Books to read

[djs77]

Could the guys and gals here help me with something, im looking for a book to read on astronomy, nothing to big, just something that i could read on a train journey of between 4 and 5 hours, something educational?
Thanx in advance

[antoniseb]

Since we don't know your education level, it is hard to guess what to recommend, but if you have a college degree in something other than a math-heavy science, like physics, chemistry, or astronomy, you probably can't make a bad choice at a book store, as long as you avoid conspiracy type books about ancient astronauts and such. Any straight up astronomy book will be a fine starting point. You will learn more about astronomy than any book can cover in the years ahead.

[John Jaksich]

Since we don't know your education level, it is hard to guess what to recommend, but if you have a college degree in something other than a math-heavy science, like physics, chemistry, or astronomy, you probably can't make a bad choice at a book store, as long as you avoid conspiracy type books about ancient astronauts and such. Any straight up astronomy book will be a fine starting point. You will learn more about astronomy than any book can cover in the years ahead.

That is definitely sage advice---

My approach has been to start with an "end-goal" in mind and work from where you are currently.

For instance--there are many areas of Astronomy that are waiting to be plumbed--if its from planetology to cosmology--or even astro-biology.

One very important thing to keep in mind is that---it is very hard to be an expert in more than two or three areas--at most--that has been my experience.

My initial degree is in Chemistry--but I have taken on the goal of science writing with the hopes of using my initial area as the "jumping off" point.

There will be others who will give a good list for reading material and more advice.

[Solfe]

From a low math background I can suggest the following books:

Cosmos Carl Sagan
Wrinkles in Time George Smoot and Keay Davidson
Planet Quest Ken Croswell
Edwin Hubble by Gale Christianson

Super quick reads are:
Dava Sobel's The Planets
Pluto Files by Tyson

None of these actually are about astronomy exactly but more about the observers and events.

[Cougar]

Origins, Fourteen billion years of cosmic evolution [2004] -- Neil DeGrasse Tyson and Donald Goldsmith