[jriordan]

What do you think is the best way to learn of these things, i.e. physics fundamentals and all in the modern state of knowledge?

I ask from the perspective of a B.S. Physics cum computer software person... which, I think, might not be too far removed from the perspectives of most HN peeps...

[TTPrograms]

Understanding current thought in the field for me is based on skimming many academic papers. That's kind of different, though.

Getting a solid understanding of the fundamentals of the various fields is more of a coursework sort of thing. There's a bunch of quantum lectures on MIT's open courseware - anything Allen Adams will be great. If you're a book kind of person I believe I enjoyed Shankar but it's been a while.