It seems as though almost every theoretical physicist and astrophysicist has a book out these days, if not multiple books, geared toward the general public. Books by Brian Greene, Michio Kaku, Lisa Randall, Roger Penrose, Kip Thorne, Lawrence Kruass, Lee Smolin, Leonard Susskind, and of course Tyson and Hawking are all invading the bookstores to give the general public a better idea of the groundbreaking physics that is occurring these days.

So, what are you reading? What have you read? What would you recommend?

I'll start, I've read my share of popular physics books. Black Hole's and Time Warps: Einstein's Outrageous Legacy by Kip Thorne is the book that really got me into physics, it completely blew my mind that we could know so much about our universe. Brian Greene's books introduced me to string theory and Lisa Randall introduced me to the standard model. I didn't end up reading Hawking's A Brief History of Time until I had read numerous other physics books so i felt a bit let down by its simplicity but I thank him, Sagan, and Feynman introducing the public to the physics beyond high school ramps, pulleys, and friction coefficients.

Max Tegmark has a new book out called The Mathematical Universe, has anyone here had a chance to read it? I'm reading some sci-fi right now (Stephen Baxter's Manifold trilogy) but i'm looking for a new physics book to start on, any recommendations?

It's not physics...The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli. I do physics at work so the urge to read it at home has evaporated over the years.

I read whatever pops up on the Internet.

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The Case for Mars, by Robert Zubrin (actually, I'm re-reading it)

The Elegant Universe, by Brian Greene (actually, an awful Spanish translation)

The Case for Mars, by Robert Zubrin (actually, I'm re-reading it)

The Elegant Universe, by Brian Greene (actually, an awful Spanish translation)

I don't know how the spanish translation is but The Elegant Universe was the book that introduced me to string theory. It think his next book, Fabric of the Cosmos, had a lot of the same information in it but used different analogies that could be understood by an audience with slightly less education than his first book, but that's just my opinion. Both were really good though. I haven't read Greene's 3rd book though so i can't tell you anything about that.

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"Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds."

Albert Einstein

I read whatever pops up on the Internet.

Me too. The net has the latest info on any given subject so i try and read any article that seems interesting to me.
But i like reading books on a subject because they give you all the necessary background that you need to understand the subject and i feel they go deeper into the subject because they aren't limited by a magazine/internet article's word limit. Just my opinion though.

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"Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds."

Albert Einstein

I don't know how the spanish translation is but The Elegant Universe was the book that introduced me to string theory.

For example, the translation says that E=mc^2 means that energy is mass times the speed of light times two. And it's not a typo, it says it several times.

I guess the last science book I read was "The New Science of Strong Materials: Or Why You Don't Fall Through the Floor". It's one of the rare places in non-grad level literature where I've ever seen fracture mechanics talked about.

I don't know how the spanish translation is but The Elegant Universe was the book that introduced me to string theory.

For example, the translation says that E=mc^2 means that energy is mass times the speed of light times two. And it's not a typo, it says it several times.

For those unknowing, best mention that what should be said/described is not 'times' but "raised by the power":

"E=mc^2 means that energy is mass times the speed of light times the speed of light (speed of light SQUARED)"


Just making sure bad text isn't repeated uncorrected! Unfortunately, such as conspiracy theorists thrive on such silliness... :-(

Keep searchin',
Martin

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See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

I guess the last science book I read was "The New Science of Strong Materials: Or Why You Don't Fall Through the Floor". It's one of the rare places in non-grad level literature where I've ever seen fracture mechanics talked about.

On a different scale, we rely on electrons and the effect described by the Pauli Exclusion Principle to not fall/merge/dissolve through the floor...


There is an awful lot of 'space' between atoms...

Keep searchin',
Martin

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See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

OK, I'll throw into the mix:


The Quantum Universe: Everything That Can Happen Does Happen

by Brian Cox & Jeff Forshaw


They have made a very careful and interesting approach to the fundamentally spooky subject by describing the theories and observations in the historical order of discovery/development. They also use very good analogy to avoid losing you in maths. Lot's of very good name dropping for anyone who has skimmed over the ideas.

There are a killer last two chapters...!


Well written and very well described spooky stuff which is our universe as best we know it... For the moment...

To my mind, their description of how spontaneous electron-positron pair creation had to be assumed so as to accurately describe the observed Lamb Shift to me suggests there has to be additional dimensions at play at that scale...

Keep searchin',
Martin

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See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

OK, I'll throw into the mix:


The Quantum Universe: Everything That Can Happen Does Happen

by Brian Cox & Jeff Forshaw


They have made a very careful and interesting approach to the fundamentally spooky subject by describing the theories and observations in the historical order of discovery/development. They also use very good analogy to avoid losing you in maths. Lot's of very good name dropping for anyone who has skimmed over the ideas.

There are a killer last two chapters...!


Well written and very well described spooky stuff which is our universe as best we know it... For the moment...

To my mind, their description of how spontaneous electron-positron pair creation had to be assumed so as to accurately describe the observed Lamb Shift to me suggests there has to be additional dimensions at play at that scale...

Keep searchin',
Martin

That sounds like a good read. I have yet to read anything by Cox although i see him everywhere on television nowadays. Sound's like a book i would enjoy, i'll look for it next time i go book shopping. Thanks Martin!

Especially any updates on CERN and the LHC are important to me. When I read, I mostly read articles on science and preferably Astronomy.

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rOZZ
Music
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"The 12th planet" by Zecharia Sitchin
Bought yesterday, am 1st time read Sitchin's book
Later going to get the "Lost book of Enki".

"The 12th planet" by Zecharia Sitchin
Bought yesterday, am 1st time read Sitchin's book
Later going to get the "Lost book of Enki".

As a book of fiction a interesting read as a real book of facts garbage

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Having been a mountaineer I like reading books about mountains. My latest was "Walter Bonatti, una vita libera" by his companion Rossana Podesta', a former actress of peplum films. But also "I fantasmi di pietra" by Mauro Corona, free climber, about his home village of Erto which was devastated by the landslide of Monte Toc in the Vajont artificial lake in October 1963. I am very linked to this tragedy since I was there with the rescue teams but there was nobody to be rescued, only corpses.
Tullio

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I am reading "The Third Chimpanzee".
Written over ten years ago, some topics within the book are slightly dated, but overall it's well worth anyone's time.

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/49234.The_Third_Chimpanzee

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I do not fight fascists because I think I can win.
I fight them because they are fascists.
Chris Hedges

A riot is the language of the unheard. -Martin Luther King, Jr.

No physics, here, but -- "Civil and Uncivil Wars", by Nicholas Rizopoulos.

Mainly my Monographs atm

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rOZZ
Music
Pictures

The Oxford Book of Modern Science Writing compiled by R. Dawk ins.

Excerpts from Last Hundred Years, by some of The Greats.

GOoD Stuff.

' '

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May we All have a METAMORPHOSIS. REASON. GOoD JUDGEMENT and LOVE and ORDER!!!!!