A History of the Universe in 21 Stars

Welbeck £12.99  HB

Most books that discuss our knowledge of the Universe do so in one of a relatively limited number of ways. They may travel out in space or back in time (though that’s actually the same thing! or sometimes give a historical account of discoveries. But A History of the Universe in 21 Stars (and 3 Imposters) takes a slightly different – and refreshing – approach.

The book runs through our basic understanding of the motions of the stars, then moves on to different types and what they tell us about how stars evolve, ascending in terms of age and mass of stars (from their birth to their death), before moving on to what we’ve learned about the Universe on a larger scale – which is where the three ‘imposters’ come in.

There are a good number of the usual suspects – Polaris, Algol, Betelgeuse etc – but there are some less common examples too. If asked to name 24 key stars, most astronomers probably wouldn’t list 61 Cygni or Eta Aquilae, though the reasons for their inclusion become apparent.

Being generally very easy to read, the style gets slightly more colloquial throughout the book, for example with a few pop culture references in the footnotes that give the impression of increasing familiarity with the author. The illustrations, largely comprising star maps, are clear and complement the professional production quality.

No knowledge of stargazing is required, though a little experience might help make sense of some of the directions. Overall, this is a very pleasant book to read.

★★★★★