Astro book recommendations?

[Helen]

I'm looking for some good bedtime reading.  Astro or general science (or anything else really)

 Any recommendations? 

Thanks

Helen

[George Jones]

7 minutes ago, Helen said:

I'm looking for some good bedtime reading.  Astro or general science (or anything else really)

 Any recommendations? 

Thanks

Helen

 

Meaning you want us to recommend books that will put you to sleep? 😉

A couple of books that I like for bedtime reading are "Universe: the Definitive Visual Guide" (Marin Rees is editor), and "The Story of Astronomy: From Babylonian Stargazers to the Search for the Big Bang" by Peter Aughton. I find that I can open them at random and start reading. Liking a book, however, is a very personal thing.

 

[Big Jim Slade]

I read 2 books by Alan Hirshfield last year that are well worth the time.

"Parallax: The Race To Measure The Cosmos" is all about how astronomers went from thinking the stars were dots on a dome to realising they where ridiculously far away and proving it.

"Starlight Detectives" touches on similar ground but focuses on imaging, the early pioneers through to Hubble and the discovery of the scale of the universe.

Both very readable and answered a lot of questions I had about how we got to where we are today.

[Helen]

Thanks both - certainly like the sound of those!  I loved 'The Glass Universe' about measuring stars 🙂 

I've had a spate of reading WW2 novels, which I've really enjoyed, but they are sometimes not really suitable for reading just before sleep!

I really enjoyed a biography of James Clerk Maxwell recently too -'The Man Who Changed Everything'  by Basil Mahon.  So as a reciprocal recommendation 😄 

Helen

[Astroscot2]

First light by Richard Preston, excellent read. 

[m1dlj]

Hi Helen,

The general science book I've just finished reading is, 'Reality is not what it seems: The journey to quantum gravity', by Carlo Rovelli.

He has a more romantic style than many, but it's all good thought provoking stuff from a first rate physicist.

Ray

[baggywrinkle]

Best book on science: Bill Bryson 'A Short History of Nearly Everything'. Witty and precise, make you remember what you are reading.

[Second Time Around]

How to Build a Universe by Ben Gilliland. Easy to follow but detailed book on astrophysics (especially the Big Bang) with lots of diagrams. 

Note that there's another book with the same title by a different author.