Space

Despite a rather kitsch presentation – circular pages, plus a wallet containing a star poster, postcards, and stickers – this is a very solid up-to-date book on astronomy, with sections on The Sun and its System, rocky planets, giant planets, minor members (asteroids et al), realm of the stars, Milky Way, beyond the Milky Way (galaxies and clusters), and a Reference Section, including timeline, glossary and index. Record breaker panels and Focus on… features pick out notable objects and Fact boxes give quantitative detail. Enjoys the high DK standard of illustration. Spacecraft are mentioned where they actually give, or are expected to find, information, happily without the all too common Ooh-ah attitude to space travel. There is admirable emphasis on the evolving properties of the Universe and its contents. This reviewer’s only cavil: the common claim that ‘At the outset, the Universe was incredibly small…’ (p.120), hardly consistent with ‘The Universe has no real edge…’ (p.116).