<p>Just wondering if you have come across any good books recently on math or physics (not text books or study guides, but casual books)</p>
<p>I heard In Search of Schrodinger's Cat was good...</p>
<p>the harmony of the worlds</p>
<p>[best</a> book on math i’ve ever read](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Math-Curse-Jon-Scieszka/dp/0670861944]best”>http://www.amazon.com/Math-Curse-Jon-Scieszka/dp/0670861944)</p>
<p>^ Nice. Brings back old memories. I remember reading that book like 11 years ago.</p>
<p>Brian Greene’s The Fabric of the Universe was okay, but it was pretty basic (i.e. more introductory and less grad material). The Elegant Universe, the book’s precursor, was also pretty good.</p>
<p>Michio Kaku’s Physics of the Impossible was entertaining, but I didn’t think the writing itself was very good. Nor is it really meant to invoke serious, contemplative thought (unless you intend to pursue some of the fanciful things he mentions in the book). </p>
<p>If you’re into astrophysics and cosmology, Tyson’s Death by Black Hole was rather informative and amusing, a quality most physics books seem to require in order to survive. It is, however, actually a collection of essays, so some things may be redundant.</p>
<p>As for In Search of Shrodinger’s Cat, I thought the writing style was mildly disconcerting. The historical chronology was presented topically instead, but this didn’t affect the information unduly. It was a bit more historical than most other physics books.</p>
<p>Overall, none of these books really require a comprehensive knowledge of physics or math to understand it, which may or may not be to your liking.</p>
<p>Just started a new math book today by the title of *Prime Obsession<a href=“Riemann%20Hypothesis”>/i</a> and I really like it!</p>
<p>^ sounds interesting. How much background is needed to read/understand the book?</p>
<p>“Principles of Mathematical Analysis” by Rudin and “Calculus” by Spivak are the quintessential high schooler’s math books.</p>
<p>A good physics book is “Fundamentals of Physics” by Halliday and Resnick.</p>
<p>“Principles of Mathematical Analysis” by Rudin
on Amazon:
"If you make it through the first six or seven chapters like this then there shall be no power in the verse that can stop you. Enjoy graduate school. You half way there. "</p>
<p>Doesn’t seem like a High school book, and its really expensive on Amazon too ha ha</p>
<p>rudin and spivak are used at like University of Chicago, Cal Tech, pretty much any school with a math department that doesn’t cater to ■■■■■ ass bicchhhez</p>
<p>Ya, so I have deep respect for you if you are reading those books while in High School.</p>
<p>University Physics, Young and Freedman</p>
<p>Rudin is quite nice, but you might want to supplement it with a good book of solved (!in detail) examples - analysis is a subject that is easy to understand and harder to apply (at least for me).
But I wouldn’t recommend it as a primer in college maths - might frighten you off 
I worked through several of “Schaums’ outlines” (which is a cheap and good series, but a few selected books are crap - read reviews) during high school, for example ‘Abstract Algebra’… </p>
<p>One of my favourites is “A Students’ guide to Maxwells equations”, which is awesome - you don’t really need any knowledge of electrodynamics or vector calculus - the author explains what you need in so much detail (a.k.a Why is there an integral? Why is there a dot product? Why…), and I really, really love that book.</p>
<p>If you want a very nice read while still learning something: Feynmans’ lectures are amazing (not so much the third one, it’s a bit …old), very engaging. He had an incredible gift with explaining abstract concepts.</p>
<p>Gödel, Escher, Bach is a book on maths, philosophy, music… It is very inspiring if you read it in the right frame of mind.</p>
<p>[Amazon.com:</a> Algebra the Easy Way: Douglas Downing: Books](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Algebra-Easy-Way-Douglas-Downing/dp/0764119729/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1238424036&sr=1-1]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Algebra-Easy-Way-Douglas-Downing/dp/0764119729/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1238424036&sr=1-1)</p>
<p>““Calculus” by Spivak are the quintessential high schooler’s math books.”
Maybe for about .001% of all high schoolers.</p>
<p>^ So true ha ha</p>
<p>As far as * Prime Obsession * is concerned single variable calculus knowledge should be sufficient.</p>
<p>MTW Gravitation. Will last you.</p>
<p>^^ Stay realistic - that’s more for grad school than for high school - or so.
Well, I’m in college and that’s my personal summer reading.</p>
<p>Are there any study guide type books that help you on capturing maths/physics insight?</p>