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I Have a Confession

Who am I really fooling? My peers who look up to me, or myself? Yes, I am capable of holding the highly intellectual discussions I am quite known for. That is what's saddening. The fact that, I can do that, yet I do terrible at school. No one should look up to me. I'm a failure. What did I do this past two years? Nothing but slack off. I slacked off horribly. I never did my homework. I never had an F in a class before. Sure, my year-to-date for that class ended up being a B, but how is a 3.4 GPA close to being spectacular? All because I didn't try. I was lazy. I used to hold a 3.8GPA without trying, and with some effort, I'd have pulled a 4.0. I don't know what happened after 9th grade. It feels even worse when everyone expects me to be the one person they are sure has straight A's.But what hurts the most is not the fact I disappointed them, but the fact that I disappointed myself.

And what? I expect to get into Princeton with an 1820 SAT Super score and a 3.4 GPA? The cake isn't exactly a lie—it exists, but I will never reach it. Not at this point. At one point, I probably could have. But now, all my hopes and dreams have been shattered. The only thing that could prevent me from falling through the ice is a few technical papers on four theories I have developed. These theories are not child's play, and as such, are my last chance. My entire future depends on me getting into a good college. If I don't... I'm ruined. And with this in mind, I still goofed. With this in mind, I'm sitting here typing this up instead of studying for the SAT Subject Tests on Math II and Physics that I'm not fully prepared for. I should be fine on for the Math II, but I'm screwed for the Physics.

But still... my entire future depends on these few papers I write. Even if my theories are wrong, Princeton would recognize my effort, and hopefully let me in. My entire future depends on it. If not, I don't know what I'm going to do with my life. Any less and I'm not qualified enough for credibility. Princeton is #1 in Cosmology and #3 in Topology (or the other way around). There is nothing better to balance the two desired majors.

How is that for Chaos Theory? Write these papers well, and I save my arse. Don't, and my entire future is shattered. All down to this one small thing I can't even guarantee will save my arse...

Oh woe; why hath I brought this burden unto myself? Why dost thou not realize I am not as respectable as thoust respects me? Oh woe; I can do very many things; however, poor organization and procrastination be the bane of my existence.

What have I done? What have I done? What have I done...
*crumples into a heap*
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atenra11
And if you're gearing for Cosmology and Princeton....



I would say you should be married to browsing the following books



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Cosmology

---------------

1 JV Narlikar - Introduction to Cosmology

[Considered THE introductory textbook - you need a solid background in physics and math]



2 Kolb and Turner - The Early Universe

[a standard reference]]



3 Peebles - Principles of Physical Cosmology

[comprehensive]



4 Peebles - The large-scale structure of the universe



5 William Kaufmann - Black Holes and Warped Spacetime



6 MV Berry - Principles of Cosmology and Gravitation



7 Dennis Overbye - Lonely Hearts of the Cosmos



8 Joseph Silk - The big bang

[a must for the basics of big bang cosmology]



9 James Cornell - Bubbles, voids, and bumps in time: the new cosmology



10 Padmanabhan - Structure formation in the universe



11 Krasinski - Inhomogeneous Cosmological Models



12 Weinberg - First Three Minutes - pop science



13 Timothy Ferris - Coming of Age in the Milky Way and The Whole Shebang - pop science



14 Alan Lightman - Origins: The lives and worlds of modern cosmologists

[interviews on people with their cosmological theories]



Astronomy

--------------

Frank Shu - The Physical Universe: An Introduction to Astronomy



Mechanics

---------------

1 Halliday and Resnick - Physics [first year physics]

2 Introduction to Mechanics - Kleppner and Kolenkow - 1973

2 Symon - Mechanics - 1971



Electromagnetism

-------------------------

1 Purcell - Berkeley Physics Series Volume 2

2 Griffiths - Introduction to Electromagnetism

3 Reitz Milford Christy - Foundations of Electromagnetic Theory

4 Lorrain and Corson - Electromagetism, Princes and Applications



Quantum

-------------

1 Liboff - Introductory Quantum Mechanics

2 Griffiths - Introduction to Quantum Mechanics

3 Eisberg and Resnick - Quantum Physics of Atoms, Molecules, Solids, Nuclei, and Particles



----------



Math

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a. Take Calculus I II III IV - right to Vector Calculus

b. Take one textbook of Differential Equations



All the hard stuff is accomplished.



You wanna get to Mathematical Physics Standard?



a. One textbook on Analysis [suitable for 2 classes - after that you can handle Topology or any high end math course rigor]



b. Differential Geometry [Spivak or DeCarmo usually] - Think of this as Vector Calculus II



That will set you up for Tensor Calculus, Relativity, Bending of things with Space Time....



--------



care about the books, not the teachers, not the exams, not the schools....the real learning is in the books, and your real references for decades will be those books. for fun and browsing or for sheer uh strain..



Do every chapter, do every problem in a chapter, if you hit a roadblock just apply more hours into the chapter. Merely master one chapter at a time [deeply!] , rather than thinking about finals and midterms and exams.