The Sun: A Very Short Introduction

Very Short Introductions #638

by Philip Judge

The Sun, as our nearest star, is of enormous importance for life on Earth - providing the warm radiation and light which allowed complex life to evolve. The Sun plays a key role in influencing our climate, whilst solar storms and high-energy events can threaten our communication infrastructure and satellites.

This Very Short Introduction explores what we know about the Sun, its physics, its structure, origins, and future evolution. Philip Judge explains some of the remaining puzzles about the Sun that still confound us, using elementary physics, and mathematical concepts. Why does the Sun form spots? Why does it flare? As he shows, these and other nagging difficulties relate to the Sun's continually variable magnetism, which converts an otherwise dull star into a machine for flooding interplanetary space with variable radiation, high-energy particles and magnetic ejections. Throughout, Judge highlights the many reasons that the Sun is important, and why scientists engage in solar research.

ABOUT THE SERIES:
The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Astronomy, Audiobook, Physics

144 pages, Paperback

Published July 1, 2020

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Claudia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although this isn't a very long book - it's a very short introduction of course - but the author tries to stuff as much information into this rather short book giving the reader a crash course in the most important star in the galaxy - - at least to us. Physics, origins, sunspots, what's a flare, basic stellar life cycle including the future that would yield to its death billions of years from now. Certainly there are books that go into more depth but this is basically an oversight which unfortunately has quite a bit of terminology that hopefully would have been defined in a printed copy if it included a glossary.

So the only other negative I can comment on is that as I was listening to the audio-book and there as continued reference to diagrams and charts, it made part of the information inaccessible.

2024-003

[Boyan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book deals with a very complex subject in a readable and understandable way which is so important when read by a layman like myself with a curious interest in but not necessarily in-depth knowledge of the subject.

[Gijs Limonard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some solid science writing, not as entertaining as it could be, the author chose to highlight almost exclusively the scientific tidbits of our sun; the cultural significance is mentioned only as an aside and the link to humanity, our biology, photosynthesis to name a few related topics, is not explored at all, but maybe that's asking too much from a very short introduction.

[Jonathan Dawson]

Philip Judge's book on the sun is difficult for the lay reader. I read quite a lot of popular science and this lies towards the less accessible end of the genre. I also found that the range of topics covered was quite limited, the majority of the text being focused on the sun's magnetic characteristics. Nuclear fusion barely got a mention, which did seem very strange. This book focused largely on the sun's outer layers and atmosphere and the text had little to say about what happens in the sun's core. I did find the book interesting, challenging though it was, but I believe that OUP should have made sure that this text took a more balanced approach thematically, in order to qualify for inclusion in its Very Short Introduction series. As a side note, the general standard of editing and proof-reading in this series is poor. I have read a number of titles and each has contained errors.

[Mihai · Rating 5 out of 5]

Way better than expected.