Download PDF Modern Classical Physics Optics Fluids Plasmas Elasticity Relativity and Statistical Physics Kip S Thorne Roger D Blandford 9780691159027 Books

Product details Hardcover 1552 pages Publisher Princeton University Press (September 5, 2017) Language English ISBN-10 0691159025

Modern Classical Physics Optics Fluids Plasmas Elasticity Relativity and Statistical Physics Kip S Thorne Roger D Blandford 9780691159027 Books Reviews

• If you want your physics by the pound, Modern Classical Physics (MCP) is your book, and 2017 Nobel Laureate, Kip Thorne is your man. To over use a cliche, this 9.5 pound, 1511-page tome, is a tour de force. I received it as a 2017 Christmas present. What a gift!
  
  Sold as a first-year graduate course in Physics, anyone who has browsed through it, would discover as I did, that this is certainly true if the graduate course in question is one of the caliber of a Cal Tech, Princeton or Stanford University. However, at most American universities, this content would be broken up into six or more second-year or above graduate level courses.
  
  As a dilettante, and a Physicist wanna-be, I only wanted to get right to the sexy stuff, Relativity, Quantum Mechanics and Cosmology, but first Kip had to give us a little “Roo-Roo,” called optics, fluids, plasmas, statistical physics and elasticity. Indeed, only as an afterthought, does it all make complete sense, because at various points in my physics life, I too have had to grapple with each of these as a side issue while pursuing other topics. I guess the logic is Why not treat them all up front and get them out of the way?
  
  A warning to those squeamish about mathematics Be ready to rumble, to jump off the high end of the diving board, as the book assumes everything up to Tensors to be elementary mathematics (Say what?).
  
  The good news is that if you are old like me, you don’t have to worry about working out the exercises. Imagining the broad outlines of their respective solutions is quite sufficient — provided you do not cheat. You must play the mind games fairly in order to feel that you really understand.
  
  I guess my point is this You only need a good enough grasp of the concepts to be able to follow the mathematics to their logical conclusions without getting stuck. As usual, this means from time to time, you must consult and review older mathematics texts, or run the risk of getting tied in knots trying to unravel the matrix notation implicit in most of the more generalized formulations. But as anyone who has been reading any modern physics texts knows, that is par for the course. In this case, it is par for six different courses. It helps too if you have been over this material before, in particular, the geometric paradigm, because prior knowledge will kick-in at the right time.
  
  One reviewer complained that he did not need any handholding. Well, I say speak for yourself? For me, the more handholding the better. I found it especially helpful for the authors to give us a thorough overview of his approach, and then tell us where earlier topics would be inserted and used in the grand finale — and then pointed back to those references once we got there!
  
  Going back and forth, not only was useful, but necessary. In fact without these critical intercessions, it was quite easy for my mind to drift off. Statistical Physics, Optics and Fluids, okay? Even Elasticity too, but why would I need a primer in Plasma physics in order to prepare for Relativity and Cosmology?
  
  It didn’t matter, I cheated anyway, and jumped forward to the main menu items, General relativity and Cosmology. But I will be the first to admit that even after reviewing every U-Tube lecture on Einstein’s field equations, and going over Richard Feynman’s two-volume “Lectures in Physics” for the third or fourth time, these authors’ treatment of the Field Equations were still scary. Even with that much preparation, the presentation in this book remained difficult.
  
  My plan going forward is to stick with the difficult parts until I am satisfied that I understand them well enough for my own needs. This is a once-in-a-lifetime book, and I am going to enjoy it for years to come. What a treat for a home-grown frustrated Physicist! 10 stars!
• I would like to emphasize an aspect of this book that none of the other reviewers have mentioned. The very first paragraph on page 1 offers what I consider the central vision of this ambitious text
  
  "In this book, a central theme will be a Geometric Principle The laws of physics must all be expressible as geometric (coordinate-independent and reference-frame independent) relationships between geometric objects (scalars, vectors, tensors,...) that represent physical entities."
  
  Kip Thorne, Charles Misner, and John Archibald Wheeler attempted to fulfill this same geometric vision for General Relativity in the early 1970s with the publication of the 1279-page landmark work, Gravitation. One can therefore see this recent book by Blandford and Thorne as the extension of the geometric program to many areas of classical physics. For those of us who are "true believers" in the geometric program, this book is a welcome addition to the literature.
  
  One remark on the physical quality of the book under review. Despite having 1511 pages, the book is hardbound and sturdy enough to hold up under years of study. The paper quality is first-rate, and there are even color graphics scattered throughout. Princeton University Press is to be commended for producing a first-class textbook at a reasonable price. Their recent hardbound republication of the classic book Gravitation is also extremely well done, and for an amazingly low price.
• Superb, every scientist should have a copy. Math says what is true, physics says what is real and engineers say what can be achieved. This is an essential book ties it all together using the geometric methodology.
• Love the book, expect to spend years happily working with it, as with Thorne's other massive book, Gravitation. But if an author is going to write exercises into the text ( five different types!) then why not provide answers, at least to every other? That is my only disappointment, a crushing one at that. I would have liked to have some confirmation that I can work with the concepts.
• This book is an excellent treatment of a broad range of topics in classical physics, including many topics not usually covered in standard courses focused on the traditional divisions of the subject. The treatment is modern and accessible.
• I took this course (Ph. 136 Applications of Classical Physics) at Caltech 33 years ago from Kip Thorne (I also had Roger Blandford as a professor for high energy astrophysics) - they are both top notch physicists and teachers as well. Some have wished the book was broken up in 3-4 books. I disagree, I suspect most of these complaints are by readers in the early chapters of the book. But what happens when you get to the later parts, on lets say, plasma physics, and need to refer back to a statistical mechanics chapter - and the other book is somewhere else. I am glad it is one book. My only criticism is that the book could be shorter. The authors spend many pages telling you every chapter and every part what they are going to do in the coming pages - in my opinion they should just dive in and do it. I don't need a readers or professor's teaching guide for a graduate level textbook.
• Explanations and applications of all classical topics covered in this text/reference are eloquently written and presented clearly, and flow from "the calm to the dynamic flow of fluid dynamics". Physicists, make sure you have a reference text of "Applied Mathematics" by your side while reviewing the concepts of this text. The text can be used at both the undergraduate and graduate levels as well as post graduate levels in both Physics, and Mathematics.
• While very good, it could have been better if a pdf file on a cd was included.