Popular Science/Astronomy Summer Reading List
Hello!
Hope your summers have started off well. And congratulations (!!!) to all the seniors who graduated and are moving on to the next phase in their lives. Good luck to you all.
A few students requested a list of popular science astronomy books. I emailed my department and a few friends, and below are their recommendations. It’s not an exhaustive list, but a good start. Enjoy!
And of course, the New York Times as well as other newspapers have a science section that’s always fun and interesting to read.
Just Six Numbers, Martin Rees.
The six fundemental numbers that govern the size and shape of our universe – and what would the effects be if they were different?
Fairly popular level, meant for general consumption
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0465036724/104-3623999-5836707?v=glance&n=283155
“The Inflationary Universe” Alan H. Guth 1997, Inflation, physics/astronomy buffs, Moderately easy.
It’s autobiographical, historical and technical. A really good medium-tech explanation of inflation and the history of its discovery. After reading this, I decided Alan Guth was one of the nicest and smartest people in the universe.
“The Whole Shebang” Timothy Ferris 1996, cosmology survey, General Public, Easy.
Very well-written for the audience. Unfortunately, it predates the discovery of accelerated expansion.
“How the Universe Got Its Spots” Janna Levin 2002, Cosmology-Topology/Autobiography, Physics/Astronomy buffs, moderately easy.
Thought-provoking and touching: Topology and our universe as well as the difficulty of relationships in the post-doc universe.
“Einstein’s Dreams” Alan Lightman 1994, relativity fantasies, General Public, Easy.
Totally non-technical. Charming and thought-provoking on several levels, one of which is relativity. BTW: This is the same Lightman of the “Rybicki & Lightman” radiative processes text.
Here’s probably my favorite astronomy book, though. Old, but very well written:
The Physical Universe, an Intro to Astronomy, Frank Shu, general
astronomy, fairly advanced.
These are must reads for any enthusiast (especially a novice enthusiast)
The Tao of Physics, Fritjof Capra, physics/mysticism: “an exploration of the parallels between modern physics and eastern mysticism”, general public
The Dancing Wu Li Masters, Gary Zukav, physics/mysticism: “an overview of the new physics”, also provides links between physics and mysticism, general public
The Theory of Everything, Stephen Hawking, cosmology: “the origin and fate of the universe” from a lecture series, general public
A Brief History of Time, Stephen Hawking, cosmology/physics: universe, black holes, quantum mechanics, time travel, general public
The Holographic Universe, Michael Talbot, theory about the nature of reality and its implications to the connection between mind and body and the world as a whole—fascinating, general public
Here’s a link to that book I was talking to that student about after the final (from professor Haffner):
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0201328402/ref=pd_cp_b_title/102-2662303-0991330?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=283155
But, I haven’t read it myself, so I don’t know the quality. Guth is the inventor of the idea, however. It’s a little old (1998), but that might not matter for a public interest book.
This one looks interesting as well from Rees:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0465036732/ref=pd_sim_b_2/102-2662303-0991330?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=283155
Longitude—Dava Sobel. This book is not about astronomy per se, but about how one of the greatest navigation challengers of 1700s was solved. Short and fun.
Red Mars—Kim Stanley Robinson. This book explores what it would be like to colonize Mars. Extraordinarily detailed and scientifically accurate. If you want to know what it would be like to visit Mars, this is the book to read! The Whole She-Bang— Timothy Ferris. An accessible but detailed introduction to issues in cosmology. A bit dated now (I read it 10 years ago when it first came out), but the explanations were good and the level of detail and science was high.i remember some girl in a bar in ames iowa telling me that she really
liked a book that i think was called “the elegant universe”. maybe by
brian green. (yes, by Brian Greene. He’s an excellent describer of string theory. Highly recommend trying to see him lecture in person someday if possible).
The Extravagant Universe – Robert Kirschner Princeton University Press 2004; A discussion of the discovery of the accelerating universe by one of the participants.
How the Universe Got Its Spots – Janna Levin Anchor Books 2003; String Theory and Topology from a unique perspective. She is explaining it to her mother,
The Elegant Universe – Brian Greene Vintage Books 2003 A book from which the NOVA program was derived, written by an active string theorist.
Our Cosmic Habitat – Martin Rees Princeton University Press 2003; A well known theoretical astrophysicist, Astronomer Royal Sir Martin Rees discuss many of the way out ideas.
The Grip of Gravity – Prabhaker Gondhalekar Cambridge University Press 2001 ; A history of gravitational research, each chapter named for a prominent scientists.
All of these books are intended for the interested layman. All have something to say about inflation, multiple universes, black holes etc. Among the many books that exist of this kind I thought that these were some of the best. If some students are interested in more depth they must first get some background in garden variety cosmology with some equations. I recommendCosmology – Edward Harrison Cambridge University Press 2000; Ted Harrison covers avast range of topics and ideas in a very reaqdable manner despite a few equations.
Big Bang, Simon Singh, The Big Bang, historical background of how we came to
this model and a nice summary of the current understandings, Level =popular. I found this a very good read and may use it as one of the texts for a non-standard course in the near future. It is now out in paperback.
I would suggest the following;
“The First Three Minutes” by Steven Weinberg
The Mr. Tompkins series of paperback books on
relativity and quantum mechanics at a very
elemenatary level.
“Relativity” by A. Einstein—this is also written
for a Sophmore (in high school) according to the
author.
These are oldies but goodies.
Happy summering,
Laura