[FRIAM] two books (perhaps a bit more)

[lrudolph at meganet.net]

You might also enjoy his "The Nature of the Chemical Bond".  I acquired my
copy an age or two ago from The Library of Science (remember that???) but
only dipped into to it for the first time about 3 years ago.  The book's
contribution to the lucidity of my interaction it far exceeded mine,
unfortunately (I'm a mathematician who never took a course in physics, or
any lab science, after a disastrously poor high school course--although I
still managed somehow to learn, only one age ago, about the Legendre
polynomial/spherical harmonic relationship, not that I've ever had
occasion to make any use of it in my own work!), but even so I came away
with some curiosities satisfied, and I'm sure your experience would be
much better.

> Thanks for the recommendation. Sarah had
> bought a copy of Pauling's 'Introduction to
> Quantum Mechanics' and it had sat at my
> periphery until the other night when I read
> your post. In one of those few moments of
> invincible lucidity, I managed to read the
> first 120 pages, deeply satisfying many of
> my curiosities. Pauling's exposition was
> surprisingly clear, though I must mention
> that he also does not mention the direct
> connection between Legendre polynomials
> and spherical harmonics (thanks wiki!).