard F. Schutz
HL:	Cambridge University Press, 1985.

HL: I found that I learned GR quite well with selections from 
HL: both of the aforementioned GR texts.

>3) cosmology

HL: For a pretty good solid book (an oldie but a goodie),
HL: solid in terms of basic concepts :
HL: 
HL: 	PHYSICAL COSMOLOGY
HL:	P.J.E. Peebles
HL:	Princeton University Press, 1971

HL: While obviously lacking in current (!) observational data,
HL: you will learn in a straight-forward manner what there is to know
HL: and understand about some basic physics in the early universe.
HL: Dr. Peebles has been in the process of updating and
HL: writing the 2nd edition to this widely regarded text.
HL: I don't know when this new book will be released to the stores.

HL: Also, just to round things out, if you want to learn about
HL: how people try to understand about the large-scale structure
HL: and the statistics people use in their understanding, the following
HL: is another "standard in the business," as they say,
HL:
HL:	LARGE-SCALE STRUCTURE IN THE UNIVERSE
HL:	P.J.E. Peebles
HL:	Princeton University Press, 1980

HL: For an excellent summary of all of the above topics and more,
HL: take a look at :
HL:
HL:	THE NEW PHYSICS
HL:	Edited by Paul Davies
HL:	Cambridge University Press, 1989
HL:
HL: The book is written at the level of someone's who studied
HL: undergraduate physics, at least to the 3rd or 4th year level.  
HL: Topics include stuff on :
HL: General Relativity from Clifford Will and Stephen Hawking,
HL: Chris Isham writes on Quantum Gravity,
HL: Alan Guth and Paul Steinhardt discusses the Inflationary Universe,
HL: and a lengthy chapter of astrophysics is written by Malcolm Longair.

HL: Abner Shimony, Frank Close, Howard Georgi, John Taylor and Abdus Salam
HL: each give their own individual chapter contributions on topics in 
HL: Quantum Mechanics, Quark Structure, Grand Unified Theories and 
HL: Gauge Theories, and Particle Physics.

HL: As well to round out some "really cool topics," there's
HL: stuff on Condensed Matter Physics including physics in
HL: less than 3 dimensions, Critical Point Phenomena, Low Temperature
HL: Physics (Superconductivity & Superfluidity), and Quantum Optics.
HL: And how about a chapter on Chaos, and another on Non-equilibrium
HL: and Self-Organization Systems in Physics?

HL: At a fair pace, one would be occupied with this last book for 
HL: at least one year.   :-)

HL: I hope my suggestions are of help to you all.

Henry Lee <hlee@unixg.ubc.ca>

		<Follow-ups to sci.astro; this post expires October 3.>