title: Astrophysical Concepts (Astronomy and Astrophysics Library)
author:  Martin Harwit 
description: Astronomer Harwit has finally updated his classic textbook to encompass the exciting developments of the decade since its last edition. It is ideal for those Scientific American readers who are mathematically literate and who want to pursue topics covered in the magazine to greater depth. Harwit takes a thematic approach to the subject, oriented around the guiding physical principles rather than the conventional sequence of planet, star, galaxy and cosmos. The approach rewards readers who just want to flip through the book as well as students who want to derive for themselves some of the basic equations in astronomy. Harwit also includes an idiosyncratic sampling of unorthodox topics such as faster-than-light particles, steady-state cosmology and panspermia.
zlib_text: Course of Theoretical Astrophysics
  Volume I: Astrophysical Processes
  Graduate students and researchers in astrophysics and cosmology need a solid under-
  standing of a wide range of physical processes. This clear and authoritative textbook has
  been designed to help them to develop the necessary toolkit of theory. Assuming only
  an undergraduate background in physics and no detailed knowledge of astronomy, this
  book guides the reader step by step through a comprehensive collection of fundamental
  theoretical topics. The book is modular in design, allowing the reader to pick and choose
  a selection of chapters, if necessary. It can be used alone or in conjunction with the forth-
  coming accompanying two volumes (covering stars and stellar systems and galaxies and
  cosmology, respectively).
  After the basics of dynamics, electromagnetic theory, and statistical physics are re-
  viewed, a solid understanding of all the key concepts such as radiative processes, spectra,
  ﬂuid mechanics, plasma physic