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Author:
John Gribbin, Mary Gribbin
By Penguin
One of the most fabulous revelations afforded by modern cosmology is the fact that we are all stars, literally. The elements which comprise our bodies (like iron or oxygen) were all forged in the burning cores of distant suns, before being flung across the endless wastes of space by the enormous force of stellar explosions. Great stuff! Now well-known writer and respected astrophysicist John Gribbin has taken this fairy-tale bit of Big Science and used it as the central premise for a book: which describes how the cosmos made us, and what we can therefore make of the cosmos. It's essentially a biography of man from the molecular point of view, with diversions into evolution, astronomy, geology, extra terrestrial life, and so on. One of the more poetic notions covered is that of "panspermia", the idea that the seeds of life are continually being carried across the universe--like so many sycamore keys in an autumn wood. The author definitely sides with those who believe the answer to life is "out there". As always with John Gribbin, the writing is fresh and accessible, the thinking clear if occasionally complex. The real joy of Stardust is its perspective: in contrast to so many...
 Luminous stuff by science-writing luminary!, 2001-09-14
John Gribbin's work is always readable, and particularly fascinating to those with a non-scientific background like myself. But with Stardust he excels himself. Taking the simple premiss that everything in the world (including yourself!) is made out of the hydrogen and helium from the very first stars of the Big Bang, Gribbin weaves a tale as luminous as any he has ever written. In prose that is pure and highly entertaining, this old war-horse of science writing provides a skilled explanation of a difficult subject. Fascinating stuff!
List Price: £38.95
Our Price: £30.67
Author:
James Binney, Michael Merrifield
By Princeton University Press
The best book on Galactic Astronomy in the Universe!, 2004-12-06
This book is a superb review of galactic astronomy. With over a thousand references listed in the appendix of the book, this book gives an excellent overview on the state of the subject up to 1998. It contains almost everything you might want to know about the observational physics of galaxies, from the properties of stars and the interstellar medium, to globular clusters and stellar kinematics. Perhaps my only complaint is that it doesn't deal with physics beyond the scale of galaxies (such as large scale structure in the cosmos). But if you need a textbook on the observational aspects of galaxies themselves, then this is the only book you need. Sure, you probably need an astrophysics degree to fully understand this book, but if you do, then you'll understand why this is a very good book indeed!
List Price: £9.95
Our Price: £8.96
Author:
Sir Patrick Moore
By Canopus Publishing Limited
 Entertaining, interesting and informative, 2001-11-16
Books on the star of Bethlehem have been common over the last few years, but this one does genuinely stand out for two reasons; firstly, its style, uniquely belonging to Dr Moore, makes it extremely readable and easy going - perfect as a stocking filler. Secondly, it gives an honest and engaging account of ALL the possibilities, before plumping for the author's own theory; a new idea which has not been expressed before. I also was impressed by the detail; bothering to show accurate charts of the sky from Bethlehem 2000 years ago, for example. The only quibble I have is that perhaps the subject is too amorphous to be dealt with in book form - but this is by far the best attempt and above all more fun! Highly recommended.
List Price: £37.00
Our Price: £29.76
Author:
Dina Prialnik
By Cambridge University Press
Essential and clear, 2003-09-02
As an astrophysicist, I have read dozens of complex, obscure and formulae-laden books on the topic, therefore I know how difficult is to find a clear, yet thorough, book on stellar evolution. This is that book. Prialnik does an excellent job introducing the subject, since it is easy to read and full of clear and concise explanations. Probably the best book for an undergraduate introductory course on stellar evolution I have ever come across. It's also the best quick-reference book I have in my library.
Congratulations, Dina!
List Price: £57.50
Our Price: £42.49
Author:
Malcolm S. Longair
By Springer
A lucid and authoritative exposition., 2001-10-10
This book is an excellent advanced undergraduate/graduate text that lucidly and comprehensively covers the area of extragalactic astronomy from observations of galaxies and galaxy evolution, through to a dicussion of many aspects of observational cosmology. Professor Longair is an excellent writer and advanced concepts are covered clearly and with authority. The book also provides a comprehensive introduction to relativistic astrophysics and is therefore fairly self-contained.
List Price: £32.99
Our Price: £31.23
Author:
Edwin F. Taylor, John Archibald Wheeler
By Addison Wesley
wonderful and original introduction to General Relativity!, 2003-09-03
books on General Relativity (GR) are usually very difficult to most people because the maths required to describe the theory are quite advanced. Therefore if you don't know anything about differential geometry and tensor calculus, you will be unable to fully appreciate the beauty of GR...or so it was, until this book appeared. Wheeler and Taylor have successfully written a book on the subject with simple maths that everybody (or almost) can understand and use. This is a daunting task, as anyone familiar with GR knows, but the authors had the great idea of introducing GR just using the metric equations, not Einstein's field equations, as usual. Despite this, be aware that the book is not as easy as it seems at first sight. If you're not familiar with GR, this is not the best book to begin with, unless you're an undergraduate student, since you should be acquainted with Special Relativity and basic physics first. Actually, being myself an astrophysicist I would recommend it to any (astro)physics student or even to anyone studying GR at an advanced level, since it covers almost all the topics and applications of the theory while keeping them clear and not obscured by complex equations. I especially loved the examples about space curvature using shells, the use of (very simple) variational calculus to underline the invariant quantities, the "projects", which are long exercises explained step by step or the introduction of a "questioner" that always tries to find a flaw in the explanation on every page.
Those readers familiar with the subject will realize that the style and tone used throughout the book is very similar to that of Gravitation (the Bible of GR), something not surprising since Wheeler is coauthor of both. Already a classic, I wish all books about physics were so clear and wonderful!
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