Art of Play - Wonder by Design

Forty Ways to Know a Star

Forty Ways to Know a Star - Main image
$15 $30 In stock

Category: Architecture

Stars, the building blocks of the universe, are simply luminous spheres of plasma held together by gravity, but there are many kinds and many remarkable examples. Astoundingly, there are at least 100 billion stars in our galaxy and an estimated two trillion galaxies in our visible universe. Understanding the birth, life, and death of stars is key to a knowledge of astronomy.

40 Ways to Know a Star offers forty short essays that explore everything from the Milky Way to planetary nebulae, from how a star is born to the colors of stars, each enhanced by a color illustration or graphic image. Dr. Scudder, whose popular Astroquizzical blog features an engaging "ask an astronomer" format, writes in a way that makes complex physics accessible. Magnificent imagery of the heavens, including ten color plates featuring NASA photographs, makes this space book as enticing as it is informative.

Customer Reviews (4.8 / 5 · 5 reviews)

Mia L. ★★★★★

I've read a lot of astronomy books, but this one finally makes the different classes of stars feel like characters rather than footnotes—the plasma physics is explained clearly without dumbing it down, which is rare. The section on remarkable individual examples had me flipping pages past midnight.

Chloe Z. ★★★★★

The star classification charts alone are worth the price, and the way it breaks down plasma physics makes it surprisingly readable for a non-scientist. I’ve already flipped back to the section on red giants three times just to marvel at the numbers.

Penelope ★★★★★

I was worried a book on stellar physics would put me to sleep, but the way it builds up from that simple plasma-and-gravity definition into the sheer variety of stars kept me turning pages all weekend. The section on remarkable examples alone made me want to go stargazing immediately.

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