General overview - I mention this solely to say that this is the level of basic astro knowledge people need to pass the general qual. Our year went crazy using advanced texts, but it was largely unnecessary.

For those who don't want to read Shakura and Sunayev '73, this is a very good introduction to how accretion disks work.

It covers all the basics of the most important radiative processes in astrophysics and is a good introduction.

What Caroll and Ostlie were trying to do, but at a graduate level. Covers a wide variety of the physics that's actually used in modern research areas sufficiently sparse enough to make the text readable, but sufficiently detailed to give you the physical intuition and let you look up the reference for a more detailed treatment. Particularly notable is the "General Relativity on the Cheap" section that helps develop intuition for GR without the harsh mathematical treatment.

I wish I could have it on my shelf but I can't afford it.

Very detailed account of modern cosmology. Contains a lot of derivations in full detail and is mathematically rigorous. Not an introduction to the subject.

A classical book on the physics of the early universe. While some of data is now outdated (pre-WMAP publication), a lot of the physics discussion is very hard to find anywhere else.

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Probably the most cogent book I've read on cosmology. Doesn't go into details, but for those who need an introduction to theoretical cosmology, it does a great job of laying out the basics using simple math.

This is a great introduction to observational cosmology, all the basics a newbie needs to know about the subject.

Never particularly found this book readable, but alas, it is the only place to get a detailed treatment of certain topics -- for instance, Galaxy correlation functions.

Wayne Hu's website provides a basic overview of some key cosmological concepts using easy to understand animations and relevant plots. It doesn't go into too much depth, but is a good place to start.

"JD1 - Dark matter in early-type galaxies : overview"
Highlights of Astronomy, Volume 15, p. 61-64

Chapters 3, 5, 6, on galaxy dynamics and mass modeling.

Best book ever, everything about dark matter that you've always wanted to know.

- A classic text on fluid dynamics in the terrestrial context.

- The authoritative introduction to dimensional analysis and scaling as applied to mechanics and fluid dynamics.

- Hydrodynamics with a focus on shocks, combustion, and explosions.

- An entertaining and highly readable book on asymptotic solutions, with a distinctly different point of view from Sedov's.

- A succinct textbook and an authoritative reference.

- An insightful book on the dynamics of characteristics, sound waves, shock waves, and other types of waves, with a focus on exact and approximate solutions.

- This is the standard textbook, it's well written, the new version is up to date and it is a good introduction to the most important topics in galactic dynamics and dynamics in general.

- For the quals, should basically just be used as a supplement to Schneider (Extragalactic astronomy and cosmology).

- Deals with all aspects of galaxy dynamics and mass modeling.

Galaxies : great book for phenomenology (very useful for reference).

Galactic, extragalactic and some cosmology. This is a wonderful book, written at the high undergrad level, on all things at distances scales greater than 1 Mpc. We pretty much just read this book to answer the extragalactic, and a lot of the galactic, sections.

- Provides a useful historical background on models of the Milky Way from ancient Greece through the Middle Ages up to Hubble and Curtis/Shapley. It's much longer than most folks would find necessary; typically many of the things it takes a chapter to talk about are relegated to a sentence or two in other texts, but if somebody wants to know (for instance) instead of the 'general' view in ancient Greece the difference of opinions between Aristotle, Plutarch, Porphyry, Democritus, Macrobius, Cicero, Hyginus, etc. it can be a fairly unique reference. Other chapters are likewise detailed. The main attraction of the book from my point of view putting a lecture together, was the collection of plates at the end of the book reprinting various Milky Way theories from a variety of original sources from ~ 1500 to the early 1900s.

- This book covers physics in photo-ionized regions, provide very useful tables of constants for observers whose research involves ionized gas. The appendices are especially comprehensive for anyone who is just learning radioactive processes, or wants a quick recap of the subjects. I would at least highly recommend the appendices to everyone.

- A great reference for those studying spectra of emission nebulae (H II regions, planetary nebulae).

This is the book that I used as an introduction to GR. It is very readable and is easier to follow than other GR books I tried.

A thorough and rigorously modern approach to GR. Great reference when I forget how to do something.

This is an amazing reference to learn the necessary background for work in numerical relativity.

This book contains a very in depth derivation of the 3+1 equations used in numerical relativity. A very good reference as it does the computations in detail.

I make sure I have it on my shelf.

This is likely to become a standard reference.

A self-contained and through introduction to high-energy astrophysics. Great for studying for the qual.

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- A clearly written introduction to processes in the interstellar medium. It can serve as a good starting point for anyone new to the field.

- This book is the best textbook for ISM, very well written, provides comprehensive but not overwhelmingly detailed physics in ISM. I would recommend this book to study for the general qual and use other ISM textbooks as supplement.

Offers a more rigorous approach to the physics in the interstellar medium.

A really annoying book to try to pick up, and far too detailed for the qualifier, but we used it whenever we needed details on any process. The introductory paragraphs in each section are also a lot more palatable.

An authoritative summary of best practices for those times when lecturing is the only option. Well supported by research.

Should be required reading for anyone who comes in contact with students anywhere ever. Outlines the philosophy behind active learning and, more importantly, makes an excellent case against teacher-centered teaching techniques.

A very readable but rigorous introduction to differential geometry and smooth manifold theory. For everyone who wants to know all the technical details usually swept under the rug in GR books.

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This book should be a required text for astronomy. Rather than the *extremely* shallow slope provided by introduction statistics texts meant for general statistics, this text is meant for physical scientists (with a mathematical background) that have no familiarity with statistics.

I make sure I have it on my shelf.

The authority on polarized light (not astronomy specific).

A great introduction to quantum field theory with lots of worked problems. Eases the reader from familiar concepts all the way to path integral quantization.

The authoritative reference on all things radio.

- Should be called The Interferometry Bible. It has just about everything one could need to know about interferometry. Perfect for grad students.

- I make sure I have it on my shelf.

- Interferometry and Synthesis in Radio Astronomy by Thompson, Moran, and Swenson has been recommended to me by a few different people and often shows up referenced in published papers for the basics of radio astronomy.

Dynamics: a comprehensive book for the understanding planetary dynamics and tides.

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A thorough introduction to statistical mechanics.

An advanced text on statistical mechanics with great coverage of quantum statistics. Not for the faint of heart.

It's a recent substantial overview of the topic by a pair of experts.

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THE review paper you need to read if you want to get a sense of how star formation is measured in other Galaxies.

The only place where the IMF is really described in detail right from construction. Available online at http://www.as.utexas.edu/astronomy/people/scalo/Scalo1986.IMF.FundCosPhys.pdf

The place to get an understanding of what questions (and nomenclature) exists in massive star formation.

- A complete course on the physics of stellar interiors.

- A great book for understanding the basic (at the level of graduate student but this is also a very good reference for undergraduates taking AST320) physics behind stellar structure and evolution.

- Stellar structure including compact objects and the lives of stars. The bible on stellar structure, extremely insightful and a wonderful read in general. It might be a bit difficult for novices to pick up, but Marten's probably using it for his grad-level stars class, so a large number of people will get introduced to it. For those looking for a supplement, I suggest - Stellar interiors : physical principles, structure and evolution by Carl J. Hansen.

Somewhat more easy to understand than Kippenhahn, but I found it slightly more difficult to use as a reference text, and had the feeling it was a bit shallower than Kippenhahn.

Theoretical models of stellar structure

Observational and theoretical on close binary stars.

It is easy to read and covers all the basic ideas in stellar wind theory in a coherent fashion.

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A very detailed mathematical treatment of the equations of stellar structure, including quantum effects.

A great book for understanding stellar pulsation (nice comprehensive mathematics).

If you have ever had to classify stellar spectra, this is your bible. Covers everything from the UV to the NIR. Not meant as a text, but rather a reference.