physics books (Score 1)

Ok first of all great question... I love physics books and have read a bunch of them. Probably one of the best all-around physics books to read that is really exciting and sexy (yes, physics can be sexy!) and well written is: -A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking: this book covers everything including the big bang, special relativity, black holes, the nature of time, and quantum mechanics. It's a fantastic read and it's one of the few books that really changed my life. It's very heavy (I respect anyone who can make it all the way through this book) but it's also relatively easy to read. After reading this book it's also fun to rent the documentary movie version of it. This is a must read. As for quantum mechanics, which, as you pointed out, is a whole field of it's own; my favorite book is: -In Search of Schrodinger's Cat by John Gribbin: It's another book for lay-people that follows the history of quantum mechanics (which is quite interesting... unlike relativity, QM was developed by dozens of different geniuses over a period of about 50 years...) and describes many of the fascinating experiements that have changed the way we percieve the world. It's a delightful read that will leave you very well-informed on the quantum world. If you still want more you can read the sequel called 'Schrodinger's Kittens' too. :) For a little more depth on physics in general including quantum mech and relativity, you should read the classic: 'The Feynman Lectures on Physics' by Richard Feynman: Actually, read anything by Richard Feynman. This collection was actually taken from a series of lectures he gave at Cal Tech. It's actually a textbook, so it's not as easy as the above books, but it's a great reference to have on the shelf if you want to look up any of the subjects mentioned elsewhere in a bit more detail. Feynman is a fantastic writer and his descriptions of mind-bogglingly complex topics are easy to understand as he uses lots of analogies to more comprehensible. One other fascinating topic of late is super-string theory, aka M-theory which is an attempt at a Grand Unified Theory (a theory that unites the four fundamental forces into one unified whole) that is gaining popularity today and is probably the leating GUT around. A decent book on string theory is: 'Beyond Einstein: The Cosmic Quest for the Theory of the Univers' by Michio Kaku My only complaint with this book is that it doesn't go into quite enough scientific depth... but that's probably to be expected considering there are probably about a dozen people in the world today who truly understand string-theory. It raises some really interesting points though, and you'll know enough after reading it to be able to understand news articles about string-theory. If you have to read just one of these books get 'A Brief History of Time.' It's a classic among classics. Anything by Stephen Hawking is good. Roger Penrose is another good writer to check out and Richard Feynman has a ton of funny books of essays and stories that deal with physics in a truly unique way. Hope this helps! I wish I could read all these books again for the first time! :) gg