Given below is a list of books and other material that I think will be helpful in understanding the concepts presented in the class. This list will grow as I come across new things - so stay tuned! If you find a reference that you think belongs here, please let me know.

1. Nathan Spielberg and Bryon D. Anderson, Seven Ideas that Shook the Universe, 3rd ed. (New York: Wiley, 2006).
   Required text for the class. A good historical perspective on physics with a bit more detail than usual.
2. Robert Crease and Charles Mann, The Second Creation (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers Univ. Press, 1996).
   Required text for the class. A great historical introduction to modern physics, including some very nice explanations of tricky topics.
3. Isaac Asimov, The History of Physics (New York: Walker, 1984).
   Yes, it's that Asimov, but there aren't any robots in this one. There's not much history either. There are some very nice, counter-intuitive examples of simple mechanics though and lots of good explanations.
4. Jeremy Bernstein, Albert Einstein and the Frontiers of Physics, (New York: Oxford Press, 1996).
   Not just a biography of Einstein, but also a good introduction to the concepts of relativity. Although this book was written for Young Adults, it is one of the best and most concise summaries of our friend Albert that I have found.
5. Louis A. Bloomfield, How Things Work, 2nd ed. (New York: Wiley, 2001).
   Introductory physics level explanations of how all kinds of things work: frisbees, Xerox machines, etc., etc. This book is often the basis for the "Working Knowledge" column in Scientific American.
6. Daniel J. Boorstin, The Discoverers (New York: H.N. Abrams, 1991).
   This is a fun book to read. It puts many of the topics that we discuss into historical and cultural perspective. It also contains plenty of biographical information about our heros.
7. Bill Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything (New York: Broadway Books, 2003).
   From the Introduction... "Suddenly I had a powerful, uncharacteristic urge to know something about these matters and to understand how people figured them out". More-or-less sums up this course, doesn't it? Very worthwhile reading.
8. Lewis Carroll Epstein, Thinking Physics, 2nd ed. (San Francisco: Insight Press, 1998).
   If you really want to test your understanding of basic physics concepts this is the book for you. It's a collection of questions (with answers) about why things work the way they do. Answer all the questions and "you will have learned, grasshopper...".
9. Galileo Galilei, Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems
   link to full text English translation
   The full text of the book that got Galileo in so much trouble from the Calendars from the Sky web site
10. Galileo Galilei, Dialogue Concerning Two New Sciences
    link to full text English translation
    Galileo's work on motion from Michael Fowler's Galileo and Einstein web site
11. James Gleick, Isaac Newton (New York: Vintage, 2003).
    The best concise biography of Newton available. Skips over a few things - but it's so beautifully written that you won't care.
12. Marcelo Gleiser, The Dancing Universe (Hanover: Dartmouth College Press, 2005).
    An excellent, and very readable, overview of many of the topics emphasized in this course. Gleiser does a great job putting the concepts he discusses in historical and societal context.
13. Brian Greene, The Elegant Universe (New York: Vintage, 2000).
    Support impoverished Columbia faculty and buy this book! Even if you don't care about augmenting the income of your professors, this is still one of the best intuitive introductions to special and general relativity that I have found. If you're struggling to understand these concepts, then The Elegant Universe is the place to go.
14. Brian Greene, The Fabric of the Cosmos (New York: Vintage, 2005).
    Brian Greene's second book is also very readable. In it he concentrates more on quantum mechanics than in The Elegant Universe.
15. John Gribbin, The Scientists (New York: Random House, 2002).
    Lots of interesting information about nearly all of the people we discuss in class. This book also has some nice, non-technical descriptions of the concepts we cover (plus many more).
16. Art Hobson, Physics: Concepts and Connections, 2nd ed. (Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1999).
    Has nice discussions of theories accepted before our current ones. Also lots of interesting quotes from famous people about physics.
17. G. Hahner and N. Spencer, "Rubbing and Scrubbing" Physics Today vol.51 no.9, p. 22 (Sep. 1998).
    A very nice introduction to the history of friction and what work is going on today
18. David Halliday, Robert Resnick and Jearl Walker, Fundamentals of Physics, Vol 2, 6th ed. (New York: Wiley, 2001).
    This is probably the standard text for Intro Physics for scientists and engineers. It is more mathematical (uses calculus) than the other texts I list. But it's a good place to go to get a firmer understanding of complicated concepts.
19. Lawrence M. Krauss, Fear of Physics (New York: BasicBooks, 1993).
    An excellent guide on how to think about physics like a physicist (i.e. your professor). Krauss is one of the best around at explaining the complexities of modern physics in a correct, yet understandable way.
20. Lawrence M. Krauss, The Physics of Star Trek (New York: Harper Perennial, 1996).
    Not quite as geeky as it sounds. In fact, it's a series of object lessons in critical and multi-dimensional thinking - something sadly lacking in current scientific policy.
21. G.E.R. Lloyd, Early Greek Science: Thales to Aristotle (London: Chato & Windus, 1970).
    A very nice summary of the Greek scientific thought, which formed the basis of Western understanding of nature for two millennia. It has an especially good section on Aristotle.
22. G.E.R. Lloyd, Greek Science after Aristotle (London: Chato & Windus, 1973).
    Ptolemy's contributions are discussed in detail here.
23. David Macaulay, The New Way Things Work (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1998).
    A great book if you ever wondered how a lock or a window shade (or basically anything else) works. Less physics than Bloomfield, but more pictures.
24. Robert H. March, Physics for Poets, 4th ed. (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1996).
    A good historical perspective on physics.
25. Charles W. Misner, Kip S. Thorne and John A. Wheeler, Gravitation (San Francisco: W.H.Freeman, 1973)
    This is a graduate level text in general relativity, however, it is also the classic in the field. If you want to get a look at the math behind general relativity, this is a good place to start.
26. Sir Isaac Newton, Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica
    link to full text English translation
    Newton's famous Principia, but only parts of it have been digitized.
27. Vern J. Ostdiek and Donald J. Bord, Inquiry into Physics, 4th ed. (Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole, 2000).
    Nice explanations of basic formulas and example problems. Check the "Suggested Readings" sections at the end of each chapter.
28. Heinz R. Pagels, The Cosmic Code, (New York: Bantam, 1982).
    Good discussions of some of the weirder aspects of quantum mechanics and a nice, though now dated, introduction to particle physics.
29. John Allen Paulos, Innumeracy (New York: Vintage Books, 1990).
    Lots of practical examples of probability and statistics.
30. John Allen Paulos, A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper (New York: Anchor Books, 1995).
    A catalog of common mathematical blunders made in the media that bias our understanding of important (and not-so-important) issues. Amusing reading about a depressing situation.
31. The Perpetual Motion Page
    A web site with examples of perpetual motion machines and explanations of why they don't work.
32. Richard Rhodes, The Making of the Atomic Bomb (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1986).
    This is the best historical introduction to modern physics that I have read. I would suggest waiting until the summer to read it, however, since it's about one million pages long and you will undoubtedly neglect all of your other classes to read it.
33. Emilio Segre, From X-rays to Quarks (New York: W. H. Freeman, 1980).
    Biographical sketches of some of the founders of modern physics by a man who knew many of them and who is a Nobel laureate himself. This book has a good mix of personal and technical detail.
34. Morris H. Shamos, Great Experiments in Physics (New York: Holt, 1959).
    A very nice reference describing many of the experiments we discuss in this class with reproductions of the original papers and comments on them.
35. Dava Sobel, Galileo's Daughter (New York: Penguin, 1999).
    An extremely good biography of Galileo.
36. Dava Sobel, Longitude (New York: Penguin, 1996).
    Some mention of Galilean relativity here. Also, lots of fun to read.
37. Edwin F. Taylor and John A. Wheeler, Spacetime Physics (New York: W.H.Freeman, 1992)
    A good place to look for a detailed explanation of special relativity and its consequences without a lot of mathematics.
38. Dick Teresi, Lost Discoveries (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2002).
    The most complete discussion of (ancient) non-European contributions to science that I've found. It covers everyone from Australian Aborigines to Zoroastrians - so chances are high that you'll find something about your favorite group here.
39. David Toback, Big Bang, Black Holes, No Math
    An online textbook under development by Prof. Toback. This is a very nice introduction, aimed at non-scientists, to some of the fascinating issues in cosmology that we only touch on briefly. If you're interested in the Big Bang, the Expanding Universe, Dark Matter and Energy, etc. this is a great place to start.
40. Michael White, Acid Tongues and Tranquil Dreamers (New York: Morrow, 2001)
    Eight short pieces on famous rivalries in science. Newton vs. Leibniz is one of them. Edison vs. Tesla is another.
41. Clifford M. Will, Was Einstein Right, 2nd ed. (New York: BasicBooks, 1993).
    The name makes you think it was written by another wild-eyed loon, but this is the clearest description of what general relativity is and is not and how it is tested that I have ever seen.
42. Richard Wolfson, Simply Einstein (New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2003)
    Highly recommended by previous students.

The physics we discuss in class shows up in all kinds of places. A few are listed below. If you spot something you think would be appropriate to include here, please let Prof. Evans know.

1. The Newtonian Momemt
   An exhibition on Isaac Newton at the New York Public Library, Oct. 8, 2004 - Feb. 5, 2005
2. NOVA Program on The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene

LHC Startup

1. CERN public web site
2. First beam in the LHC (10-Sep-08 press release)