Favorite read-with-tea Physics Books

[TestTubeGames]

I'm sure many of us have books like these. Maybe they are textbooks, maybe pop-sci books, but often something in between. And whatever they are, they're so good that we don't just read them for reference.

This evening I once again pulled Kip Thorne's "Black Holes and Time Warps" off the shelf and reread the first couple chapters. I just find it a delightful read, and it always takes me back to when I was a high school student just starting to learn about physics.

I realized I have a handful of books like this, but I bet there are many gems out there I haven't come across. So I thought I'd list my favorites, and see what others have dogeared over the years, too!

Mine:

-Black Holes and Time Warps
-Flatland (I'd heard it summarized so many times, I almost didn't read the book... but I'm glad I did!)
-Mr. Tompkins
-Physics for Entertainment, by Yakov Perelman (I've never seen a better and more wonderfully Russian collection of puzzles and musings)

How about you?

 

[QuarkCharmer]

"Surely you're joking Mr. Feynman" -Feynman
"Demon Haunted World" -Sagan
"Six easy pieces" -Feynman (this one has math though, but it's still casual)

 

[autodidude]

+1 for 'Surely You're Joking..'. I hadn't read through a book that quick since middle school.

The Trouble with Physics - Lee Smolin
The Fabric of the Cosmos - Brian Greene
Physics of the Impossible - Michio Kaku

I find first-year physics texts interesting enough to read for fun though

 

[TestTubeGames]

Goodness, how could I have left Feynman out of my list!

+1 to him as well from me

And I've really enjoyed Cosmos (the TV series) but never read any of Sagan's books. I'll have to check that one out - read of course in the Sagan voice in my head.

 

[Alpha Floor]

Not a "read with tea", but quite easy going, are the Feynman Lectures on Physics

 

[mal4mac]

Not a "read with tea", but quite easy going, are the Feynman Lectures on Physics

Strong black coffee needed...