Physics, Math, Chemistry, and Engineering Books

[Kirsten Sanford]

"Cosmos" by Carl Sagan on, well, the cosmos, and "The Code Book" by Simon Singh on the history of the science of secrecy are excellent too, but these have quite a wide breadth.

E=mc squared - David Bodanis

Quantum Physics and Theology - John Polkinghorne

The Black Hole War: My Battle with Stephen Hawking to Make the World Safe for Quantum Mechanics, by Leonard Susskind ---- More than anything, the title sucks you in... kinda like a blackhole

Physics of the Impossible: A Scientific Exploration into the World of Phasers, Force Fields, Teleportation, and Time Travel by Michio Kaku --- this just looks cool, as does the Parallel Worlds that Dave C mentioned earlier.

Death from the Skies -Philip Plait

[Kirsten Sanford]

This reply is from Chuck Applequist:

A Couple of books for the "Physics..." category that I'd like to throw in the hat:

- Warped Passages: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Universe's Hidden Dimensions by Lisa Randall

- Hiding in the Mirror: The Quest for Alternate Realities, from Plato to String Theory (by way of Alicein Wonderland, Einstein, and The Twilight Zone) by Lawrence Krauss

[Gendou]

Lisa Randall is a horrible author, but a lot of interesting ideas are to be found in "Warped Passages".
For some reason, she says everything three times.
Each thing is repeated over and over in 3 different sentences.
She always repeats things three different ways.

[PaulaT]

Any of these look great to me, but my first choices would be:
- The Black Holes War
- Warped Passages
- Hiding in the mirror
- Physics of the Impossible (I know we are already reading a Kaku book but I like his writing)

And another one to consider is "The Complete Idiots Guide to String Theory", I got it for Christmas, it actually looks pretty good.

Thanks!
Paula T.

[PaulaT]

Another possibility: In Search of Time - Dan Falk

[mamapadawan]

How about "God's Equations" by Amir Aczel - that's on my tower of books to read. :-)

[PaulaT]

Or one of Mario Livio's books, perhaps "The Equation That Couldn't Be Solved: How Mathematical Genius Discovered the Language of Symmetry"

Paula T.

[PaulaT]

This also looked good:
"Pushing the Limits: New Adventures in Engineering" by Henry Petroski

Paula T.

[LabRat]

I'm going to go for Hiding in the Mirror.

[Bill Burris]

The Black Hole War - Leonard Susskind
The Fabric Of The Cosmos - Brian Greene

[Thomas]

I would like to read Physics of the Impossible as my first choice.
Hiding in the Mirror sounds interesting too.

[mamapadawan]

mmmm - my gut says 'Physics of the Impossible'. That sounds like a fun read! I'll vote for that one.

[Dale]

I'll vote for Warped Passages because I got a brain cramp half-way through the first time I read it and didn't finish it. Otherwise Black Hole Wars or Physics of the Impossible.