Must read books about science?

[deltabourne]

Doesn't have to be about physics - in fact, the more diversity, the better - I'm just looking for a bunch of books that are must reads (I'm going somewhere for a while and need books to keep my company :wink: )

Now I don't want textbooks, I want something that is easily accessible without too much deep thought, without equations or something that requires a PhD in the field to understand. For example, I'm reading A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson and have found it to be a great read about science (not necessarily how to DO science, but that's what university is for :approve:). I do intend to look into the Elegant Universe, as I've heard so much about it.

Anyone have recommendations for me?

[Janitor]

I once read a book by Chandrasekhar (not the famous one of that name, though) called something like Why Things Are the Way They Are. It was pretty good.

[confuted]

If the NOVA TV series is any way to judge An Elegant Universe, don't bother with it.

[Chen]

In my opinion the TV series of The Elegant Universe was just small taste of the book has to offer (I watched and read both). I'd recommend it...

[The_Professional]

It's almost certainly impossible to fit every detail in the book on a 3 hour TV show so to judge the book according to what little you've seen is a bit presumptuous.

[confuted]

It's almost certainly impossible to fit every detail in the book on a 3 hour TV show so to judge the book according to what little you've seen is a bit presumptuous.
Aye, but it seems that if they had a lot of material that they could cover, they wouldn't have spent all three hours repeating what they covered in the first fifteen minutes
:zzz: But I suppose perhaps it was not geared for a very scientific audience.

[deltabourne]

I once read a book by Chandrasekhar (not the famous one of that name, though) called something like Why Things Are the Way They Are. It was pretty good.
Thanks, that looks pretty interesting.

Any other ideas? If you don't like Brian Green's book, please suggest something else.. it helps me out more :smile:

[Dagenais]

Read Prey: A novel.

It's a pretty good read. It's exciting at least, unlike the boring crap I'm reading now. "Cry The Beloved Country". Damn it's boring.

[TALewis]

I would read anything by Feynman. Or Hawking.