This is a competent, charming account of the various mind-boggling quantum phenomena. It includes the uncertainty principle, the quantum atom, how quanta interact, the quantum vacuum, and the Standard Model. The book also ventures into the discussion of the transistor (the device behind the digital revolution) and the death of stars. Uniquely, we learn why all these results follow the basic principles of quantum physics. The authors explain these phenomena in terms of a qualitative version of Feynman's path-analysis approach to quantum physics. I hasten to emphasize that this analysis is understandable by non-scientists, and shines a nice light on why the quantum world has the unexpected properties that it does have. Cox's popular writings are widely read in the UK. Both authors are physics professors at Manchester University.

This is a wonderful and highly convincing analysis of quantum non-locality, written by one of the top expert philosophers of science. Personally, I learned a lot from this book, which clearly influenced me and helped me to become an expert in the field. The book goes deep into explaining why we live in a world full of non-local correlations and what that means. It analyses in depth the tension between quantum non-locality and relativity. Moreover, it contains several original ideas, like, e.g., how many bits of communication are needed to simulate quantum non-locality. It is still today a very timely book.

This book has it all. It describes Einstein’s own fascinating path to both the special and the general theories of relativity. It explains why relativity theory involved such revolutionary steps and yet remains continuous with 19th-century physics. It examines (and, in some cases, debunks!) the philosophical morals (about spacetime and about the logic of scientific reasoning) that have sometimes been drawn from relativity theory. And it looks closely at the reasons for Einstein’s critical attitude toward quantum mechanics. Norton is not only one of the world’s leading Einstein experts, but also a superb writer and teacher.

This beautiful little book explores the loftiest goal of all of physics, the search for a complete theory of the fundamental workings of nature. Weinberg was not only a Nobel Prize winning physicist, but an incredible, lyrical writer.

Written at the start of the 1990s, the book still remains relevant today, as physicists are still struggling towards a more complete description of the universe.

If you want a mathematical high, then the special theory of relativity is your cannabis. This out-of-the-world book by Tatsu Takeuchi gives us the key to the gateway to the heavens. This book beautifully teaches the special theory of relativity using hundreds of pleasing diagrams.

The special theory of relativity leads to the most counterintuitive concept that there is no "now". A's now can be the past of B's now and the future of C's now. This and several other counterintuitive ideas arise out of the fact that light travels at a finite speed. This book does an amazing job of teaching the mathematical theory that deals with time, space, and motion.

In many world religions there is a concept of heaven that is reachable after death. For puzzle addicts like me, the puzzle world itself is heaven, and I have been there an unlimited number of times when I… show more.

Albert Einstein transformed our understanding of reality. In 1905 alone, the annus mirabilis, he published four different papers that were going to shake up the foundation of physics. But who was the man behind the special and general theories of relativity? The man who, albeit a genius, could not find a job as a professor in Switzerland because he was Jewish? The man who wrote a contract that forbade his wife from being in the kitchen when he was there? The man who married his cousin?

If you want to find out Einstein’s life story and what made him who he was, read this delightful biography by Walter Isaacson (who also penned biographies of Steve Jobs and Elon Musk).

Although this is a non-fiction book, I included it in my choices because it was a contributing factor in enabling me to understand time and time-travel from a scientific perspective.

I enjoyed Davies's opening historical vignettes, which introduced the theoretical and actual facts scientists have accumulated over the centuries concerning the mystery of time.  

 So, I didn’t read much fiction last year. Been doing research for my next novel so I read a lot of science books, mostly theoretical physics, which should give you a heads up to the genre of my next project!

Kip Thorne is a pre-eminent theoretical physicist and was the main tech advisor on Christopher Nolan’s “Interstellar”. If you like stuff that messes with your head, and your whole understanding of what we know as reality, this is the book for you!

A colleague and frequent collaborator with Stephen Hawking, Theories on time travel, space travel, the beginnings of time itself will give you plenty to ponder.

Our best physical understanding of the universe has no place for the passage of time as a distinct dynamical process. What time it is ‘now’ is no more a fundamental aspect of the universe than what place is ‘here’. This strikes many as counter-intuitive or impossible. Philosopher Craig Callender takes the reader on a very thorough examination of modern physical theories of time in search of an explanation as to why the time of physics seems to diverge from the time of human experience. He argues that, due to the way the laws of physics are constituted, time is just the dimension that allows for the most informative explanations for physical phenomena.

Non-fiction this time (which isn’t my usual; it should say something in itself that this has made my top three) and the result of me slowly making my way through my own to-be-read pile.

I’m a science nerd; I love learning something new therefore anything that builds upon my amateur knowledgebase is likely to do it for me yet beyond that, I have to say this among those from that series I read was definitely the most engaging to me with the content it covered.

The concept of geodesics in a space-time context for instance has certainly joined my notes for what I’ll look to incorporate into my stories thanks to it, meanwhile the overall format of charming artwork accompanying the text makes it an even more pleasant experience to ingest.