Got some books on the cheap today at Angus & Robertson..
A Brief History Of Time, By Stephen Hawking : $28.50
Quantum, By Manjit Kumar : $50.90 (lots of referencing to Einstein & Bohr)
The Universe In A Nutshell, by Stephen Hawking : $25.00
Gravity From the Ground Up, By Bernard Schutz : $40!!!!
I'm having myself a bit of a read-a-thon over this christmas holidays... I hope to emerge somewhat smarter in the upcoming year!
(Also scored Astronomy 2009 for $22.80.. Good price I guess!)
I was recently just given a heap of books and astro magazines for me to read over the holidays from a friend. So it sounds like we both have a lot of reading ahead of us.
I think you have selected a wonderful group of titles there... so when you get back I wonder will you have more questions than answers or more answers than questions... so good to read this stuff it has a relaxing and soothing effect.
alex
Matt - I think I've got enough here to last me at least 3 weeks of solid reading, followed by about 3 months of re-reads to make sure I've got it all...
Alex - More than likely, Questions Questions and more Questions Alex, That said, I will then be looking for some related reading Perhaps you're the person to ask about that when the time comes!
Nice one Alex, just a couple of months ago i read A Brief History of Time i think i need to read it again some of it went way over my head but also interesting of what i could understand
Jen, If you find that A Brief History Of Time goes over your head a bit at times, you may want to have a look at "A briefER history of time" or The illustrated version... The illustrated version has diagrams and for almost every theory discussed, and that makes it very easy to grasp some of the more intense sides of things. I'm up to chapter 10 of a brief history of time already.. Have not put it down since I got home..
As I said in an earlier post, I always re-read things like this 2 or 3 times to make sure it all sinks in... That might be the best way for you to go, just go over it again...
I generally also take notes in a little note book, so I can test myself on it later and re-instill some of the learning...
Heck I've a stack (2 removalist boxes chockers full) of old Astronomy, S&T and other astro mags going back into to late 1970s or 1980s sitting on a pallet in the garage and just getting in the way , been thinking of donating them the local highschool or one of local primary schools.
Nice selection Alex. I was going to head to the bookshop and use up my store credit I've got. Im almost through 'A Briefer History of Time' and may go pick up the original tomorrow. A little birdy told me Santa is giving me Carl Sagan's 'Cosmos' for Xmas
I've now read it cover to cover.. Will go over it again in a week or so just to make sure I remember it all... Fascinating read... Quite a bit of it I knew and semi-understood anyway, but the bits I didnt made it well worth the read...
On to Quantum... Leaving the best till last - Gravity from the Ground up.
Although, understanding quantum gravity might answer whether or not it pushes or pulls... and also.. it might also open the doors to a lot of sci-fi like ideas.. wormholes/interstellar travel.. These things are possible within quantum mechanics, the problems you face are ones of relative time... Should you travel to, lets say, Proxima Centauri, 4 light years away, and then return. Depending on the speed at which you travelled, you may well arive back at earth, before you've even left.. You could then perhaps learn/understand in a more indepth sense, the ideas of entropic cascade, the twin paradox and quite a few pther things of the like...
some of it went way over my head 
but also interesting of what i could understand 
