Space and Stuff : It's Big

[Root66]

Bought tickets for Brian coxs new tour next year. I really enjoyed his last one.

 

[verreauxi]

Elon Musk's Satellites Now Constantly Falling Out of the Sky

Multiple Starlink satellites from Elon Musk's SpaceX are falling to Earth every single day, an astronomer warns — and counting.

futurism.com

 

[summerisle]

Elon Musk's Satellites Now Constantly Falling Out of the Sky

Multiple Starlink satellites from Elon Musk's SpaceX are falling to Earth every single day, an astronomer warns — and counting.

futurism.com

Time for :

 

[summerisle]

You Fools, They Never Landed On The Moon !

 

[BainesontoastNEW]

Folks, I'm wondering if I could reach out for some advice from people who frequent this thread? Essentially, I'm looking to get into Physics next year. I'd like to know the key sources/theorists right now. I'm already aware of Brian Cox for what it's worth, I find him immeasurably interesting and deserving of his reputation.

A comprehensive reading/listening list through websites, podcasts, etc would be fantastic. Friendly for a beginner would be nice, but I'm not opposed to complex subject matter if it's delivered in a "digestible" manner.

Thank you!

 

[trueblue84]

Folks, I'm wondering if I could reach out for some advice from people who frequent this thread? Essentially, I'm looking to get into Physics next year. I'd like to know the key sources/theorists right now. I'm already aware of Brian Cox for what it's worth, I find him immeasurably interesting and deserving of his reputation.

A comprehensive reading/listening list through websites, podcasts, etc would be fantastic. Friendly for a beginner would be nice, but I'm not opposed to complex subject matter if it's delivered in a "digestible" manner.

Thank you!

Infinite monkey cage podcast can be interesting, even if the bloke with him can be a bit of an annoying gimp.

 

[Rita_Poon]

Folks, I'm wondering if I could reach out for some advice from people who frequent this thread? Essentially, I'm looking to get into Physics next year. I'd like to know the key sources/theorists right now. I'm already aware of Brian Cox for what it's worth, I find him immeasurably interesting and deserving of his reputation.

A comprehensive reading/listening list through websites, podcasts, etc would be fantastic. Friendly for a beginner would be nice, but I'm not opposed to complex subject matter if it's delivered in a "digestible" manner.

Thank you!

 

[Rita_Poon]

Folks, I'm wondering if I could reach out for some advice from people who frequent this thread? Essentially, I'm looking to get into Physics next year. I'd like to know the key sources/theorists right now. I'm already aware of Brian Cox for what it's worth, I find him immeasurably interesting and deserving of his reputation.

A comprehensive reading/listening list through websites, podcasts, etc would be fantastic. Friendly for a beginner would be nice, but I'm not opposed to complex subject matter if it's delivered in a "digestible" manner.

Thank you!

Are you in the UK? I'd suggest finding an evening class to get basic maths and intro to physics up and running before you make the next steps.

 

[Dyno]

Folks, I'm wondering if I could reach out for some advice from people who frequent this thread? Essentially, I'm looking to get into Physics next year. I'd like to know the key sources/theorists right now. I'm already aware of Brian Cox for what it's worth, I find him immeasurably interesting and deserving of his reputation.

A comprehensive reading/listening list through websites, podcasts, etc would be fantastic. Friendly for a beginner would be nice, but I'm not opposed to complex subject matter if it's delivered in a "digestible" manner.

Thank you!

You can start with https://www.youtube.com/@StarTalk with Neil de Grasse Tyson, very accessible, Coxie is a regularish guest - it's a good podcast but expect to have to pause and dive off to look up some terms elsewehere

 

[BainesontoastNEW]

Are you in the UK? I'd suggest finding an evening class to get basic maths and intro to physics up and running before you make the next steps.

Based in the NW, yeah. Would I still need a Maths class if I got a good grade at high school? How long is the grade relevant for? I left in 06.

 

[Rita_Poon]

Based in the NW, yeah. Would I still need a Maths class if I got a good grade at high school? How long is the grade relevant for? I left in 06.

Anything you don't use fairly regularly will atrophy. It's not a hard and fast rule, but there tends to be a belief that the stronger and more in depth your maths is, the easier you'll grasp the physics because there is significant overlap. If you can, maybe look into getting a refresher in both, 06 is nearly two decades ago. Why the sudden interest? You fancy one of those Rolls Royce small reactor jobs over on Anglesey?

 

[BainesontoastNEW]

Anything you don't use fairly regularly will atrophy. It's not a hard and fast rule, but there tends to be a belief that the stronger and more in depth your maths is, the easier you'll grasp the physics because there is significant overlap. If you can, maybe look into getting a refresher in both, 06 is nearly two decades ago. Why the sudden interest? You fancy one of those Rolls Royce small reactor jobs over on Anglesey?

Well, it's not sudden, it's been a field I've wanted to fathom for 4/5 years. It never really caught my heart back in High School/College/Uni, maybe I wasn't quite "ready"?

I'm not planning a career change or anything drastic like that. I'll just be embracing the field during my free time. Some men buy cars, some even watches, I want to challenge my very existence!

 

[slipstream86]

Folks, I'm wondering if I could reach out for some advice from people who frequent this thread? Essentially, I'm looking to get into Physics next year. I'd like to know the key sources/theorists right now. I'm already aware of Brian Cox for what it's worth, I find him immeasurably interesting and deserving of his reputation.

A comprehensive reading/listening list through websites, podcasts, etc would be fantastic. Friendly for a beginner would be nice, but I'm not opposed to complex subject matter if it's delivered in a "digestible" manner.

Thank you!

What I always found interesting about learning physics in school and 6th form wasn't necessarily "what" a particular principle was, but the how and the why we came to know it....The historical context made learning things easier and more enjoyable for me. A good read for this is Bill Brysons Short History of Nearly Everything (Very much written for the non scientist)

As mentioned, if you want to go further than some podcasts with Brian Cox or Neil Degrasse Tyson, I'd definitely revisit some mathematics first....It's the language that physics is written in....That way you're tooled up with a chance to make some sense of the key pillars pillars of the subject....Classical physics, relativity, and quantum mechanics.

 

[Gwladys St. Glory]

Folks, I'm wondering if I could reach out for some advice from people who frequent this thread? Essentially, I'm looking to get into Physics next year. I'd like to know the key sources/theorists right now. I'm already aware of Brian Cox for what it's worth, I find him immeasurably interesting and deserving of his reputation.

A comprehensive reading/listening list through websites, podcasts, etc would be fantastic. Friendly for a beginner would be nice, but I'm not opposed to complex subject matter if it's delivered in a "digestible" manner.

Thank you!

Neil deGrasse Tyson is interesting in his own way and he makes a concerted effort to make things digestible, although the comedian sidekick on his StarTalk podcast is a bit much for my liking. Richard Feynman's (deceased) written works, Brian Greene (alive)...as you mentioned, Cox is a modern standout. If you want German seriousness with accompanying German humour try Sabine Hossenfelder, she's all over YouTube. Also, for a read try 'The Theoretical Minimum' by Leonard Susskin. I can't tell you everything, otherwise I'd deprive your curious mind of exploration and discovery and that's half the fun.

 

[DualityNSNO]

Folks, I'm wondering if I could reach out for some advice from people who frequent this thread? Essentially, I'm looking to get into Physics next year. I'd like to know the key sources/theorists right now. I'm already aware of Brian Cox for what it's worth, I find him immeasurably interesting and deserving of his reputation.

A comprehensive reading/listening list through websites, podcasts, etc would be fantastic. Friendly for a beginner would be nice, but I'm not opposed to complex subject matter if it's delivered in a "digestible" manner.

Thank you!

First off, welcome to the world of endless knowledge

Some good "entryway" books to concepts explained in human-readable ways are books like things like "How to teach quantum physics to your dog" (apparently, Orzel's other book too, but I've not read it so can't recommend personally), even though it's focused quite a lot on the quantum obviously, and Hawking's classics - "The Theory of Everything" and "The Universe in a Nutshell" are good starting points, and "A Brief History of Time" is the classic but more complex as you put it so I suggest starting with the other two before tackling it.

Bill Bryson's "A Short History of Nearly Everything" is also great and very easily digestible but tackles more, not solely physics.

Feynman's lecture-collection "The Character of Physical law" (in pdf here) is more scientific I suppose, but it's not a textbook, more of an explanation of some things, similar to how Cox does his lectures nowadays.

You can obviously build upon that with more academic or singular-theory-focused things later on, but those are off the top of my head. I think most of those are available as audiobooks too if that's your thing, but I found it too distracting as it doesn't "let" me visualise/conceptualise as well as it does when I read things, but that's a me-problem.

@Gwladys St. Glory 's suggestions are also good, even though I dislike Neil deGrasse Tyson personally, he's good enough and a great expert in astrophysics and nothing else.

Also brush up on any and all maths if you intend to understand things going forward

If all else fails, just go for the classic "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" and you'll do well enough