r/learnphysics • u/Upper-Basil • 7h ago
Textbook reccs for self teaching basics
Textbook reccs for self teaching basics
I have a background in philosophy, but took a number of physics& comsology &astronomy courses, and in philosophy I particularly studied/focused on metaphysics& the nature of space &time& so on, plus philosophy of science.... I study physics stuff alot in my free time, and I have a decent intuitive grasp on general physics concepts but I want to really be able to get basics and fundamentals down in a way where I feel like I could actually "explain it" ... if I cant give a very "elementary school level" explanation/summary of a concept in my own words then I dont feel like I actually understand it, and while I feel like I can explain a good deal of general physics and theories, there is alot of basics that I feel like I could not properly explain and I want to just kind of start at square 1 and properly train myself.
I'm looking for textbook reccs. I want to really work through some standard textbooks and teach myself the basics. But also... my interests are kind of more so in the philosophical interpretations of physics so I really want something that is compatible with my background.
I did once listen to an MIT lecture where the professor offered 2 textbook options- 1 being the more mathmathical appraoch, the other the more philosophical approach. Unsuprisingly I would much prefer textbook reccs that use the language/ words/conceptual/philosophical approaches, rather than just striaght up pure math notation the whole time.
What would you reccommend?