Physics: where to start?

Hi /sci/,

I'm a math nerd but of late have become exasperated with how little my field seems to apply to reality.  Plus what I've seen and heard about theoretical physics (NOVA specials lol) is interesting as fuck.

My background is limited: 2 semesters of shitty "general physics" (collegiate plug and chug) and I've read Einstein's "Relativity: The Special & General Theory". 

So my question is, where do I start?  Are there any good, comprehensive sources for actually learning physics?  Any books suitable for self-study (if this is even possible) but still hard science?  I want to learn more about a lot of this stuff - QM, E&M, astrophysics, classical mechanics - but I don't want a Stephen Hawking-esque "Oh lol I understand physics" feeling, I want to understand the motivation for the theory and how and why the experimental data supports it.  I feel like an emphasis on the math would be helpful for me, too.

So yeah, if anyone can help a brother out, I'd appreciate it.  Thanks in advance.

>>12
>>10 here.  Funny thing, I actually own Gasiorowicz QM and Hecht Optics as well.  The problem with Gasiorowicz is that it's too small, so you have to go online for a low of the stuff.  I thought the book was OK (could be better), but it's not very popular among other people I know.

Hecht is a pretty good book, especially for geometrical optics.  However, I wish it treated Fourier optics with more detail.  It gives good explanations, but few if any examples of fourier optics calculations.  Also, I think it might have the best cover design of any textbook I've seen.