Book recommendations

[repoman0]

I need a decent astrophysics / astronomy book to read. Nothing like a textbook, I get that enough from school - just interesting and descriptive though it doesn't have to be entirely non-technical. I've read a couple things by Feynman, Brian Greene, Hawking, etc for the average non-technical person and enjoyed them, but sometimes wished they expanded a bit on theory.

Any suggestions?

 

[Sunny129]

1) Black Holes and Time Warps by Kip Thorne
2) Magnificent Universe by Ken Croswell
3) Cosmological Enigmas: Pulsars, Quasars, and Other Deep-Space Questions by Mark Kidger
4) The Quest For SS433 by David H. Clark
5) Flash!: The Hunt for the Biggest Explosions in the Universe by Govert Schilling
6) The Black Hole at the Center of Our Galaxy by Fulvio Melia
7) The Supernova Story by Laurence Marschall
8) Extreme Stars: At the Edge of Creation by James B Kaler

this list should get you started. it covers a range of astrophysical phenomena, and does so at an intermediate level (not necessarily for the layman, but not necessarily for the grad student, post doc, etc. either). all the titles are linked to amazon.com so you can read the book descriptions and see reader feedback. hope that helps...

Eric

 

[repoman0]

I went with The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Rhodes for now, but a lot of those look really cool. Thanks for the suggestions! I will definitely look into them after I finish this.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Lets not forget the classics, Understanding Physics by Asimov.

 

[Puppies04]

Have you read a short history of nearly everything by bill bryson? Pretty basic but i still found it a good read.

 

[Sunny129]

i forgot to mention Carl Sagan's Cosmos in the above list.


this is the book that started it all for me. if it weren't for reading this book first, i wouldn't have the hundreds of books about astronomy, astrophysics, theoretical physics, relativity, quantum theory, etc. that i do now.

 

[DirkGently1]

The Edge Of Physics. A tour of the worlds facilities where cutting edge science has, or is, being done. From CERN to the Chilean Andes, Antarctic Station to a frozen, Russian lake. It's a great read!

http://www.amazon.com/Edge-Physics-J...0578158&sr=8-1