Good Physics Books For a Math PhD Student?

An anonymous reader writes "As a third-year PhD math student, I am currently taking Partial Differential Equations. I'm working hard to understand all the math being thrown at us in that class, and that is okay. The problem is, I have never taken any physics anywhere. Most of the problems in PDEs model some sort of physical situation. It would be nice to be able to have in the back of my mind where this is all coming from. We constantly hear about the heat equation, wave equation, gravitational potential, etc. I'm told I should not worry about what the equations describe and just learn how to work with them, but I would rather not follow that advice. Can anyone recommend physics books for someone in my position? I don't want to just pick up a book for undergrads. Perhaps there are things out there geared towards mathematicians?"

I'm gunna say this once..

[QuantumG]

Get back to writing your thesis.

Slacker.

Re:I'm gunna say this once..

[Anonymous Coward]

I'd rather not follow that advice.

What?

[locokamil]

Why are you taking partial differential equations as a graduate student?

Re:Man...

[JeanBaptiste]

No, I'm in the exact opposite situation. I don't know anything about PhD level math _or_ physics.

Re:What?

[ari_j]

Because his undergraduate degree is a B.A. in Political Science.

Enter the Physics vs. Math Holy War.

[ebbomega]

I love watching this one happen.

It's funny because no matter what, the only thing a physicist and a mathematician has ever been able to agree on is magic mushrooms.

Re:PDEs now?

[Anonymous Coward]

no he didnt

Re:What I want to know is...

[HadouKen24]

Ooh, I like this game.

If you have never taken any psychology classes, you do NOT have a broad education. Period.

If you have never taken any philosophy classes, you do NOT have a broad education. Period.

If you have never taken any accounting classes, you do NOT have a broad education. Period.

This is fun!

Re:road to reality

[kayditty]

you aren't the first person to ever call Roger Penrose a physician, but I think he probably deserves more credit than that. maybe I'm just an optimist.

Re:I'm gunna say this once..

[martin-boundary]

I'd rather not follow that advice.

That proves it! Only a PhD student would say that.

Re:3rd year PhD student taking PDE?

[MPolo]

This kind of reminds me of the comments I got from Business Calculus students when I was carrying around my graduate Algebra book, which was appropriately titled "Algebra". "Oh, Algebra! I had that in High School. It's not so hard..." If only they knew what was inside that bright lemon-yellow cover...

Re:3rd year PhD student taking PDE?

[TheRaven64]

A conversation I overheard the other day involved this line:

An algebra? You mean there's more than one?