Notes on Textbooks

In the physical sciences (as with other fields, I assume), there are certain texts that are considered "the classics" in that they tend to be used by the vast majority of students during their studies over multiple generations. It can take a fair amount of Internet searching or exposure to academics to figure out which books are genuine classics, so I am compiling here a tentative list of essential texts for physics and some other other topics. These recommendations are the result of my own studies and experience, recommendations from other academics, and texts used in MIT courses or recommended by students on MIT mailing lists. I will attempt to keep it updated and I have included a few notes of description (again, either from my own experience or conversations with others). Feel free to contact me if you have any additional notes or recommendations.

Electromagnetism

Jackson: Classical Electrodynamics - Treatment of Bessel function not found in most other texts, more comprehensive than Griffiths. The standard reference for classical electrodynamics.

Griffiths: Introduction to Electrodynamics - Solid introduction to electrodynamics. Used in 8.07 at MIT with some references to Jackson.

Schwinger: Classical Electrodynamics and Particles, Sources, and Fields

Quantum Optics

Wolf: Introduction to the Theory of Coherence and Polarization of Light - Brief introduction to some specialized topics.

Goodman: Fourier Optics

Mandel and Wolf: Optical Coherence and Quantum Optics - The "bible" of quantum optics.

Loudon: The Quantum Theory of Light - Offers the basics, but will need extra references for the gritty details

Glauber: Quantum Theory of Optical Coherence

XFELs

Saldin: The Physics of Free Electron Lasers

Philip Willmott: An Introduction to Synchrotron Radiation - Focus on application rather than theory, brief and to-the-point.

Quantum Mechanics

Griffiths: Introduction to Quantum Mechanics - Too brief usually, but everyone starts here.

Landau and Lifshitz: Quantum Mechanics - Non-Relativistic Theory

Quantum Field Theory

Dirac: The Principles of Quantum Mechanics

Peskin and Schroeder: An Introduction to Quantum Field Theory - Standard reference for QFT

Lifshitz: Quantum Electrodynamics

Particle Physics

Griffiths: Introduction to Elementary Particles

Quantum Chemistry

Szabo and Ostlund: Modern Quantum Chemistry - Focused on electronic structure theory
Cramer: Essentials of Computational Chemistry - Explanation and application of common models with case-studies

Jensen: Introduction to Computational Chemistry - Same as Cramer but with more focus on computational details

Craig and Thirunamachandran: Molecular Quantum Electrodynamics

Condensed Matter

Ashcroft and Mermin: Solid State Physics - The go-to reference

Altland and Simons: Condensed Matter Field Theory

Ohring: Materials Science of Thin Films

Superconductivity

Tinkham: Introduction to Superconductivity

Annett: Superconductivity, Superfluids, and Condensates

Mathematics 

Algebra:

Strang: Linear Algebra and Its Applications - Used by 18.06 at MIT

Artin: Algebra - Artin's 18.701 book is more physics-oriented than most algebra books and the chapter on representation theory is just what a physicist needs.

Dummit and Foote: Abstract Algebra

Gallian: Contemporary Abstract Algebra

Lorenzo Sadun: Applied Linear Algebra

Topology

Munkres: Topology

Differential Equations

Evans: Partial Differential Equations
Simmons: Differential Equations with Applications and Historical Notes
Strauss: Partial Differential Equations
Brauer: The Qualitative Theory of Differential Equations

Hirsch: Differential Equations, Dynamical Systems, and an Introduction to Chaos

Analysis

Rudin: Principles of Mathematical Analysis

Apostol: Calculus

Ablowitz and Fokas: Complex Variables - It's a huge book and I've only used it as a reference, but anything you might need involving complex analysis is in here somewhere.

Calculus of Variations

Geland: Calculus of Variations

Forsyth: Calculus of Variations

Mathematics in Physics

(A useful, free online resource: http://www.physics.miami.edu/~nearing/mathmethods/)
Byron and Fuller: Mathematics of Classical and Quantum Physics

Fleisch: Div, Grad, Curl and All That

Schwichtenberg: Physics from Symmetry - A really great book for introducing Lie groups and their applications to a bunch of different fields in physics.
Jeevanjee: Tensors and Group Theory for Physicists
Stillwell: Naive Lie Theory
These would be helpful for 8.033 and anything involving Lie groups, requires only 18.03 as background. They introduce the Lie stuff with a more physical and mathematical bent respectively but are written in a super casual and friendly style. In particular they staunchly avoid any differential geometry, everything here is plain old matrix multiplication.

David Skinner: Mathematical Methods - These are the lecture notes for a sophomore-level course at Cambridge. It's also relatively easy reading, requiring just 18.03; it taught me where all those weird orthogonal polynomials come from and what Green's functions are.
Zee: Group Theory in a Nutshell for Physicists - I really enjoyed Zee; it runs through a ton of group theory with minimal math prerequisites and a super casual style, showing by example. Without a proof anywhere in sight, he manages to get to grand unification in just a few hundred pages.
Schutz: Geometrical Methods of Mathematical Physics
Baez: Gauge Fields, Knots, and Gravity
Kobayashi and Nomizu: Foundations of Differential Geometry
Choquette-Bruhat and Morette: Analysis, Manifolds, and Physics
Arnold: Mathematical Methods of Classical Mechanics - A manifold underpinning of Lagrangian and Hamiltonian mechanics - less of a methods, more of a theory.
Kentaro Hori: Mirror Symmetry - The first half discusses algebraic geometry and toric geometry and I would highly recommend it if you are interested in String theory.