Physics 10 Book Report

for Prof. Smoot's class


The Book Report is due at the lecture, Friday April 14, 2000.
Recent Research Report is due on Friday March 10, 2000

A book acceptable as the subject of this report may be
1) from the 1st book list which is derived from the Bibliography of "Physics Without Math";
2) from the 2nd book list containing books published 1977-94;
3) from the 3rd book list containing books published 1990-96;
3a) from the revised book list containing books published 1977-99;
4) a book Written by one of the prolific science Writers listed below;
5) a book Written since 1988, which has been reviewed in a science magazine,
such as Scientific American or Physics Today;
6) a book about science that has the Written, prior approval of the professor

The following authors have been so prolific and so high-quality in their popularscience writing, that any title by one of them is acceptable for a book report, except Works of fiction, or about obviously non-scientific topics [such as Asimov's books about Shakespeare or the Bible ]

Isaac Asimov Jeremy Bernstein Nigel Calder Paul C Davies
Richard Feynman George Gamow James Gleick Fred Hoyle
John McPhee Carl Sagan James S Trefil

The report will typically have a length of 1500 words. Tell: Why you chose this book? What its strong and weak points were? What you already knew about the subject matter? and What you learned from reading it? You must show that you read the entire book, so include a list of chapter headings, with comments on the material in each chapter if the book is not divided into chapters, divide it into segments of not more than 50 pages each, and comment on each segment

Please submit
(1) the Book Report Checklist/Grading Sheet found in this packet;
(2) the original of your report;
(3) a photocopy of the report, to be kept in our files,
(4) if the report itself is printed from a Word processor, please submit the notes in your own handwriting that you took while you were reading the book. Handwritten reports are acceptable, if they are legible. Write every other line, on only one side of the paper.

Any direct quotations, from the book being reported or from any other source,must be enclosed within quotation marks, and does not count as part of the 1500 Words. Submitting Work other than your own is grounds for failure in the course, plus discipline by the University


The Recent Research Report is due at the lecture Firday March 10, 2000.