Book Suggestions

[Ewen]

I've been reading various different books on various subjects but I'm after some suggestions of books that can offer introductions to Astronomy, Cosmology and the physics of those and related fields.

 

Basically what books would you suggest a beginner to read and why?

 

Amazon awaits a few orders!

[greentea]

I am currently (which includes a long period) struggling with Roger Penrose's 'The Road to Reality'. It is not exactly beginner, but is definitely worth having in mind (maybe for the future). Starts from basics and gets into the most elaborate current theories, building all the physics and math on the way. The author claims that you can skip the equations and still have pleasure in it, but I doubt it. The math is quite deep and fundamental.

[SquareHiccup]

Both of Brian Green's books are excellent for beginners. I just finnished his newest one.

 

p.s. I Am having trouble with the link in firefox. Go to amazon.com and search for brian green.

[Icheb]

Both of Brian Green's books are excellent for beginners. I just finnished his newest one.

 

p.s. I Am having trouble with the link in firefox. Go to amazon.com and search for brian green.

It's no problem with the link, it's the fact that you linked to a search result which is not possible with Amazon.

[SquareHiccup]

oh. Well thats dumb.

[atinymonkey]

Fortheloveofjebus. If at first you don't succeed, just give up and call it impossible: -

 

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/index=books&field-author-exact=Brian%20Greene/

[luc]

"The first three minutes" by S. Weinberg. A bit outdated, but a must

[Ewen]

"The first three minutes" by S. Weinberg. A bit outdated, but a must

Thank you I'll deffinately look into that.

[danny8522003]

I liked "Black Holes, Wormholes and Time Machines" by Jim Al-Khalili.

 

It explains everything in a thorough yet light-hearted manner that is easy to understand.

[Inferno]

'The Handy Space Answer Book'. it seems lame, but once you get into it, its really good, especially for a beginner.

[Ollie]

"A Short History Of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson covers pretty much everything very nicely. A great read.

[Anjruu]

"Alpha and Omega, The Search for the Beginning and End of the Universe" by Charles Seife. (His other book, "Zero, the Biography of a Dangerous Idea" is also highly recommended, but it doesn't have much to do with astronomy.)

 

"The Whole Shebang" and "Coming of Age in the Milky Way" both by Timothy Ferris. Both are old, but awesome.

 

And, as ever, Brian Greene's first book, "The Elegant Universe," is pretty sweet. I thought "Fabric of the Cosmos" was more playing off his success of the first book, but it is still a good read.

 

Oh, man, "The Road to Reality" is killer. I couldn't read it, but I'm still in high school, some of the math was over my head. If you can read it its great though.

[capnqwest]

Check out Parallel Worlds by Michio Kaku. He's a great story teller and this book is his best yet. The title almost turned me off at the store but I'm really glad I picked this one up!