List of freely available physics books

Question

I'm trying to amass a list of physics books with open-source licenses, like Creative Commons, GPL, etc. The books can be about a particular field in physics or about physics in general.

What are some freely available great physics books on the Internet? edit: I'm aware that there are tons of freely available lecture notes online. Still, it'd be nice to be able to know the best available free resources around.

As a starter: http://www.phys.uu.nl/~thooft/theorist.html

---

jump to list sorted by medium / type

---

Table of contents sorted by field (in alphabetical order):

• Chaos Theory
• Earth System Physics
• Mathematical Physics
• Quantum Field Theory

This post imported from StackExchange Physics at 2014-05-04 15:38 (UCT), posted by SE-user pcr

Comments

I think we should note that we should only include non-copyright-protected material.

This post imported from StackExchange Physics at 2014-05-04 15:38 (UCT), posted by SE-user Mark C

---

See also freescienceonline.blogspot.com

This post imported from StackExchange Physics at 2014-05-04 15:38 (UCT), posted by SE-user pcr

---

@all I posted this in META how-to-organize-a-list-of-free-resources to seek a better organization of this material. The help of all of us, with ideas, could be important. My list is not mine it can be improved by anyone.

This post imported from StackExchange Physics at 2014-05-04 15:38 (UCT), posted by SE-user Helder Velez

---

I suggest we try putting some order into this post by turning the question into a table of contents (inspired by the meta.SO community FAQ. That will also require grouping the answers, but I think if we work on this together it will soon be worth the effort

This post imported from StackExchange Physics at 2014-05-04 15:38 (UCT), posted by SE-user Tobias Kienzler

---

This deserves many up votes, and a meta-answer once thread volume reaches critical mass :)

This post imported from StackExchange Physics at 2014-05-04 15:38 (UCT), posted by SE-user Joseph Weissman

---

Some other good places to look are: "How to learn math and physics" by John Baez and StringWiki

This post imported from StackExchange Physics at 2014-05-04 15:38 (UCT), posted by SE-user Simon

---

See also the old post by Jacques Distler

This post imported from StackExchange Physics at 2014-05-04 15:38 (UCT), posted by SE-user Simon

Answer 1

Quantum Mechanics for Engineers

• http://www.eng.fsu.edu/~dommelen/quantum/

I stumbled across this book the other day when I was looking for a text on nuclear physics. It seems like a handy resource.

To quote the preface:
The book was primarily written for engineering graduate students who find themselves caught up in nano technology. It is a simple fact that the typical engineering education does not provide anywhere close to the amount of physics you will need to make sense out of the literature of your field. You can start from scratch as an undergraduate in the physics department, or you can read this book.

This post imported from StackExchange Physics at 2014-05-04 15:39 (UCT), posted by SE-user Simon

Answer 2

Two freely available stellar physics books by George W. Collins II:

• The Fundamentals of Stellar Astrophics
• The Virial Theorem in Stellar Astrophysics

This post imported from StackExchange Physics at 2014-05-04 15:40 (UCT), posted by SE-user Warrick

Answer 3

The OpenStax College Physics text looks promising as a low-level introduction to the subject (algebra-based).

Meanwhile, looking at the other list(s) here, is it really true that Feynman's lectures (and QED) are legally available online for free today? I have serious doubts about that. Has anyone yet made an effort to go through this list and verify the legality (let alone "openness") of the resources linked?

This post imported from StackExchange Physics at 2014-05-04 15:40 (UCT), posted by SE-user Steuard Jensen

Answer 4

I would like to recommend my favourite site http://www.freebookcentre.net/Physics/Physics-Books-Online.html

This post imported from StackExchange Physics at 2014-05-04 15:40 (UCT), posted by SE-user rakesh_kpn