Cosmic Chronicles: A user’s guide to the Universe

by Fred Watson Newsouth Books RRP $32.99

DID YOU KNOW that the first female radio astronomer in the world (Ruby Payne Scott) was Australian? Or that the Sun seems to release a green flash just as it rises or sets? Fred Watson’s Cosmos Chronicles is full of facts and discoveries about the wild Universe we exist in.

While the book’s selling point is its up-to-the-minute information, with many sections containing discoveries made in 2019, it is Watson’s undoubted mastery of the yarn that is the book’s true value. With humour, grace, and obvious enthusiasm for the subjects, he spins stories as he takes readers on a journey throughout space and time. Indeed, the stories of how knowledge that we take for granted came to be known is where the book shines.

If you’re a hardcore stargazer, some sections might not bring much new. But if you’re up for a wide-ranging exploration with Australia’s Astronomer-at-large (a title apparently chosen as it required the fewest changes to the sign on his office door) it is approachable, with new information and obscure facts to keep the most curious-minded entertained. Solid fodder for summer reading.