The Way the Universe Works

An admirable sibling of The Way Science Works (reviewed BfK No. 138), this large format book works outwards from the Solar System, with details of each planet, to the stars, the galaxies and the Universe as a whole. It gives the evolution of planetary, stellar and galactic structure, often neglected, due attention. Like its sibling, there are good illustrations, a glossary and simple experiments for 10+ readers. There is a useful ‘Timeline’ presentation of history of astronomy.

The text is clear, accurate, thorough and up-to-date. Minor cavils: the mechanics of ‘wall of death’ riding is ill-explained and the analogy with planets inappropriate; the difference between the Earth’s period of rotation and the length of the day is inadequately related to it motion round the Sun; the difficulty of the Foucault pendulum experiment, which demonstrates the Earth’s rotation, is severely understated.