Very often, my future research students ask me what they should be reading during the summer vacation, just before they start working with me. I often have a reference or two to give them – a review article, maybe, or perhaps an advanced textbook. I tend to tell them to get on with that and come back if they need some more. Usually, they don’t. But it is nice they asked, and superb if they do come back for more, of course, before the term starts.
The truth, however, is that it is very hard to get on with the research literature in a new field when you have little or no previous research experience and you are not receiving regular advice. Quite often, having a good proper rest during the summer months is more valuable than any amount of such preparatory reading. At least, that is certainly the case for prospective PhD students, as this may be the last “proper” summer they have in their lives!
On the other hand, there are three books that I encourage all my research students should read before they start. They are not textbooks, and will not give any technical information required to make headway in a particular research problem. They are easy and pleasurable to read. Yet if you are going to be come a researcher in Physics they will, in their three different ways, help you prepare for that new role in a way that no graduate textbook can: they will help to put you in the right frame of mind. You can get on with those Review articles and textbooks after that.
Here is the list:
- “Surely you are joking, Mr Feynmann!”, by Richard P. Feynman (Author) and Ralph Leighton (Editor). Reading this will make you feel even better about being (or becoming) a physicist, because physicists have such good fun! Feynmann was an example to follow for his humanity, his joie de vivre, and that way of thinking that was as sharp as it was uncomplicated, all of which comes across wonderfully in this book.
- “The Beautiful Invisible”, by Giovanni Vignale, offers a deeper reflection into the meaning, purpose and modus operandi of Theoretical Physics. It will teach you what it is all about and also that, in the words of one reviewer (Carlos Lourenço, writing for CERN Courier) “no one should think that physicists are any less imaginative than novelists or poets”.
- Finally, “Plastic Fantastic”, by Eugenie Reich will teach you that all-important lesson: not to try too hard to please your supervisor!
These are my reasons for choosing those three books. If you want to know what they are actually about, follow the links above to their publishers’ websites.
Enjoy!