Astronomy

Beginner's Guide (Oneworld Publications)

by William H. Waller

To study astronomy is to consider the most wondrous phenomena on the grandest of scales – the universe and all it contains.Beginning with our earliest explorations of the night sky, William Waller takes us on an enthralling journey through the Milky Way and far, far beyond. He combines science and history to show how our understanding of everything from black holes to the structure of the universe has evolved over time, illuminating past discoveries and offering contemporary insights into the cosmic histories of stars, planets and galaxies. Whether object of study or curiosity, the universe – and all it contains – is tantalisingly introduced here.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction

Unknown Binding

Reviews

[Jacob · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good primer for those interested in astronomy. Waller does a great job explaining the concepts and even some of the mathematical equations used for basic astronomy. The book is laid out in a manner where you build towards more complex topics, making sure you know whats going on. I also greatly appreciated how he treats the topics like a scientist, stating how ideas such as dark matter and energy and even black holes are as of now the best way of explaining phenomena, but could very well be proven incorrect (most likely won't but skepticism is important in science!). His love of science bleeds through, and the figures and graphs are super helpful. I'd recommend to anyone refreshing or learning anew.

[Kurt]

Does anyone else get really emotional and have existential panic attacks when reading about space? The subject has fascinated me since I was a kid and if I was better at math, I might have aspired to be an astronomical physicist someday. Anyway, this was more research for a story and I have to say it was pretty helpful. Going to be spouting a lot of jargon about star formation and classification in it now.