• The Best Books on the Big Bang - The First Three Minutes by Steven Weinberg
  • The Best Books on the Big Bang - The Big Picture: On the Origins of Life, Meaning, and the Universe Itself by Sean M Carroll
  • The Best Books on the Big Bang - How the Universe Got Its Spots: Diary of a Finite Time in a Finite Space by Janna Levin
  • The Best Books on the Big Bang - A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking
  • The Best Books on the Big Bang - Black Holes and Time Warps by Kip S Thorne

The Best Books on the Big Bang, recommended by Dan Hooper

Before Einstein, how the universe began was a question for theologians, not scientists. Over a century later, we know much more, but not enough to do more than guess at what happened at the moment of the Big Bang and immediately after. Astrophysicist Dan Hooper, author of At the Edge of Timea book that explores dark energy, dark matter and other things we don’t yet understand—talks us through books about the Big Bang, and questions whether our entire understanding of the universe is about to be turned upside down.

  • The best books on Quantum Physics and Reality - The Construction of Social Reality by John Searle
  • The best books on Quantum Physics and Reality - The Matrix by Lana Wachowski & Lilly Wachowski
  • The best books on Quantum Physics and Reality - Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder
  • The best books on Quantum Physics and Reality - The Philosophy of Quantum Mechanics by Max Jammer
  • The best books on Quantum Physics and Reality - Reality and the Physicist: Knowledge, Duration and the Quantum World by Bernard D'Espagnat

The best books on Quantum Physics and Reality, recommended by Jim Baggott

Quantum physics is deeply confusing and its relation to reality the cause of heated debate among physicists since its discovery. Here, science writer Jim Baggott—who has spent more than three decades thinking about quantum mechanics and written a number of books about it—recommends books for better understanding what it’s about, and explains why how physicists approach it is so crucial to science’s credibility.

  • Nuclear Books - Critical Assembly: Poems of the Manhattan Project by John Canaday
  • Nuclear Books - Radioactive: Marie & Pierre Curie: A Tale of Love and Fallout by Lauren Redniss
  • Nuclear Books - The Four Faces of Nuclear Terrorism by Center for Nonproliferation Studies
  • Nuclear Books - An Indispensable Truth: How Fusion Power Can Save the Planet by Francis Chen
  • Nuclear Books - Energy: A Human History by Richard Rhodes

Nuclear Books, recommended by Richard Wolfson

In science, the word ‘nuclear’ refers to anything to do with the atomic nucleus, whether you’re using it to generate power or create weapons of mass destruction. Here, physicist and science educator Richard Wolfson recommends five books relating to things nuclear, from a book of graphic nonfiction about the Curie family to how fusion can save the planet.

  • Jim Baggott on Writing about Physics - Asimov's New Guide to Science by Isaac Asimov
  • Jim Baggott on Writing about Physics - Subtle is the Lord by Abraham Pais
  • Jim Baggott on Writing about Physics - Quantum Physics by Alastair Rae
  • Jim Baggott on Writing about Physics - The Philosophy of Quantum Mechanics by Max Jammer
  • Jim Baggott on Writing about Physics - Heisenberg's War: The Secret History Of The German Bomb by Thomas Powers

Jim Baggott on Writing about Physics

Contemporary physics is so complex that no single physicist can be said to have a decent grasp of the full picture. This makes communicating physics a formidable challenge.  Acclaimed popular science writer, Jim Baggott, talks us through this challenge by discussing his favourite physics books.