Does anyone here have a recommended reading list for science books? The Internet is great for researching ideas or getting an overview, but nothing beats a book. I’d be interested in the any books about the Big Bang, Quantum Mechanics, Quantum Gravity, General Relativity (one that includes the math), 4-dimensional math or whatever anyone can suggest.
Books I’ve already read (no particular order)
1) Gribbin’s “In Search of “ series – I liked the historical perspective of his books
2) Faster Than Light / Magueijo – easy to understand for the non-physicist.
3) Space-Time Physics / Taylor – Wheeler – Great book. Really enjoyed the math.
4) What is Quantum Mechanics? / Transnational College of LEX – Great book. First book I’ve read that used the math to explain QM. Also, used the historical perspective.
5) Dancing Wu Li Masters / Zukav Did not enjoy. Tried to hard to relate eastern Philosophy with Physics. In my opinion, did not succeed..
6) The Tao of Physics / Capra - see #5
7) A number of standard physics text books including Resnick/Halliday.
I include the books I’ve read so you have an idea what books interest me.
Thanks in advance

No particular order:

Bad Astronomy: by the BA himself

Brief History of Time, The Universe in a Nutshell: Stephen Hawking

Life in Space: Live magazine (it's a Coffee Table type book that covers the Space program up to the space shuttle--got it in the mid 80's)

The next two push the envelope and are aimed at realistic science fiction:

Indestinguishable From Magic: Robert Forward

The Borderlands of Science: Charles Sheffeild

These are just the more "current" ones laying around in eyeshot (I collect old books/textbooks--don't have many 'cause I just get as they catch my eye in secondhand shops...)

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"Light thinks it travels faster than anything but it is wrong. No matter how fast light travels it finds the darkness has always got there first, and is waiting for it." — Terry Pratchett, Reaper Man

441!!!! :)

Any book by Feynman should be included. Several come to mind

The Character of Physical Law. These are based on several popular lectures he gave at Cornell in the early 60's

QED, gives a description of quantum electrodynamics, the work that won him the Nobel

Six Easy Pieces and Six Not-so Easy Pieces. Get these on CD. They're recordings of Feynman lecturing. Great stuff.

Finally there's the three volume Feynman Lectures on Physics. The transcripts of the intro physics course he gave at Caltech.

What a great topic!

I really enjoyed the following books:

What if the Moon Didn't Exist?: Neil Comins --> fun book

Rare Earth: Ward & Brownlee

About Time: Paul Davies

Starlight Nights: Leslie Peltier --> A classic and one of my all time favorites

The Stars and their Spectra: James Kaler



I also have about 40 antique astronomy books. My three favorites are:

Other Worlds than Ours: Richard Anthony Proctor

Astronomy with an Opera Glass: Garrett P. Serviss

Popular Astronomy: Simon Newcomb

Its hard to find more poetic science writing than what is found in these old books.


While not an astronomy book I've always felt that Charles Darwin's "The Origin of Species" is absolutely the most brilliant piece of science writing ever written. One of the best recent books I've read that documents evidence for evolution has to be "The Beak of the Finch" by Jonathon Weiner.

Some of my favorite recent books:

The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene (recommended by many)
Three Roads to Quantum Gravity by Lee Smolin
Hyperspace by Michio Kaku

A fun insight into the life of Feynman:
What Do You Care What Other People Think? by Richard Feynman

A collection of almost a hundred lectures, letters and even poetry:
The World Treasury of Physics, Astronomy, and Mathematics edited by Timothy Ferris

Although he is known for his science fiction, the majority of Isaac Asimov's books are nonfiction and many are basic overviews of branches of science for the layman. I enjoy his books even when I know most of the subject covered. They are well written and easy to follow.

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Any day you wake up on "the right side of the dirt" is a good day.

T. Anderson

If you like cosmology told from a historical perspective, try these two books, whose authors interview some of the leading figures:

1. The Red Limit by Timothy Ferris--current through the mid-1970s.

2. The Universe at Midnight by Ken Croswell--extremely up-to-date, even mentions the WMAP satellite.