TITLE: Books that teach other subjects, written for a mathematician
QUESTION [124 upvotes]: Say I am a mathematician who doesn't know any chemistry but would like to learn it.  What books should I read?
Or say I want to learn about Einstein's theory of relativity, but I don't even know much basic physics.  What sources should I read?
I am looking for texts that teach subjects that are not mathematics, but I do not want to read through standard high school, undergraduate (and beyond) material.  I am looking for recommendations of sources that teach a scientific theory from a basic level, but not from a basic mathematical level.  Strong preference would be to concise, terse texts that are foundational but totally rigorous.
Not sure if these exist, but I often wish they did.

REPLY [2 votes]: Robin Giles, Mathematical Foundations of Thermodynamics.  From the preface:

This monograph is an attempt to give an account of the foundations of thermodynamics which is more than usually rigorous, not only in its logical structure but also in the "rules of interpretation" in which physical meaning is assigned to the theoretical terms.