What books would you reccomend?

[HavingPhun]

First off I am 15, so I still have a few years before I go to college. I consider myself smart, and get very high grades in school without even having to try. I think I want to be a scientist and know it would take a lot of work to do so. I am not sure what field I want to be in yet, possibly something with nanoscience(I know that covers many different fields).

 

Some things that interest me are creating new materials or power sources that would allow humanity to access the wealth of resources in space more efficiently and much more economically. Maybe even working on understanding how energy and matter work together and discover new ways of containing anti-matter or something more powerful. As that seems to be what would be the next step after nuclear fusion, which still might be decades away.

 

Something that irritates me is that currently we seem to be holding back on making trips to space. There are things like the ISS and some new satellites. Civilian companies also seem to be picking up the slack that world governments have left behind too. But if you look at how quickly we reached the moon from a little push and tug between the U.S. and the Soviet Union plus loads of funding, think how far we would be now if we continued to work like we had. Not to say that people stopped trying, just the funding and public support dropped off. Also, aren't the current space agencies working more towards mapping out stars and planets. and gathering data for the future generations now? Which is still wonderful and very important.

 

Anyways, what books would you reccomend on physics of all kinds, matter, energy, thermodynamics, "nanoscience", electromagnetic waves/energy, etc? I'm sure some of these work hand and hand. Also, I want books that go from the basics all the way up to the most advanced bits of each, even things that you would learn in college. Even reccomend books on subjects you think I should read about and if you know any online resources that would help me understand each field so I can decide which I would like to work in.

 

What I really want to do is become well round and knowledgable in various sciences and hopefully solve many problems and create great new technologies. In turn making the world a better place (hopefully) and giving humanity a brighter future. I have the mentality that if you put enough effort and thought into something that anything can be done. That many of the things people consider "impossible" can be done. That said, I know many people must have the same vision and that I may not discover anything of value. But, at least I can say I tried.

 

So there is it is, I don't think I left anything out. Thanks ahead of time for your help and mods/admins feel free to move this if you feel it is in the wrong board. I just selected this since this is a fairly general topic not focused on a specific science. Feel free to correct me if anything I have said in this thread is wrong.

 

Edit: I would say books on the topics I mentioned plus whatever other sciences. The more knowledge the better, I have plenty of time after school to read books everyday. Also, I built my own computer. In case that matters.

Edited January 20, 2014 by HavingPhun

[ajb]

First, make sure you can walk before you try to run! Reading ahead is good, but make sure that you still spend the necessary time on your current studies to get good marks. This is important.

 

As for books, given your age I would suggest something akin to AS and A2 physics and AS mathematics. These are aimed at students aged 16-18. You could try something like "Fundamentals of Physics" for first year university students, but that will require you to have a good grasp of the things covered in the AS and A2.

 

Anyway, it may depend on your school system, but look for stuff only one to maybe two steps in front. Anymore and you will get lost.

 

Popular science books also could be useful as inspiration, but beware of too many analogies.