What Pop Science Books Should I Read Next?

[cjackson]

Here is what I have read:

carroll, sean from eternity to here
carroll, sean the particle at the end of the universe
deutsch, david the fabric of reality
gott, j. richard time travel in einstein's universe
greene, brian the elegant universe
greene, brian the fabric of the cosmos
greene, brian the hidden reality
guth, alan the inflationary universe
hawking, stephen a brief history of time
hawking, stephen the universe in a nutshell
kirshner, robert the extravagant universe
krauss, lawrence a universe from nothing
krauss, lawrence the physics of star trek
randall, lisa warped passages
rees, martin just six numbers
susskind, leonard the black hole war
susskind, leonard the cosmic landscape
thorne, kip black holes and time warps
tyson, neil degrasse death by black hole
weinberg, steven dreams of a final theory
weinberg, steven the first three minutes
wilczek, frank longing for the harmonies
wilczek, frank the lightness of being

I am currently reading Before the Beginning by Martin Rees. Please make further reading recommendations.

 

[Rocket50]

Those are a lot of books...

 

[StevieTNZ]

"Sneaking a Look at God's Cards" by GianCarlo Ghirardi
"Quantum Mechanics and Experience" by David Albert
"The Quantum Universe" by Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw
"Dance of the Photons" by Anton Zeilinger
"Knocking on Heaven's Door" by Lisa Randall

 

[cjackson]

I forgot to add these to the have read list:

The Mystery of the Missing Antimatter
Heart of Darkness: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Invisible Universe
Cosmos
Pale Blue Dot
How to Find a Habitable Planet
Cosmic Cocktail
The Theoretical Minimum: What You Need to Know to Start Doing Physics
Death From the Skies
Einstein's Universe
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman
Space Chronicles

In spite of all this reading, I still feel as though I haven't learned anything.

 

[cjackson]

I finished Rees' Before the Beginning and am now reading The Shadows of Creation. At what point should I get out of the popular books and into textbooks?

 

[jtbell]

An "oldie but goodie" is George Gamow's "Thirty Years That Shook Physics", about the early days of quantum physics. He studied at the Bohr institute in Copenhagen, knew the "big names" of the period, and has some great stories about them. For example, the time Bohr was showing off his mountain-climbing skills by scaling the side of a bank in Copenhagen, and a policeman came along...

 

[WWGD]

Are you asking us to recommend these books to people in general? Who should we recommend sci.fi books to?

 

[DataGG]

If you read all those books, whatever we recommend now will probably have stuff you already read in one of those. My advice is to read biographies, such as "The strangest man"..

 

[Noumenon]

At what point should I get out of the popular books and into textbooks?

When you get the feeling they're not being completey honest with you.

Try Penrose, 'Road to Reality' as a transition into texts,... or Sean Carroll excellent GR notee,...

http://preposterousuniverse.com/grnotes/

Schutz 'A first course in GR' is a good intro to GR,... or Feynman's three volume lectures.

 

[B. Elliott]

It's If you've already read those, check out Mining the Sky by John S. Lewis .It's very engaging with a viable look at gathering mineral resources in our solar system. It touches on the economics and industrial/technological capabilities required to say, mine an asteroid or the moon.

Definitely one of my favorites!