The Physical Universe: An Introduction to Astronomy (Series of Books in Astronomy) by Frank Shu (PDF)

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This is a truly astonishing book, invaluable for anyone with an interest in astronomy. Physics Bulletin Just the thing for a first year university science course. Nature This is a beautiful book in both concept and execution. Sky & Telescope

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: Review “Just the thing for a first year university science course.”–Nature”This is a beautiful book in both concept and execution.”–Sky & Telescope”This is a truly astonishing book, invaluable for anyone with an interest in astronomy and surely the bargain of the year.”–Physics Bulletin About the Author Frank Shu is a Professor of Astronomy at the University of California, Berkeley. He received his PhD from Harvard University in 1968. Shu has written a number of expository articles for the lay public, and is the author of The Physics of Astrophysics, Volumes I and II. He is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and Academia Sinica.

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐Shows you the organizing principals of astronomy and stars [(1) Gravity, (2) 2nd Law of Thermodynamics, (3) initial mass] and shows you how stars progress through their billions-of-years long life cycle. Now the universe doesn’t seem like a menagerie of weird and unique “beasts”, but instead feels like an extended family of related siblings and cousins. This book is very very good. It is pitched at the level of the interested, but NON-physics-major Sophomore or Junior in college.

⭐Great book for astronomy and astrophysics. It is so complete that it has the density of a full course. If you read it you can get a good overall knowledge in astronomy and astrophysics. The book serves its scope greatly. Cosmology introduction is also great to start in the field.

⭐Very good

⭐requirement for a complete basic understanding of Astronomy

⭐This book reminded me a lot of Feynman’s Lectures on Physics because the author presents simple physical explanations for astrophysical phenomena – rather than hiding behind hand-waving arguments, obtuse mathematical equations, or back-of-the-envelop calculations. The mathematical level is also similar to Feynman’s Lectures on Physics. The aim of the book is to further the understanding of the student who is new to this field and not to impress him. One can read this book if one is a physics or astronomy major.The author covers all aspects of the physical universe including Life. So the book is very thorough. The author also shares his philosophical ideas under separate headings; a very worthwhile endeavor and one that I have come across but rarely. He ought to be commended for that.There are two major weaknesses to this book. First that it does not cover observational techniques, it is a theoretical book. The other weakness is that book has not been updated for 30 years – much has happened both observationally and theoretically. Of these last two, I think the absence of fresh empirical results is more important – I would not be too concerned about theoretical models about which the old adage applies: “Often wrong, never in doubt”.Is it worth buying?Yes, if you are new to astronomy and would like to understand – from a pedestrian point of view – some of the salient features of the Universe that we know of – keeping in mind the need to consult more recent books.No, if you already have been exposed to this material through your own studies and have developed the physical insights that this book tries to instill in you.

⭐Allow me to return, briefly, to my student days (late 1990’s): The introductory Astronomy course offered at college was a descriptive one, one which involved no mathematics or physics. What a travesty it all was ! What a shame, as Frank Shu’s text was available and should have been utilized for the course. I make a stronger statement: Whether then or now, neglect of Professor Frank Shu’s textbook is a travesty. I hear the protestations regarding the text being “out-of-date” ! That is not a valid reason to ignore this textbook. There are online resources which alleviate that fraudulent charge (one can ascertain, the stigma associated with the phrase “it’s out-of-date” holds no sway with me !).(1) Preface: “This book will challenge the minds of even the best undergraduate students,” and “cgs units are used for all calculations except scaling arguments,” and “some instructors might therefore elect to use ‘The Physical Universe’ for a junior or senior level introduction to astrophysics.” Admirable goals and I love utilizing cgs units !(2) Begin with the Problems for student involvement (Yes, “involvement” !). Appendix B should be perused beforehand (euclidean geometry and trigonometry). If appendix B is new to you, then, this book is not for you (or rather, the problems are not for you. Although, even if neglecting the problems, a student can manage a first-rate exposition of introductory physical concepts in astronomy). One can always get assistance for the Problems: Read Problem #4.6 (page 74) regarding Sodium Chloride crystal. Does it look familiar ? It should ! Turn to Richard Feynman’s volume two for more details on this problem (section 8-3). Another suggestion: keep a copy of Feynman’s lectures on hand, as those lectures make delightful companion. What Richard Feynman has achieved for physics pedagogy, Frank Shu has achieved for astronomy pedagogy.(3) Conservation of Energy: I do not think that principle is “out-of-date.” You will be utilizing that principle in solving Problem #5.1 (page 82): “Show that the total amount of energy per unit time crossing an imaginary sphere centered on the Sun with radius r is equal to…and argue that this quantity must equal the luminosity of the Sun.” And, even before that (page 35) you will be exposed to an enlightening discussion of same, alongside an equally entertaining exposition of the relationship between Gauss’ law and Newton’s gravitational attraction (page 35). Learn: astronomy involves mathematics and physics, it being no more autonomous than any other topic in the sciences. Read: “We have seen that a truly fundamental idea in science reduces the number of facts that have to be remembered.” (page 61). Does that line ring a bell ? It should, read Richard Feynman, Tips On Physics): “You’ve got to forget the memorizing of formulas.” (page 40, 2006).(4) So far, I have touched upon mathematics and physics. Let me concentrate on Astronomy. Chapter Eight (and, Nine) will introduce one to stellar evolution and the so-called H-R Diagram. Behold, a lovely brief upon “random walk” (page 146, Problem #8.1). Frank Shu “walks” you through the problem ! A delight at such an introductory vantage. Reference made to Zeldovich and Novikov, page 157 (neutron stars and gravity). Reference to internal combustion machines as they relate to Cepheid-pulsation occurs in the section on Cepheid Period Luminosity. Another gem: the ‘walk-through’ provided by Shu as he describes “a rough estimate” of relaxation time for stellar encounters (page 176). Beautiful !(5) Spiral Structure, chapter twelve–regards galactic formation. A mix of theory, experiment, and numbers. If this does not pique your interest as it relates to the so-called dark energy, dark matter problem (still raging as of 2018) I would be surprised. Read: “Why should we be surprised if we are also stymied by occasional unresolved problems ?” (page 285). Neither dark energy or dark matter is found in the subject index. That is irrelevant, as we read Shu’s conclusion to chapter twelve: “The bad news was the nasty surprise of ‘missing mass’ that haunts the study of the dynamics of galactic phenomena…more than 90% of the mass in the universe may be unobservable except for its contribution to gravity.”(6) Chapter sixteen: big bang and introducing these topics: massive neutrinos, vacuum energy, broken symmetry, also supersymmetry and supergravity ! Those are merely the concluding thoughts for this chapter, no more–or, no less– meaningful than the current crop of terminology present in today’s discourse (wormholes, multiverses, holography, superstrings). Actually, page 392 through page 412, makes for some of the best semi-popular prose which I have had the pleasure of reading. Even in these pages, diagrams and figures serve to complement the prose. Do not forget the Problems included for student enrichment: “Compute the numerical value of the mass-density of the universe for a time, t, equal to the Planck time. How much denser is this than nuclear densities ? (page 398).”(7) Let us take stock of the text: Twenty sprawling chapters (comprising 562 pages). Four appendices, prime among them is appendix B, a brief of Euclidean geometry (and, trigonometry). If you know this appendix, then, the entirety of the book will be pleasurable: do the problems ! If you encounter something which is “out-of-date,” avail yourself of the copious material found ‘online.’ Back to the Astronomy course which I had taken in college (late 1990’s): It was descriptive, it was memorization, there were no problems to solve, no mathematics or physics to speak of (I achieved a high score, no achievement at all as I learned nothing). It was a travesty. Do yourself a favor. Obtain and study a copy of Frank Shu’s masterpiece. He writes “…not to short-change the student into thinking astronomy represents a large mass of disjoint facts about a bewildering variety of objects.” After Shu, continue with the excellent Astrophysics In A Nutshell, by Maoz. Learn something, a whole lot of something !

⭐Shu’s The Physical Universe is simply packed full of physical insight. The presentation is not heavily mathematical (by the standards of physics texts) but is deeply physical. Shu’s use of dimensional analysis to develop the mass-luminosity relations for main-sequences stars and the Chandrasekhar limit for white dwarf stars is beautiful, as is his presentation of Cepheid variables as a heat engine. Like the Feynman Lectures on Physics, Shu is accessible to freshmen but can be profitably re-read by graduate students when studying for qualifying exams.I gave it four stars only because it is horribly out of date. It was written before the HST, before COBE, Hipparcos, Kepler, WMAP, and LIGO, and has never been updated. It’s still a great book to read for an undergraduate who wants to build a deep understanding of the physics behind astronomy, but you won’t find 21st century astronomy here.

⭐The title seems misnamed as the depth is much more than you would usually find in an introduction book, but well worth the time if you are willing to put in a bit of effort (don’t allow yourself to be too overwhelmed by the math). I was more interested in the ground-level science side so skipped to chapter 3 (Mechanics / Quantum Mechanics / Special Relativity). Quantum-chemistry, end states of stars, physics of life — great stuff so far!

⭐Its been roughly 10 years since my last Physics course as part of my Undergrad Degree.I have just begun reading this book, and just the first few pages have been a surprisingly good read. Surprising, because the book is simple enough for me to understand, but detailed enough to change the way I understand the subject with its complexities.Looking forward to finishing the book, and thanks to my colleague who referred it!

⭐The book is an older version but very valuable

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