My lecture notes are now all grown up and available as a series of books, published by Cambridge University Press. You may wonder why you should buy the books when the lecture notes are freely available. It's a good question. And it has good answers:
- The books have loads more content.
- And better explanations.
- I now spell "Schwarzschild" correctly.
- I convinced the publisher to sell the paperbacks at half the price of most other textbooks.
- They smell nice.
Click on the books below to go to the individual pages, with tables of contents, exercises, and errata.
Don't just take my word for it...
"David Tong's lecture notes are the backbone of our society"
Finite Physicist, Twitter
“This is theoretical physics “done right”. The author’s love of the subject and its history, as well as its results, shines through.”
Frank Wilczek, Nobel Laureate, MIT
“This is a wonderful set of textbooks. A dynamic and engaging introduction to theoretical physics with a very modern emphasis.”
Juan Maldacena, Institute for Advanced Study
“These books are an invaluable gift to physics students of all ages. It's probably impossible for a series of books to cover everything a physicist needs to know, but this is as close as you're going to get. All explained with David Tong's characteristic clarity and verve. I can't recommend them highly enough.".”
Sean Carroll, Johns Hopkins University
These volumes are brilliant gems, lovingly crafted in language that sparkles and enlightens. Moreover, the cross-referencing of topics as well as the prefiguring of advanced concepts allows students to appreciate the unity of theoretical physics in a way no individual textbook could. For the rest of us, the books rekindle the zing we felt when we first encountered these subjects."
Rajesh Gopakumar, Director, ICTS, Bangalore
“David Tong is one of those physicists who comes along only rarely. He unrelentingly dives into all fields of physics, recognizing the often-underappreciated unity of the body of knowledge that exists. He is a master of technical detail along with the essential underlying physical principles. In this series he covers much of the undergraduate and graduate curriculum with clarity and humor, and I often find myself looking up his books or using his efforts to teach better myself.”
Lisa Randall, Harvard
“David Tong’s series brilliantly combines deep physical understanding with masterful teaching.”
Nathan Seiberg, Institute for Advanced Study
“The books in this Lecture Series are destined to become classics, I suspect, and be immensely popular among students and researchers alike.”
Sandip Trivedi, Director Emeritus TIFR
My textbooks picked up some prizes. They won a TAA Textbook Excellence Award, and were a finalist (which means I didn't actually win!) for a PROSE Award.
