The Universe Inside You - Brian Clegg

The Extreme Science of the Human Body From Quantum Theory to the Mysteries of the Brain
Built from the debris of exploding stars that floated through space for billions of years, home to a zoo of tiny aliens, and controlled by a brain with more possible connections than there are atoms in the universe, the human body is the most incredible thing in existence.
In the sequel to his best-selling Inflight Science, Brian Clegg offers a spectacular tour through the human body.
He explores mitochondria, in-cell powerhouses once separate creatures; 
how your eyes consume million-year-old photons of light;
your many senses, which include the ability to detect warps in space and time; and why meeting an attractive person can turn you into a gibbering idiot.

Read The Universe Inside You and you'll never look at yourself the same way again.

[Book Description Source: www.amazon.com ]  

Ratings
Goodreads Rating - 3.7 out of 5 (171 Ratings, 19 Reviews)

My Rating:  3 out of 5. 


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Teach Yourself Astronomy

Author:      Sir Patrick Moore

Published: 2008

Publisher: Hodder Education

Paperback: 256 pages

My first attempt to learn  Astronomy was when I enrolled myself in Coursera's free online course "Introduction to Astronomy" . That was a disaster. The lectures were overwhelming and too fast paced for my comfort . So one fine day I just dropped out of the course.
And then a month later I picked up from the library  this book by the world renowned astronomer Sir Patrick Moore. This time my experience was definitely better.
The book is written in a very simple easy to understand manner with a sense of humor at places. Many of the concepts are well explained.
However you tend to loose your way in the maze of  jargons and names of countless stars, constellations and galaxies. 
It seems to me the subject of astronomy is such that it can't be grasped in a single reading, however much the author tries to simplify it.

But overall a fairly good book to get started on astronomy.

Contents: 
Chapter 1: Introducing Astronomy - Basic facts about astronomy; definitions of  the most important terms.
Chapter 2: The Spinning Sky - The celestial sphere; how the positions of celestial bodies are given in the sky; the celestial equivalents of latitude and longitude on the Earth.
Chapter 3: Sky-watchers - The history of astronomy from the old sky-watchers to the huge telescopes and space-probes of today.
Chapter 4: The Astronomer's Telescope - The various types of astronomical telescopes; how the telescopes work; how to choose a telescope for yourself.
Chapter 5: Into space - Space-craft, from early Earth satellites to international space-stations
Chapter 6: The Sun - How the Sun's distance was measured; the Sun itself and how it produces energy; solar eclipses.
Chapter 7: The Moon - The Moon, its phases an its effects on our tides; the Moon's surface and how lunar craters were formed; the eclipses of the Moon.
Chapter 8: The Sun's Family - The members of the Solar System; how the members of the Solar System move and how they differ from each other.
Chapter 9: The Inner Planets - The three planets which, together with Earth, make up the inner part of the Solar System viz; Mercury, Venus and Mars.
Chapter 10: The Outer Planets - Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
Chapter 11: Minor Members of the Solar System - Asteroids, Comets, Meteors and Meteorites.
Chapter 12: The Stars - The stars, and what they are; how we measure the stars' distances; how stars are divided up into constellations.
Chapter 13: Pattern of Stars - How to identify the various constellations at different times of the year.
Chapter 14: Double and Variable Stars - About double stars and variable stars.
Chapter 15: The Life and Times of a Star - Stellar evolution for low-mass and high-mass stars.
Chapter 16: The Star-clusters and Nebulae - Clusters of stars, both loose and globular; planetary nebulae.
Chapter 17: The Depths of the Universe - Galaxies; how the whole universe is expanding.
Chapter 18: Into the Future - New investigations into the possibility of life on other worlds. 

Links:

• Goodreads Rating - 4.17 of 5 stars  (25 ratings)
• The Sky at Night - Video clips  -  Sir Patrick Moore presented this program in BBC TV from 1957 till his death last year (2012).  ·
  

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The Grand Design

Author:         Stephen Hawking & Leonard Mlodinow
Published:   2010
Publisher:    Bantam Press
Hardcover: 208  pages
 

This  book is a sort of sequel to Stephen Hawking's classic best seller A Brief History of Time. This time the renowned physicist Hawking teams up with another famous physicist and author Leonard Mlodinow. The book attempts to unanswered questions in "A Brief History of Time".
Questions like - Why is there a universe--why is there something rather than nothing? Why do we exist? Why are the laws of nature are what they are? Did the universe need a designer and creator?

The authors explain how as per quantum theory there are multiple instances of universe existing simultaneously. Also these universes have not just one but every possible history. 
They question the conventional concept of an objective reality and propose a "model-dependent" theory of reality. 

The book describes how the laws of  the universe we live in are extraordinarily finely tuned to create an environment conducive  to our existence, and shows why quantum theory predicts the multiverse--the idea that ours is just one of many universes that appeared spontaneously out of nothing, each with different laws of nature. 

The authors then conclude that  M-Theory which explains  the laws governing the multiverse, is the only viable candidate for a complete "theory of everything." 

I have read many books which attempt to demystify the esoteric areas of modern physics and cosmology. But I must admit that I am yet to get a complete hang of the subject. Either I am incapable of digesting the stuff or the inherent nature of the subject itself is not amenable to easy explanation. Whatever the case may be, my experience with  this book was no different. 

Initial few pages were quite easy to grasp but things starts getting confusing as I approached the half-way-mark. However it is perhaps better than many of the other books I have read in this genre. Small doses of humor sprinkled and lavish illustrations in myriad colors provide much needed relief to the readers.


Overall a good book to read . I rate it 3.5 in the scale of 5.
Some readers with higher IQ than me may enjoy it much more than I did !

 
Links:

• Stephen Hawking's website
• The Grand Design - Wikipedia entry about the book
• Introduction to M-Theory
  

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