Cycles of Fire: Stars, Galaxies, and the Wonder of Deep Space

by William K. Hartmann, Ron Miller, Pamela Lee

From super-hot White Dwarfs and invisible Black Holes to the star-making soup of distant galaxies, Cycles of Fire unveils and explains the fascinating "geography" of the universe. Four-color illustrations.

Genres: Science

189 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1987

Reviews

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating to see astronomy on the cusp of discovering the first exoplanets and the author’s interpretation of their significance in the search for extraterrestrial life. This was a gift from an old girlfriend I’m surprised I never read cover to cover before. The illustrations are phenomenal.

[Joseph Hirsch · Rating 4 out of 5]

I once saw stars described as space factories, or manufactories. They’re definitely much more than that, but that’s a good working definition. Most of the elements in the universe are hydrogen or helium, with all the rest—including us—coming as a result of the fusion between the two. Joni Mitchell had it right: we are stardust.
Cycles of Fire does a good job of taxonomizing the various kinds of stars out there in the universe, as well as the substellar objects that don’t quite qualify. There is also some speculation about potential types of stars that are theoretical for now, but may indeed be found in the future. And, of course, because astronomy is moving so quickly—both in terms of technology and private funding of research—new things were no doubt discovered since this book appeared. No doubt if there are more recent editions, they’ve corrected any errors within, and confirmed or shot down various speculations.
Paintings accompany each page, artistic license given to the illustrator but constrained by scientific reality, and plausibility. There is a small section about exoplanets and exobiology, in which the authors speculate about the kinds of creatures and worlds that may be waiting out there for us. A quick recapitulation of the famed “Drake Equation,” which rates our chances, neither throws cold water on the enterprise or makes it seem easy. It is what it is, there in a stark mathematical formula that you can take or leave, but Drake did his work and the answer checks out. As far as we know.
There’s definitely a “Milky Way” centric view of space here, with units logarithmically based on solar masses, for instance. That’s to be expected, as, assuming we escape our galactical cradle, we’ll need some kind of basic measuring stick to feel our way around. God (or Nature, or whatever force you invoke) willing, we won’t run into those hungry aliens Damon Knight warned us about in the pulps a million years ago in his classic tale, To Serve Man. Recommended, for the layperson with an astronomical bent who wants to make their coffee table offerings a bit more cosmic.