To contact Chris Winter, send email to this address.Copyright © 2005-2024 Christopher P. Winter. All rights reserved.
This page was last modified on 10 August 2024.
| ASTRONOMY |
There shouldn't be much misunderstanding about which books this section holds: books on the history of astronomy, oldest of the natural sciences, and on the several sciences that make it up: astrophysics, astrobiology, and cosmology. Books on the development and evolution of the instruments used in the astronomical sciences — optical telescopes, radiotelescopes, and gravitational wave detectors — as well as their companion instruments like spectrometers will also be found here. Note that books on astrology will not be found here. Being a pseudoscience, it will be covered in the Anthropology section, if at all. |
| PRINCIPAL AUTHOR |
TITLE (Linked to review) |
RATING (0-5) |
REVIEW DATE |
ONE-LINE DESCRIPTION |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bova, Ben | Faint Echoes, Distant Stars | 4.5 | 12/07/2004 | A competent overview of the search for life beyond Earth, now expanded to include the new science of astrobiology. |
| Chapman, Clark R. | Cosmic Catastrophes | 5.0 | 7/21/2002 | No-nonsense but non-alarmist evaluation of the many ways the universe might do us hurt — with some science history thrown in for good measure |
| Chown, Marcus | The Magic Furnace | 5.0 | 5/24/2004 | A fascinating account of the multiple scientific discoveries that taught us how the star-stuff of which we are made came to be |
| Goldsmith, Donald | Exoplanets | 5.0 | 4/04/2021 | Dr. Goldsmith has given us an excellent tutorial on the current state of the search for exoplanets and its possible future. |
| Gutsch, William A. | The Search for Extraterrestrial Life | 5.0 | 5/07/1996 | This book by Hayden Planetarium director Gutsch is a good introduction to the subject for children. |
| Hawking, Stephen W. | A Brief History of Time | 5.0 | 1/12/2003 | Professor Hawking's classic layman's introduction to black holes, the Big Bang, and cosmology in general |
| Hawking, Stephen W. | A Briefer History of Time | 5.0 | 1/12/2006 | An admirable update of the 1988 classic. |
| Heintze, Carl | Search Among the Stars | 5.0 | 3/09/1997 | This book on astronomy and SETI is part of the van Nostrand series for children. |
| Impey, Chris | The Living Cosmos | 5.0 | 2/18/2012 | In these 393 pages, Dr. Impey provides a richly detailed and well illustrated exposition of the several topics that make up the burgeoning field of astrobiology. |
| Kitchin, C. R. | Journeys to the Ends of the Universe | 5.0 | 6/29/2003 | A well-written popular treatment of astrophysical cosmology, but somewhat more technical than most |
| Lewis, John S. | Worlds Without End | 5.0 | 6/02/2000 | New science shows us many planets around nearby stars. What does this mean for extraterrestrial life? |
| Peterson, Ivars | Newton's Clock | 5.0 | 3/22/1995 | Chaos reigns in the solar system! |
| Plait, Philip | Death from the Skies! | 5.0 | 5/15/2016 | Doctor Plait provides a thorough — and thoroughly non-alarmist — compendium of potentially dangerous cosmic phenomena. |
| Rees, Martin | Our Cosmic Habitat | 4.5 | 2/16/2002 | Describes the concept of multiple universes, and speculates that we may soon be able to devise experimental ways of testing this mind-blowing idea. |
| Steel, Duncan | Rogue Asteroids and Doomsday Comets | 4.5 | 2/13/1997 | An Aussie astronomer describes the potential problem of these bodies colliding with Earth — and the underfunded efforts to detect them. |
| Webb, Stephen | Where is Everybody? | 5.0 | 2/26/2004 | Physicist Webb has done mighty research and created a thorough analysis of the Fermi Paradox and many of its possible solutions. Recommended, even if his conclusion is a downer. |
| The books are rated from 0 to 5 in increments of 0.5. Colors represent the following quality ranges: | ||||
| 4.0 to 5.0 | Quality: | HIGH | (Color = Aqua) | Competent to exceptional; well worth the money |
| 2.0 to 3.5 | Quality: | FAIR | (Color = Lime) | Useful despite some flaws; may or may not be worth buying. |
| 0.5 to 1.5 | Quality: | POOR | (Color = Yellow) | Seriously flawed; read it if you wish, but don't buy it. |
| 0.0 to 0.0 | Quality: | YUCK | (Color = Fuchsia) | Avoid this book at all costs! |
To contact Chris Winter, send email to this address.