I'm going to visit some of my family and relatives in eastern europe soon and I'd like to buy couple of english writen science books for my 15 year old nephew so before I hit google I wanted to consult with you guys.
Here is kid's profile as I know it:

Born/raised and living in eastern europe but his english is exelent (much better then mine and I read and understand english books very well).
Don't know his exact IQ but it's probably very high, kid is very bright.
He is extremely good at math and is very interested in physics, especially quantum and theoretical physics, also has interest in astrophysics and astronomy.
His first choice for a college is MIT (I think).

Couple of years ago parents bought him Sagan's Cosmos (english version) and he read it in few days and loved it.

So, I'm ordering 4 seasons of History channel's The Universe DVDs but I also like to get him couple of books and need an advice.
I'll get one book on quantum physics for sure, then maybe something on Einstein's life and work and perhaps a Hawkings book as well?

Helpz

The kid is already familiar with Relativity and probably classical mechanics but possibly not in an organized disciplined manner just because its all so cool! lol . These books will make it solid and give him a head start over the others if he can read some if not all of it by 18-19. The sooner the better of course if he is very smart and already somewhat familiar out of curiosity. Solid classical mechanics , electrodynamics and relativity is a good foundation.


http://www.amazon.com/Principle-Rela...2150072&sr=8-1


http://www.amazon.com/Subtle-Lord-Sc...3&sr=1-1-spell

http://www.amazon.com/Feynman-Lectur...2154809&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/Classical-Mech...ref=pd_sim_b_3

http://www.amazon.com/Classical-Mech...2150387&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/Classical-Elec...3&sr=1-2-spell



A ton more of course and i may add few more later but i am only saying that these somewhat advanced books for his age are still pretty introductory and strong and yet not unapproachable if his math is already advancing during the golden era of 16-18 (when you think nothing can stop you lol and Einstein is your best friend) to cover calculus and simple differential equations. He will arrive at University very ahead of others. However if he is not very advanced for his age those are tough ones, however the first 2 about the work of Einstein will always be good to have anyway.

In my opinion stay away from Hawking and the like. The kid needs to remain unimpressed by these modern "big name guys" and instead arrive at the field properly using the true and verified giants instead motivated by the revolutionary honest and brave style that is eternally cool.

Solid advice, thanks

Are you looking for textbooks, or popularizations and histories?

Re: Einstein, Subtle is the Lord is a good suggestion, but it's more about his ideas than his life. (Which is probably good, given your audience.) If you want to complement that with a biography, Isaacson's recent biography on Einstein was quite good.

In terms of histories of interesting times or ideas in physics, The Making of the Atomic Bomb and The Age of Entanglement are both ones I'd recommend. I haven't read Inward Bound yet, but Pais is a very good writer and I imagine it's strong. Gamow's books (I'm thinking specifically of Thirty Years That Shook Physics in this case) have a good reputation.

A bit of everything.
I was thinking Einstein's work and bio as a must and then add other stuff.
I was going for 3 books total but I really like masque's suggestions so I see now that 3 books not gonna cut it heh.
I'll probably end up buying a whole damn library, I know it :/
Thanks for the suggestions I'll check them out.

I wouldn't go nuts with the textbooks. They're expensive, and it might be tough to strike the right balance in terms of difficulty. masque's suggestion of the Feynman lectures might be a good compromise. They cover a huge amount of ground, convey a lot of flavor even to the relatively unprepared, but have enough insight that you can still refer back to them later.

^^^Agree, textbooks are often only helpful if you are willing to work the problems.... and most people his age doing self study don't have THAT level of desire. I know I sure didn't.

Seems like you are getting him a bunch of hardcore physics books. Maybe drop in something a bit lighter? Not really sure if he would be into it, but this book is a pretty good summation of the history of physics in the 20th century. It covers physics from the Michelson-Morley experiments in ether, Plank's idea about quantization, Einstein's theory of general & special relativity, J.J. Thompson's ideas about the atom, the making of the atomic bomb all the way up to Feynman and the development of the standard model. I find learning about how these great minds actually came about with these ideas as interesting as the ideas themselves, not sure if your nephew feels the same way though.

http://www.amazon.com/Quantum-Genera...177937&sr=8-10