Customer Reviews

An Introduction to the Theory of Stellar Structure and Evolution

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4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
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A truly excellent introductory book. It has worked problems at the back and actually has an index that allows you to find anything you need for reference. I actually used this book more than Padmanabhan's books for my graduate course, because Prialnik explains things very well.

This book should be the basis of any undergraduate stellar astrophysics course.

This is a nice book that covers a lot of astrophysical concepts. The level of detail is fair for a first introduction into the subject and the style is easy to follow. However, the different topics are introduced one after the other without a clear motivation. This makes the book a bit confusing.

The distinguishing characteristic of this text is its clarity of language. Prialnik's chief gift is her ability to convey complex ideas clearly without neglecting their mathematical basis. There is a very fine line between a full-blown graduate text (intended for future PhD's) and an introductory undergraduate text (intended for non-science majors), and this book walks it superbly. Most other books lie squarely in one camp or the other, which can be frustrating for those seeking an intermediate treatment. The ideal audience for this book is the junior or senior undergraduate who is familiar with calculus and differential equations, thermodynamics, and statistical mechanics, and has a strong interest in astronomy. The more complex physics and mathematics, including the details of nuclear chemistry and particle physics and the numerical solution of non-linear differential equations, is treated on a take-it-or-leave-it basis, without the kind of rigorous derivations that would bog down a middle-of-the-road text. A student properly equipped will come out of the experience with a fine introduction to the theory of stellar structure and evolution, exactly what the title promises.

The text is not perfect, however. Because a large portion of it is devoted to the differential equations governing stellar structure and evolution (not surprisingly), students familiar with numerical methods may be frustrated by Prialnik's sometimes qualitative treatment. Towards the end of the book, the more intricate aspects of stellar structure and evolution (which arise in the numerical solutions to these equations) are presented in a purely descriptive fashion. Like trying to describe a graph rather than simply reproducing it on the page, Prialnik's descriptive approach is meandering at best, and confusing at worst. A much more compelling treatment would have been some kind of interactive numerical solution, either on a CD or the publisher's website. (As an aside, I very much appreciated Prialnik's attempts to relate theory to observation throughout, especially the inclusion of numerically calculated HR diagrams accompanying real ones.) One other feature lacking in this text is a brief appendix giving the meaning of all symbols used in the book, and where appropriate, numerical values. Considering Prialnik has generously provided fully explained solutions to each problem, this is a somewhat surprising omission.

This book is written explicitly for undergraduates, but is certainly a good reference for the graduate student getting started in astronomy/astrophysics with no previous experience. The chapters flow together very well and the information is presented in a clear and concise manner. The problems in each chapter connect points from previous chapters to the new material the current chapter. Solutions to the problems are located in the appendix; while this may be good when you get stuck, I can imagine some students utilizing it too regularly and not learning the material.

the book is alright, the 2nd half is just qualitative discussion, most of which you've proabably already heard. the first half is the best, gives all of the equations of stellar structure, but has some really annoying convensions -- it's in MKS units, and it denotes luminosity by 'F' which really threw me off at first. hmmm, the conversation is a little uninspiring too...