What Are Good Starter Books for Aspiring Astronomers and Physics Enthusiasts?

[MaddenDude]

I just started physics and I'm already very much interested in astronomy. What are some good books to read for an amateur?

Ive read the Universe in a Nutshell, I liked it but it felt too brief. Thats about it.

 

[Cyrus]

Cosmos by Carl Sagan. (I just watched the movie series though.)

 

[Integral]

Schrodinger's Kittens and the Search for Reality and In Search of Schrodingers Cat By John Gribbon.

 

[tribdog]

Black Holes and Time Warps by Kip S. Thorne is the best book ever written if you are a smart person just beginning to become interested in physics.
Right now I'm reading The Fabric of the Cosmos by Brian Greene and I'm really enjoying it, but it makes my head hurt trying to understand some of it. No it's not understanding it that makes my head hurt, it's the trying to think about what he's saying and really thinking about what it means and where it leads.

 

[tribdog]

also "The Universe in a Nutshell" sucked. if you liked it you'll love the ones already mentioned.
Gribbins books are good, but he really whips them out. You'll quickly grow out of them, probably before you read them all.

 

[chroot]

The Feynman Lectures.

- Warren

 

[Bladibla]

Seriously? I can't understand 90% of what Feynman is talking about in his books. It isn't my recommendation for beginners.

Rather:

Books by John Gribben are a good bet
Partially to astronomy, Galileos finger

 

[chroot]

Well, in my opinion, the best books for beginners are the ones the colleges use for their freshmen: Halliday and Resnick's "Foundations of Physics", Fix's "Astronomy" and the rest.

If you don't want to learn physics, but would prefer to simply read about physics, then Gribbin, et al. are fine.

- Warren

 

[ComputerGeek]

Black Holes and Time Warps by Kip S. Thorne is the best book ever written if you are a smart person just beginning to become interested in physics.
Right now I'm reading The Fabric of the Cosmos by Brian Greene and I'm really enjoying it, but it makes my head hurt trying to understand some of it. No it's not understanding it that makes my head hurt, it's the trying to think about what he's saying and really thinking about what it means and where it leads.

I read that book my junior year of HS... it was a fantastic way to ignore class :-)

 

[Bladibla]

Well, in my opinion, the best books for beginners are the ones the colleges use for their freshmen: Halliday and Resnick's "Foundations of Physics", Fix's "Astronomy" and the rest.

If you don't want to learn physics, but would prefer to simply read about physics, then Gribbin, et al. are fine.

- Warren

Is a freshman a amateur?

 

[chroot]

Is a freshman a amateur?

In this context, in my opinion, an amateur is someone who has not yet learned much physics and desires to learn more. A freshman is essentially the same sort of person.

Given that the reader never declared his future intentions -- either to become a physicist, or to learn what physicists know, or simply to pick up a few fun facts in some readable books -- we can only guess whether he's looking for Gribbin or Halliday and Resnick.

I'd say anyone who is really interested in physics would make better use of his/her time with Halliday and Resnick than with Gribbin.

- Warren

 

[MaddenDude]

Thanks everyone, as soon as I finish the Da Vinci Code I'll start reading some of these books.