Physicists, recommend me a book

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Grrrrr

Soldato
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Whilst i no longer study it i still hold a great interest in physics and am looking for more reading material.

I've recently read Brian Greene's 'The Elegant Universe' and am coming to the end of a book on chaos theory, to give you an idea of the sort of thing i'm looking for. So can any of you physicists recommend anything? My interests lie mostly in quantum theory, general/special relativity, astronomy, astrophysics, string theory, etc - the weird, wonderful and amazing side of the physics world.

Since it will be mostly read in bed and on the bus to work it can't be too maths heavy, although i don't mind putting a bit of thought into it!
 
I was going to say the Feynmann lectures, can't remember how much maths is in there though, probably nothing more difficult than 1st year undergrad.
 
Atkins physical chemistry, mind numbingly difficult to read, but a very good section on thermodynamics :p
 
Well obviously I try to keep a copy of the Feynman (sp?) lectures about just to flick through. Also I think some of the science vs. relgion books are quite good. Have you tried anything like Rev (Prof) Polkinhorne (sp? again). I've got one of his books "Belief in god in an age of science" (I think thats the title). It's quite interesting, the bloke is CoE priest but was a leading physicist (in the area of particle physics) so he tends to argue why relgion and quantum physics aren't at odds with each other. A nice read if you don't want a textbook but want to read something that makes you think.
 
The Life and Death of Planet Earth by Peter D. Ward and Donald Brownlee. They are a couple of astrobiologists who map out the full ~12bn year history (and future) of the planet. Based on solar evolutinon, how life, the biosphere, oceans, atmosphere all evolved and what they ultimate fate will be. The sense of scale in this book is fantastic.

http://www.amazon.com/Life-Death-Planet-Earth-Astrobiology/dp/0805067817
 
Tefal said:
Atkins physical chemistry, mind numbingly difficult to read, but a very good section on thermodynamics :p
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Are you insane? That book would send the hardest insomniac to sleep. :p

Brings back nightmares on Physical Chemisty lectures :(
 
Well you could have:
Quantum Physics of Atoms, Molecules, Solids, Nuclei and Particles by Eisberg and Resnick

but it's a large heavy hardback and on the maths front ... well I think it was a third, (or possibly fouth) year text book on my course :)
 
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Does God Play Dice...

And, if it is still there, the Berkley lectures on Google Video (search for physics 10), a series basically known as "physics for future presidents". Aimed at people that need/want to understand core physics principles, but without going into stupid depth.. Worth a watch even if you know what they are really talking about.
 
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ps3ud0 said:
Nice dramatisation - watched it last night - though its far more to do with the socio-political activities that were happening at the time and how it affected their relationship and the potential discovery Einstein was about to make and Eddington to confer...

ps3ud0 :cool:
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I disagree, it's mainly about proving Newton wrong.
 
Schrodinger's Kittens and the Search for Reality, by John Gribbin.

The follow-up to his excellent [though now somewhat dated] In Search Of Schrodinger's Cat.

EDIT: See above :D
 
Haircut said:
QED - The Strange Theory of Light and Matter, by Richard Feynman
http://www.amazon.co.uk/QED-Strange...=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1227467608&sr=1-5
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Have just ordered this, partly because it's cheap (£6.74) and partly because i've never read anything by the great Richard Feynman :) I noticed there are quite a few books all dated 6th September 2007 by Feynman of the same style as this. If i were to read them all at some point would you suggest reading them in a particular order?

The Feynman lectures mentioned before certainly look like they might be worth reading but they are quite expensive. Maybe in the future after i've learnt a little more about the quantum world.

Please carry on with the recommendations everyone, I plan on coming back to this thread in the future to pick out more titles when i've finished the last.
 
simisker said:
Schrodinger's Kittens and the Search for Reality, by John Gribbin.

The follow-up to his excellent [though now somewhat dated] In Search Of Schrodinger's Cat.

EDIT: See above :D
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Do you need to have read the original to properly follow on to Schrodinger's Kittens or is it complete in it's own right?
 
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