Basically while reading Project Hail Mary (after watching the film) I really enjoyed learning about some astrophysics and physics and scientific concepts.
Since it’s from a fictitious story it explained the concepts in a really interesting/ engaging way and led me to do my own research on specific terms and laws (as I’m sure some novels will bend reality).
Anybody have any recs similar? Books with a lot of physics or science concepts that are used or explained in a fictitious setting? I just really enjoyed reading how Grace from PHM would solve problems and think, I loved following his flow of thought and learning new things that I could look deeper into later.
For some context I have 0 prior knowledge so even basic concepts is something new for me to learn.
by Key_Loan_3350
7 Comments
Seveneves is great for learning about orbital mechanics if that interests you.
Contact by Carl Sagan might have some. It’s been a long time since I read it so I don’t remember for sure
The Martian, also by Andy Weir, Neil degrasse Tyson has some lay person friendly books- astrophysics for people in a hurry, etc
The theory of the cosmos by Brian Greene
The remembrance of earth’s past/three body problem trilogy and anything by Kim Stanley Robinson!
For pure sci-fi The Vorpal Blade by John Ringo and Travis Taylor. The USA retrofit a nuclear sub with light speed tech. Taylor is a physicist and it taught me everything I know about quarks.
You mentioned fiction specifically, so I’m not sure whether this fits. But consider *What If?* by Randall Munroe. He answers ridiculous hypotheticals (I can’t remember any specifics, unfortunately, but like “what if you fired the earth out of a pistol?”) and gives very serious answers, comedically explaining the concepts at play. (Munroe also does the online comic XKCD. If you don’t know it, you can look at a few to get an idea of his sense of humor.)