where to begin as a wannabe physicist?

Hi-so, I'm thinking that the educational system here in the USA is not good..compromised..information withheld..etc..if I wanted to study physics, real physics, where would I start? any suggestions appreciated..books, classes, etc..
thanks

There are two books I'd suggest to you that will either excite you to the wide wonder of physics or turn you off of it; either way you win. The first is ...... and I can't recall the author..... The Dancing Masters of Wu Li. Wu Li is a chinese phrase that means a variety of things depending upon its context.... it can mean beauty, physics, patterns of organic energy. Excellent book IMO.

After that..... you might ease into another: Fearful Symmetry, by A. Zee. By then you might sense your specific direction, the thing that really excites your mind.

OR, you may call me a [ugly invective]. ha Good luck!

I've always found the following two texts by the Nobel-prize winning physicist Gerard 't Hooft (for work on gauge theories) very instructive: How to become a good theoretical physicist and How to become a bad theoretical physicist. You could also try reading some physics textbooks, a list of which can be found here.

However, the best idea would in my opinion be to enroll in a good university and major in physics or mathematics.

M recomendation would be the book that i am currently reading called:- The Road To Reality by Roger Penrose.
It gives you a broad introductary on the related fields and how the play a part in physics aswell as some physics in its own right.
The only bad thing from someone just starting in this area properly (i am in similar situation to yourself) is that it is quite a daunting book to look at being over 1000 pages long.

Another thing i would reccomend is to get a torrent downloader (i use azureus vuze) hit up a torrent site like btjunkie (its the one i use anyway) and type in the search box - Physics.pdf and just see what comes out.
Another good thing for general information on diferent things is to just type in the search box - .pdf and see what comes out because there is a lot of interesting material on there from a wide range of subjects.
Just be carefull to not let the rubbish ones you will inevitably download dis-courage you from continuing to search through the torrents.

Hope this helps.

[edit on 29/6/2008 by smokey101]