FLC Staff Picks Blog

Anton's picks: Reflections on the Cosmic Perspective

This go-around, we welcome a guest blogger, Anton Kopti, our circulation assistant and astrophysics fan.  He wrote the following introduction to his selections:

2021 will be a great year for science, but especially Astronomy. Nasa will finally launch its most powerful space telescope— the James Webb telescope. ISRO’s chandrayaan-3 will send a lander on the moon, and Nasa’s Perseverance rover will land on Mars in search of alien life. Human influence throughout space will also expand as SpaceX’s starship will take its first orbital flight. We are, as Neil deGrasse Tyson would phrase it, slowly making the solar system our backyard, space exploration is the new frontiers and we must collectively gain a new cosmic perspective on the universe.

note: Follow the title links to get a full description or to the "place a hold". We'll pull it for you!

Cosmos by Carl Sagan

Call Number: QB 44.2 .S24 C67 1980

The best-selling science book ever published in the English language, COSMOS is a magnificent overview of the past, present, and future of science. Brilliant and provocative, it traces today's knowledge and scientific methods to their historical roots, blending science and philosophy in a wholly energetic and irresistible way.

 

Pale Blue Dot by Carl Sagan

Call Number: QB 500.262 .S24 P35 1997

A sequel to Cosmos, in Pale Blue Dot, Sagan traces the spellbinding history of our launch into the cosmos and assesses the future that looms before us as we move out into our own solar system and on to distant galaxies beyond. The exploration and eventual settlement of other worlds is neither a fantasy nor luxury, insists Sagan, but rather a necessary condition for the survival of the human race.

 

StarTalk

Call Number: QB 982 .T97 S73 2016

For decades, beloved astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson has interpreted science with a combination of brainpower and charm that resonates with fans everywhere. This pioneering, provocative book brings together the best of StarTalk, his beloved podcast and television show devoted to solving the most confounding mysteries of Earth, space, and what it means to be human.

 

The Supernova Story by Laurence A. Marschall

Call Number: QB 843 .S95 M37 1989

Astronomers believe that a supernova is a massive explosion signaling the death of a star, causing a cosmic recycling of the chemical elements and leaving behind a pulsar, black hole, or nothing at all. In an engaging story of the life cycles of stars, Laurence Marschall tells how early astronomers identified supernovae, and how later scientists came to their current understanding.

 

The Life and Death of Stars by Kenneth R. Lang

Call Number: QB 806 .L36 L54 2013

In this well-illustrated text, Kenneth R. Lang explains the life cycle of stars, from the dense molecular clouds that are stellar nurseries to the enigmatic nebulae some stars leave behind in their violent ends. Free of mathematical equations and technical jargon, Lang's lively and accessible text provides physical insights into how stars such as our Sun are born, what fuels them and keeps them bright, how they evolve, and the processes by which they eventually die.

 

Welcome to the Universe

Call Number: QB 982 .T97 W45 2016

Welcome to the Universe is a personal guided tour of the cosmos by three of today's leading astrophysicists. Inspired by the enormously popular introductory astronomy course that Neil deGrasse Tyson, Michael A. Strauss, and J. Richard Gott taught together at Princeton, this book covers it all--from planets, stars, and galaxies to black holes, wormholes, and time travel.

 

The Fabric of the Cosmos by Brian Greene

Call Number: QB 982 .G74 F33 2004

From Brian Greene, one of the world’s leading physicists, comes a grand tour of the universe that makes us look at reality in a completely different way. Space and time form the very fabric of the cosmos. Yet they remain among the most mysterious of concepts. Is space an entity? Why does time have a direction? Could the universe exist without space and time? Can we travel to the past? Greene uses these questions to guide us toward modern science’s new and deeper understanding of the universe.

 

Waiting for Contact by Lawrence Squeri

Call Number: QB 54 .S68 W35 2016

Imagine a network of extraterrestrials in radio contact with each other across the universe, superior beings who hail from advanced civilizations quadrillions of miles away, just waiting for Earth to tune in. Some people believe it's only a matter of time before we discover the right "station." Waiting for Contact tells the story of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) movement, which emerged in 1959 as new technological developments turned what once was speculation into science: astronomers began using radio telescopes to listen for messages from space.

 

Chasing Venus: The Race to Measure the Heavens by Andrea Wulf

Call Number: QB 205 .A2 W85 2013

"In September, the Royal Astronomical Society announced the discovery of phosphoric gas in the upper clouds of Venus.  The gas can only be produced by organic reactions.  This excited astrobiologists and geeks like me alike at the prospect of alien microscopic life on Venus.  I thought given this info, this book would be a nice 10th addition to the staff picks shelf." -- Anton Kopti

 

note: unless otherwise noted, descriptions were edited from publisher information.