Reddit reviews Cycles of Time: An Extraordinary New View of the Universe

I actually see a lot of parallels between your situation and where I found myself at your age. It was 14 or 15 that I really developed an interest in science, because before that I hadn't really been properly exposed before that. Fast forward 6 or 7 years, I'm now a third year university student studying physics and I love it; I'll be applying to PhD programs next fall.

Like you, astronomy (by which I broadly mean astronomy, astrophysics, cosmology, etc.) was what really caught my attention. In school, I liked all the sciences and had always been good at math (calculus was by far one of my favorite high school courses because the science can be pretty watered down).

If you're interested in learning more about astrophysics, I would recommend any one of a number of books. The first book on the topic that I read was Simon Singh's Big Bang; I read a couple Brian Greene books, namely The Elegant Universe and Fabric of the Cosmos; I read Roger Penrose's Cycles of Time, and finally Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything. Also, I bought a book by Hawking and one by Michio Kaku that, to this day, sit on a shelf at my parents' house unread. I would recommend Singh's book as a nice book that should be at your level, and in fact it was the one recommended to me by some professors who I bugged with questions about the universe when I was around your age. Also, Bryson's book is a good survey look at a lot of different scientific topics, not just astrophysics/cosmology specific; I enjoyed it quite a lot.

As far as reaching out to people, I would recommend trying to connect with some scientists via email. That's what I did, and they were more responsive than I expected (realize that some of the people will simply not respond, probably because your email will get buried in their inbox, not out of any ill-will towards you).

At this point, I'll just stop writing because you've more than likely stopped reading, but if you are still reading this, I'd be more than happy to talk with you about science, what parts interest(ed) me, etc.

Sure. I mean, instead of looking at the Big Bang, I'd direct your research to background radiation. There's some interesting books on cosmology you might tap into. <http://www.amazon.com/Microwave-Background-Radiation-Cambridge-Astrophysics/dp/0521358086> and <http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/astronomy/bigbang.html#evidence> and then <http://www.amazon.com/Cycles-Time-Extraordinary-View-Universe/dp/0307278468/ref=asap_B000AQ045A_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1412890592&sr=1-3>. The last book goes even deeper with patterns found within background radiation, Penrose taking this data as evidence that another universe existed before ours. It's really fascinating. I wish I had time to read Penrose's Road to Reality and then this Cycles of Time.

Btw, i'm proud you have left this new-earth Christianity. Of course, you're welcome to believe whatever you want to, but I think we can have more mature discussions since we both appreciate evidence. And also, thank you for not getting defensive about the Big Bang and Evolution. It's really hard to have conversations with Christians about anything related to science! At least for me.