Good books on Astrophysics?

[joshbe]

I'm really interested in astrophysics (Space/time continuum, black holes, etc.) and I was wondering if there were any books on astrophysics for the average person (not a college professor).

 

[le3119]

If you're willing to teach yourself a little adv. algebra and calculus, John A. Wheeler's "Gravity and Inertia" is an outstanding treatment of General Relativity and the search for Gravitomagnetism.<br /><br />James Kaler's "Stars" - the author has a great website too - is a classic, that will give you a good introduction into observational astronomy too.<br /><br />Any of the "lighter" reads by K.C. Cole are excellent, especially "The Whole in the Universe"....I say lighter, because her books are equation-free and are good narratives about the ultimate mysteries of cosmology.<br /><br />I just finished Martin Rees' "Our Cosmic Habitat", which I will read again and again, Rees tries to draw together hard science with ideas of "intelligent design" vs. the "random accident" view of cosmology.<br /><br />Stephen J. Hawking's "A Brief History of Time" is good too. <br /><br />One of my favorites: "Schrodinger Probably Slept Here", a collection of essays tracing the history of classical, relativistic and quantum theories and the lives of the great theorists of the last 100 years. I like this book because it helps link quantum physics with astrophysics too. <br /><br />Look for authors Gordon Kane and Timothy Ferris too. <br /><br />Good reading!