Hi,
Go to the library, look in the card catalog for the subject you are interested in (depending on your library, you might be able to do this online from home). At this point, you are not looking for any particular book, just the number (Library of Congress, Dewey, or whatever your library uses) that categorizes the subject of interest. Go to the stacks in the area of that number and look at a few books. I usually grab a dozen or so, take them to a table, look at the table of contents and the index, read a few paragraphs (you'll get more out of a well written book than from one that's so dull it'll put you to sleep) and make a note of the ones that look good. Then check those out, one or two at a time, and read through them (or just scan them) at your leisure. It as been my experience that maintaining proficiency is a lot easier than getting it in the first place.
However, for the kinds of things you mentioned, textbooks are about the only viable options. Reference books are usually narrow in scope and do not address the fundamentals (the author rightfully assumes that anyone using a reference book is knowledgeable about the basics). Monographs are usually very advanced and focus tightly on a single topic. And popular science books usually avoid all the technical aspects that you are looking for (there is an adage that each equation in a popular science book halves the sales).
Good luck.
--Pete
Quote:Anyone out there have any ideas of where to start?Different things work for different people, so all I can tell you is what has worked for me.
Go to the library, look in the card catalog for the subject you are interested in (depending on your library, you might be able to do this online from home). At this point, you are not looking for any particular book, just the number (Library of Congress, Dewey, or whatever your library uses) that categorizes the subject of interest. Go to the stacks in the area of that number and look at a few books. I usually grab a dozen or so, take them to a table, look at the table of contents and the index, read a few paragraphs (you'll get more out of a well written book than from one that's so dull it'll put you to sleep) and make a note of the ones that look good. Then check those out, one or two at a time, and read through them (or just scan them) at your leisure. It as been my experience that maintaining proficiency is a lot easier than getting it in the first place.
However, for the kinds of things you mentioned, textbooks are about the only viable options. Reference books are usually narrow in scope and do not address the fundamentals (the author rightfully assumes that anyone using a reference book is knowledgeable about the basics). Monographs are usually very advanced and focus tightly on a single topic. And popular science books usually avoid all the technical aspects that you are looking for (there is an adage that each equation in a popular science book halves the sales).
Good luck.
--Pete
How big was the aquarium in Noah's ark?