Where should I begin with Astrophysics?

[Kurdt]

I speak only from experience of the university I went to and sometimes if they feel it necessary they will give you extra classes in your first year. If the amount of extra tuition you need is small then this will occur in the first year of your course which in england does not count toward your degree. If you need lots of extra tuition (which I'm sure you don't) you will do an international students foundation year. Don't worry I'm sure you'll do fine I just wanted to emphasise that the comment chronon made about your current level of education is taken into account when coming from overseas or the EU.

 

[Bart]

Yes, I'm sure about it.

Extra work doesn't put me off. I just want to go to Cambridge an work very hard. Has anyone completed a degree there in Natural Sciences physical?

 

[Helios]

Chandra's "Stellar Structures" is a great book! Though star cores or fusion weren't understood at the time, the book is great for explanations of Emden's equation and related math theorems. It has a good thermodynamics summary too. Get it. It's a Dover book, so it's a good buy. A real classic.

 

[Chris Hillman]

I agree: Hawking and Ellis is a lovely book, the singularity theorems are landmarks in the development of general relativity, and Hawking radiation is beyond a doubt one of the landmark ideas of twentieth century physics (even if it eventually turns out to be "disproven" by experiment, which currently seems unlikely).

But everyone with experience in forums like this one has noticed that Hawking's popular books seem to have caused more than their fair share of popular misconceptions. This is probably not unrelated to the fact the the public seems to enjoy them more than more carefully written (pedantic?) books intended for lay audiences but written by physicists.

 

[FunkyDwarf]

fair call (about hawkings pop sci books). is it possible to get his papers he's published? surely nature or something would have some of his articles that are of merit.

as for the kaufman book i can vouch for that book, its very good. well written easy to read and packed full of up to date stuff. we used it for our astro unit (im doing physics/maths major, just finished first year)

 

[interested_learner]

a bit unfair

I think that the remarks on chapter 5 in the Road to Reality were a bit unfair. The approach that Penrose takes is quite sophisticated and can be a bit challenging even for those with Univeristy degrees. While he really takes off on chapter 7 with complex analysis, chapter 5 would be a challenge for the typical advanced high school student almost anywhere in the world.

That said, "The Road to Reality" is one of the best non-textbook type books on astrophysics. It is very solid.

also see www.arxiv.org for original papers by major authors.

 

[Kurdt]

On the road to reality, I believe that even the most experienced physicists can learn something from this book. Its just as valuable as the textbooks on the shelf.