Astrophysics in a Nutshell (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

Review

Tel Aviv University professor Dan Maoz aims to provide a concise guide to the subject for advanced science undergraduates. The essentials of modern astrophysics are covered, from traditional topics such as stellar remnants and galaxies to recent research including dark matter and dark energy, while training students in order-of-magnitude analysis.
(Times Higher Education )

[M]aoz makes generous and excellent use of back-of-the-envelope calculations and approximations to the more complete theory, accurate enough to both illustrate the physics and to arrive at decent numerical answers...Lots of material is squeezed into this thin volume. The treatment of stellar physics is particularly is particularly insightful; other topics--galaxies and galactic structure and cosmology, are also very well done.
(K.L. Schick Choice )

The presentation of so much material within 250 pages is done very skillfully, with a judicious balance between mathematical discussion and physical argument. The pedagogic value of the text is greatly enhanced by the problems given at the end of each chapter. Altogether, the book lives well up to the publisher's declared aims.
(Leon Mestel The Observatory )

Review

Praise from professors who have adopted the book: "Astrophysics in a Nutshell is a wonderful addition to the advanced undergraduate textbook literature. It covers the important physics with sufficient depth to capture the students' curiosity without getting them lost in too much detail. The book is extremely broad, reaching from stellar to extragalactic to cosmological physics. Nevertheless, from the instructor's point of view, the book is constructed in a convenient modular way, so that one can easily select the relevant parts for one's specific course in any of those areas. Finally, the book emphasizes to the student the fundamental interconnectedness of the different astrophysical subfields.
(Volker Bromm, University of Texas at Austin )

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 268 pages
• Publisher: Princeton University Press (March 5, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0691125848
• ISBN-13: 978-0691125848
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #285,814 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars useful undergrad text, May 15, 2007

By	W Boudville (Terra, Sol 3) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Maoz presents a book that is well suited to a one term undergraduate course, of say 2 lectures a week. There is enough material, but not too much, so that all of it can be reasonably covered by the lecturer and understood by a typical student.

This being a book on astrophysics, there is little of the descriptive observational material of a general astronomy book. Instead, it assumes a physics background of at least a first undergraduate year with physics courses. So there is assumed a familiarity with simple optics, blackbody curves, a little bit of quantum mechanics, and some good old classical orbital mechanics. All this suffices to define the basics of how a star forms and burns, under a tradeoff between collapsing under its own gravitation and the opposing outward force of nuclear reactions and photon pressure.

There are also 3 chapters on simple General Relativity. Certainly not at the level of Misner, Thorne and Wheeler, or Weinberg. But good enough to illustrate ideas like the Hubble Constant and redshift.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent overview, October 3, 2008

By	James Lynch "Ocean Scientist" (Woods Hole, MA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Astrophysics in a Nutshell is an absolutely excellent introduction to the subject for those with a reasonable physics background, but from outside the field. I am recommending it heartily to all my friends and colleagues who want a concise overview of this vast field.

9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Text much like an outline from lecture notes, October 21, 2007

By	Dr. Kenneth T. Bastin MD "calcul8tor" (brookfield, wi United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I have completed reading this textbook, appreciating the conciseness of the material and completeness of this topic when compared to larger and more rigorous texts. Diagrams are plentiful and explanations flow well, but for the independent reader a more polished, better illustrated text would work better. This physics book would work well with a class supplemented with explanations, more mathematical examples, and correlating images.