Physics Books
"All science is either physics or stamp collecting."
Books are great and so is physics, so books about physics must really awesome! Here are some of my favorites. Since I'm of the firm opinion that physics books should be fun as well as educational, many of those recommended here are of the humorous persuasion, and marked with a smiley-face ( 
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! &
What Do You Care What Other People Think?
Wonderful autobiographical stories and anecdotes from my personal god of physics. Feynman tells of his radio-fixing days as a child, fraternity experiences at MIT, safe cracking at Los Alamos, unraveling the problem behind the Challenger explosion, winning a Nobel Prize, and more -- always with wit and interesting viewpoints. If these books don't make you want to be a physicist, nothing can!
The New World of Mr. Tompkins
Mr. Tompkins is a balding British bank clerk who decides, on a whim, to attend a modern physics lecture series at a local university. But like any physics student, he finds himself dozing in class -- and has the oddest dreams. He turns into an electron and has trouble making friends in a sodium atom, takes a trip to an African jungle with large values of Plank's constant, and has his dishes washed by Maxwell's Demon (who can't stand disorder). Lots of fun, with real physics too. Mathematics of Classical and Quantum Physics A really excellent survey of some interesting (and, bonus: useful!) math in physics. Has a particularly good section on calculus of variations. Six Easy Pieces Six of the most readable Feynman Lectures on Physics. Technical enough for the physics student and well-explained enough for everyone else.
The Cartoon Guide to Physics
Now you have no excuse to prefer cartoons to physics! Learn elementary mechanics and E&M from this delightful comic-book-style book. (Also check out Gonick's The Cartoon Guide to Genetics, which is even better.) Copenhagen An outstanding, Tony award-winning play addressing the unresolved question of why Heisenberg, working in physics in Nazi Germany, visited half-Jewish Bohr in occupied Denmark. Was it to revive their old friendship, or find out information about the Allied atomic bomb, or to brag about the German program? An intensely intellectual drama that is sure to make you think. Relativity: The Special and the General Theory It's relativity. And it's understandable. And it's by Einstein. 'Nuff said. Home | Personal | Fun Physics | Marvelous Math | Other Stuff |