Course of Theoretical Physics
Course of Theoretical Physics by Landau and Lifshitzby Landau and Lifshitz
Ranked 2 of 13 physics textbooks by recommenders
Recommended as a rigorous, concise series covering all of theoretical physics, though it is demanding and terse.
Recommended as a rigorous, concise series covering all of theoretical physics, though it is demanding and terse.
9 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 8
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 89%
Recommended in 6 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 8 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 8 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 6 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Very challenging and terse
“the problems are quite challenging and the text is relatively terse”
Comment from 14 Jan 2026 in “Ask HN: Quantum Computation, Computers and Programming” “Note that Landau is extremely difficult.”
Comment from 3 Jan 2026 in “Ask HN: Expository/Succinct Books on Modern Physics”
Other physics textbooks people recommend
The four most recommended other physics textbooks, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Feynman Lectures on Physicsby Feynman, Leighton and Sands | 34 | 3 | 92% | 10 | — | Approved |
| Course of Theoretical Physicsby Landau and LifshitzThis page | 8 | 1 | 89% | 6 | — | — |
| Computational Physics (2nd Edition)by Giordano and Nakanishi | 7 | 1 | 88% | 1 | — | — |
| General Relativityby Robert Wald | 6 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
| Engineering Thermodynamics | 6 | 0 | 100% | 1 | — | — |
What people said
6 of the 9 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“It's only to check you didn't miss any important formula or topic.”
“world-class (and extremely challenging, volume 1 on mechanics assumed mastery of the calculus of variations)”
“the problems are quite challenging and the text is relatively terse”
“it’s not a good educational resource by modern standards and pretty dated”
“Note that Landau is extremely difficult.”
“pair the Feynman lecture notes with the much more dry Landau textbooks”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.