A History of the Universe in 100 Stars

Quercus £16.99 ● HB PACKED WITH FACTS

With 100 billion stars in the Milky Way (and over a billion trillion in the observable Universe), how do you choose just 100 to represent the entire astronomical bestiary? Well, that is just what the author of this delightful book has done.

The result – a superb translation from the original German – is convincing. In a series of three-page vignettes, the author visits almost every conceivable type of celestial object known to modern science, from tiny underground sparks of neutrino energy to enigmatic dark energy blobs and hypothetical Planck stars. Along the way we encounter much of the necessary scientific background, all covered in an accessible and patient manner.

Some objects discussed are merely the starting points for historical developments rather than being interesting in their own right. But this doesn’t make those brief sketches any less relevant or intriguing. Some objects aren’t specific stars at all, but classes of stars, and some aren’t even stars. But we can forgive the author the judicious use of the noun in the book title; the volume could hardly be called ‘A History of the Universe in 100 Objects, Processes and Phenomena’!

The only minor downside to this book is that some of the topics are repeated, simply because the background material is required at different points throughout. But this is only really a problem if you decide to finish the book in a single sitting. Overall, dipped into occasionally, as the author expects, this is an excellent diversion for people of all levels of astronomical knowledge. ★★★★★