Upper Elementary and Middle School level:
Couper, Heather and Henbest, Nigel, Black Holes, Dorling Kindersley, 1996
Richly illustrated book appealing to middle schoolers and others, combining facts, history, biographies and speculation about "white holes" and "wormholes."
Ghez, Andrea Mia, and Cohen, Judith Love, You Can Be a Woman Astronomer, Cascade Pass Inc., 1995
The title says it all, providing background and motivation to younger students to consider astronomy as a career. Ghez also appears in program 2, explaining how she has developed innovative techniques to let her "see" the invisible black hole in the center of our Galaxy. (See also Andrea Prestwich's comments in her online BIO: what is it with these Andreas???)
Krauss, Lawrence, ATOM, Little, Brown and Company, SPRING 2000
Latest from the author of The Physics of Star Trek, 15 billion years of cosmic evolution presented as a tale of several atoms which (the writing is so personalized that we really feel we should say "who") we follow through many generations of star formation and dissolution, from the Big Bang to the farthest future we can imagine. Lucid, provocative and likely to be something that sets many future astronomers and physicists on a path to new discoveries.
Novikov, Igor, Black Holes and the Universe, Canto, Cambridge University Press, 1995
(Not read by P2K but recommended highly by NASA EPO for upper middle and high schoolers.)
Whitlock, Laura A., Black Holes, NASA (undated)
An Information and Activity Booklet for grades K-8, and also available online at http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov
Excellent background, activities and links to additional online resources and NASA missions: note, this is the MIDDLE SCHOOL edition
High School and General Interest:
Begelman, Mitchell and Rees, Martin, Gravity's Fatal Attraction, Scientific American Library, 1998
General introduction to the topic of black holes and the founding force of gravity: current, co-written by England's Astronomer Royal with science journalist Begelman: authoritative but still highly readable.
Couper, Heather and Henbest, Nigel, Black Holes, Dorling Kindersley, 1996
Richly illustrated book appealing to middle schoolers but also general audiences, combining facts, history, biographies and speculation about white holes and wormholes. (Yes, this does appear on the middle school list, but it's too good even for older students to miss!)
Dressler, Alan, Voyage to the Great Attractor, Knopf, 1995
Classic text about the shape and structure of the Universe on the largest scale, by one of America's leading observational cosmologists who-like Turner (see below)-will appear in program 2.
Hawking, Stephen, The Illustrated Brief History of Time, Bantam, 1996
The classic text, but this time using graphics to background the mind-blowing ideas. If you bought but never read the previous edition, this is the antidote!
Time-Life Books, Voyage through the Universe: Stars 1989
High school level information, but excellent graphics describing all aspects of the lives and deaths of stars.
Kaler, James B, Stars, Scientific American Library, 1992
Excellent images and overview of stellar evolution
Kaufmann, William J. III, Universe, Freeman and Company, 1994
General introduction to what was known about the Universe half a decade back: update online but this is still and excellent resource.
Lederman, Leon and Schramm, David N., From Quarks to the Cosmos Scientific American Library, 1995
Best single overview of how the study of cosmology-the Universe on the largest scale-and particle physics-the world of the sub-atomic-relate to each other. Mike Turner, who appears in program 2, is a friend and colleague of both Lederman and the late and much-lamented Schramm, and is an eloquent exponent of their ideas.
Thorne, Kip S., Black Holes and Time Warps, Norton, 1994
The "500 pound gorilla" of general level books on black holes, written by a student of John Wheeler (who coined the term) and a colleague of Stephen Hawking. All you could ever want to know about the history of black hole studies, plus an evocative introductory chapter in the form of a "voyage" close to a black hole. Fittingly Thorne was also a consultant to Carl Sagan's movie, CONTACT, with its voyage through a wormhole (still a highly speculative topic!)
Rees, Martin, Just Six Numbers, Basic Books, 2000
For upper schoolers who get excited about the research done by the students at NCSSM featured in program 1, or Jeff McClintock's math as used to weigh a black hole. Definitely for those comfortable with numbers!
Ferris, Timothy, The Whole Shebang, Simon and Schuster, 1997
Overview of what was then known, back in the late '90s, about the Universe: lucid and beautiful writing by one of America's best science journalists. See also his classic PBS video, CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE, which still remains of interest 15 years after its debut.
Whitlock, Laura A., The Anatomy of Black Holes, NASA (undated)
An Information and Activity Booklet for grades 9-12, and also available online at http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov
Excellent background, activities and links to additional online resources and NASA missions: note, this is the HIGH SCHOOL edition.
