What are some recommended astrophysics and cosmology books for general reading?

[Nylex]

Does anyone have any recommendations for good astrophyiscs or cosmology books for general reading (ie. not textbooks!)? I've heard "The Universe in a Nutshell" is pretty poor, but "A Brief History of Time" is better (I think it was that way round not sure). Any others? All I seem to find are textbooks .

 

[hellfire]

May be you want to try ‘The First Three Minutes: A Modern View of the Origin of the Universe’ of Steven Weinberg (Nobel laureate). It was written in the late 70’s when cosmology was emerging as a very promising science. I think it is not an easy book and it contains some obsolete parts (at least the old edition), but it is very deep and accurate, without formulas. Personally I found this book fascinating.

 

[Nylex]

I'll have a look at that book, thanks :).

 

[pawanmakadia]

Any one interested in reading Cosmology must read A book called "Hyperspace" written by Michio Kaku.. The most fascinating and easy to comprehend... Widens the dimensions of our brain...

 

[Nylex]

Any one interested in reading Cosmology must read A book called "Hyperspace" written by Michio Kaku.. The most fascinating and easy to comprehend... Widens the dimensions of our brain...

Thanks for that suggestion as well .

 

[recon]

There's also Kip Thorne's "Black Holes & Time Warps" and Brian Greene's "The Elegant Universe".

 

[Phobos]

Alan Guth's "The Inflationary Universe" is a great history of the development of modern Big Bang theory, provided you have some familiarity with the subject already & enjoy some technical reading.

For a total newcomer, I'd probably go with Sagan's "Cosmos".

 

[Nylex]

There's also Kip Thorne's "Black Holes & Time Warps" and Brian Greene's "The Elegant Universe".

It's been a while, but I've already got "The Elegant Universe". Great book! Thanks though (to Phobos also) .