Black Holes, Wormholes & Time Machines

Jim Al-Khalili, Institute of Physics Publishing, 1999. ISBN 0521775043 (paperback)

Al-Khalili delves into some of the most challenging concepts of modern physics with a humorous and plain-spoken style that is a delight.

Geons, Black Holes, and Quantum Foam: A Life in Physics

John Archibald Wheeler and Kenneth Ford, W. W. Norton & Company, 1998. ISBN 0393046427

Wheeler’s autobiography traces his personal life story in parallel with the development of much of twentieth century science as seen from one of the great imaginative minds of that century.

Black Holes and Time Warps: Einstein's Outrageous Legacy

Kip S. Thorne, W. W. Norton & Company, 1995. ISBN 0393312763

Caltech physicist Kip Thorne, a leading figure in the development of LIGO, describes how Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity played out in the astrophysics of the 20th century. This is a thorough and remarkably well-researched book and Thorne skillfully describes gravity, black holes, neutron stars and other astrophysical creatures in accessible terms. He also provides an enjoyable view of the interplay between the ideas of science and the personalities behind the ideas.

The Very First Light

John C. Mather, John Boslough, Basic Books, 1998. ISBN 046501576

The 1964 discovery of the cosmic microwave background radiation was one of the most important events in the history of astrophysics. NASA began to develop the COBE space mission to investigate this ‘relic light’ soon after its detection. John Mather, head scientist for COBE, describes the mission from its inception to its crowning achievement, the characterization of the temperature and spectral profile of the cosmic microwave background to a startling level of precision.

Einstein’s Unfinished Symphony: Listening to the Sounds of Space-Time

Marcia Bartusiak, Berkeley Publishing Group, 2003. ISBN 0425186202

Bartusiak describes the development of gravitational wave astronomy, knitting together seminal events such as the discoveries of galactic radio waves, the cosmic microwave background and pulsars, and culminating with descriptions of gravitational wave missions (LIGO, GEO, LISA).

Albert Einstein: A Biography

Albrecht Folsing, Penguin Books, 1998. ISBN 0140237194

This is one of many biographies of the scientist in whose honor we are celebrating the World Year of Physics. Folsing’s treatment is lengthy, detailed and occasionally a bit dense, but the determined reader will be rewarded with an excellent account of Einstein’s science and his personal history. Between 1905 and 1916 he produced a body of work that essentially re-framed our study of the physical sciences. Folsing’s description of these years leaves us amazed at Einstein’s remarkable and singular talent.

The Perfect Machine: Building the Palomar Telescope

Ronald Florence, Perennial, 1995. ISBN 0060926708

Florence tells a richly textured story of the building of the 200-inch Hale Telescope on Mt. Palomar in Southern California, for many years the world’s largest optical telescope and a premier instrument yet today. The telescope project spanned nearly twenty years and its demands on U.S. science and engineering exceeded what many thought were the limits of possibility.

Time for the Stars: Astronomy in the 1990's

Alan Lightman, Warner Books, 1994. ISBN 0446670243

In this wonderfully compact book, Lightman tells the story of telescopes as time machines, allowing us to look back into the history of our universe.

The Illustrated Longitude

Dava Sobel, illustrated by William Andrewes, Walker & Company, 2003 ISBN 0802775934

Hundreds of years ago, the lack of an accurate measure of longitude exacted huge costs in lives and treasure among the great seafaring powers. Sobel tells the fascinating story of the race to win the longitude prize - worth more in its day than today’s Nobel Prize – and the clockmaker who won it by creating an engineering masterpiece.

Color and Light in Nature, 2nd Ed.

David K. Lynch and William Livingston, Cambridge University Press, 2001. ISBN 0750305606

Ever wonder about those strangely beautiful visions of nature, like rainbows, the halo around the moon, the shimmering patterns of light and shadow in a swimming pool, the glimmering sunset at the beach? This book describes and explains dozens of these phenomena – from breathtaking to ghoulish - in an accessible combination of pictures, diagrams and words.

Nightwatch: A Practical Guide to Viewing the Universe

Terrence Dickinson, Firefly Books, 1998. ISBN 1552093026

If you could buy only one book on amateur astronomy, this would be the book to buy. It covers a wonderful sweep of topics in a well-written style that is accessible to a 6th grader, but still valuable to the seasoned amateur.

The Stars: A New Way to See Them

H. A. Rey, Houghton Mifflin, 1976. ISBN 0395248302

This is a classic, but innovative, book on the constellations, from the popular author of children’s books (remember Curious George?) Rey’s innovation was drawing the constellations to actually resemble the figures whose names they were given. The book also contains wonderful pieces of skycraft, like learning how the night sky moves in daily and seasonal patterns. It is written in language and style that a child can understand, but an adult can appreciate. Still available as an inexpensive paperback book, it is a great guide for learning the sky.