A Star Called the Sun

by George Gamow

Book by Gamow, George

Genres: Science, Astronomy, Physics

208 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1964

About the author

George Gamow (Russian pronunciation: [ˈɡaməf:]; March 4 [O.S. February 20:] 1904 – August 19, 1968), born Georgiy Antonovich Gamov (Георгий Антонович Гамов), was a theoretical physicist and cosmologist born in the Russian Empire. He discovered alpha decay via quantum tunneling and worked on radioactive decay of the atomic nucleus, star formation, stellar nucleosynthesis, big bang nucleosynthesis, cosmic microwave background, nucleocosmogenesis and genetics.

Reviews

[Darjeeling · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars rather than 5 just because it's a rather old book now and probably out of date.
It's pretty heavy going, I understood most of the text, about half of the illustrations, and almost none of the equations. And there are allot of equations. As with other Gamow books, I feel compelled to brush up on my maths so I can understand this better. Gonna keep up with my Khan Academy courses and try to get my brain into better shape.🧠💪🏻

[Ray Savarda · Rating 3 out of 5]

George has an outstanding ability to discuss complex issues clearly, always has.

Would be 4 stars, but the book is so old the info is a bit outdated. But only some of it.

Covers a lot of physics details along with more general sun-based issues, and all the way to cosmological topics like binary and tertiary stars, and general star lifecycles and the fusion mechanisms that run stars (though likely somewhat outdated - I'm not an expert).

[Jose Moa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A monographic book over the sun his structure ,the magnetic structure of his spots,the nuclear processes in her core:the carbón cicle and the proton-proton chain,his life and death;also touchs other clases of stars,explains the Hertzsprung-Russel diagram and the Chandesakar limit;all in the great popularicing style of Gamow

[Hemen Kalita · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was my first ever science book written by a foreign writer. I still read it time to time. Even after 60+ years of publication this book is still relevant and educative. George Gamow was one of the best popular science writers.