What Are Some Recommended Astronomy Books for Laypersons?

[cjackson]

I'd like to read some layperson level materials about astronomy and astrophysics, what do you recommend?

 

[Matterwave]

Are there any specific aspects of astronomy and astrophysics that interest you?

I've always been partial to "A Brief History of Time" by Stephan Hawking, because that was the book I read that made me interested in astronomy.

 

[Mordred]

I've also enjoyed both are very basic level introductory that teaches the basic formulas

Introduction to Astronomy and Cosmology Ian Morison

Peter Schneider Extragalactic Astronomy and Cosmology

 

[cjackson]

Are there any specific aspects of astronomy and astrophysics that interest you?

Stuff related to general relativity about the warping of spacetime, black holes, wormholes, quantum gravity that doesn't involve superstring or M theories, time dilation and relativistic space flight, etc.

I never fail to be enraptured by special and general relativity, their extremes, the attempted marriage of general relativity with quantum mechanics, and speculation about what might arise from relativity.

 

[CygnusX-1]

Black Holes and Time Warps by Kip Thorne.

 

[94JZA80]

Black Holes and Time Warps by Kip Thorne.

this one gets my vote too.the way i got started myself though was in a Barnes & Noble. i stumbled across one of those large "picture & explanation box" coffee table astronomy books on the bargain rack, so i bought it...specifically, it was Universe by Robert Dinwiddie. it was the pictures and the intriguing (yet not very in depth) explanations that made me want to delve deeper into more specific topics regarding astronomy and physics, one of which was Thorne's Black Holes and Time Warps.