Universe: The Definitive Visual Guide [Paperback]

Martin Rees (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 19, 2008

The definitive guide to the universe, from the Solar System to the farthest limits of space, for the whole family is now available in paperback.

Martin J. Rees, well-known cosmologist, is the author of Just Six Numbers: The Deep Forces that Shape the Universe (2001, pb) and Our Final Hour: A scientist's warning: How terror, error, and environmental disaster threaten humankind's future in this century (2004, pb), as well as other books for the trade and academic audiences.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Notable for its outstanding color illustrations, this work was written by a team of astronomers and science writers in language accessible to high-school students and the general reader. The topically arranged entries range in length from a short paragraph to several pages. This book should be of interest to anyone who appreciates the wonders of the universe and would enjoy a beautifully illustrated guided tour by experts.

The volume is divided into three sections. The first, called "Introduction," presents an overview of basic concepts, organized under the broad topics "What Is the Universe?" "The Beginning and End of the Universe," "The View from Earth," and "Exploring Space." The next section, "Guide to the Universe," focuses on the features of the solar system, the Milky Way, and the regions beyond. Among the topics that are covered here are the planets; asteroids, comets, and meteors; the stars; and galaxy clusters. Treatment is quite detailed; for example, more than 15 pages are devoted to Mars. Finally, the book has a section called "The Night Sky," with entries on each of the 88 constellations, including maps. Seventy pages of sky guides, which provide both background information and double-page monthly sky guides for both the northern and southern latitudes for 2005-2012, should prove highly useful to sky gazers. Throughout the text, sidebars offer brief profiles of astronomers and others, highlight discoveries and investigations, or describe space-related stories and myths. An eight-page glossary offers succinct definitions of key terms. A well-constructed index provides subject access to the contents.

Stunning color photographs and illustrations, abundant on every page, supplement the text. Images from space probes and telescopes are interspersed with digital artworks. The illustrations alone make this volume well worth the modest cost. The four-volume Encyclopedia of Astronomy and Astrophysics (Institute of Physics, 2001), written for an academic and professional audience, is a far more comprehensive (and therefore more expensive) set and is particularly suited for academic and special libraries. Universe, written for a general audience, is highly recommended for high-school, academic, and public libraries. Nancy Cannon
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 512 pages
• Publisher: DK (May 19, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0756636701
• ISBN-13: 978-0756636708
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 8.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (85 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #30,618 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #37 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Astronomy & Space Science > Astrophysics & Space Science
  • #48 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Astronomy & Space Science > Astronomy

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

104 of 106 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Yes, the best visual DK book yet., November 28, 2005

By 

Gavin Scott (Sunnyvale, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Universe: The Definitive Visual Guide (Hardcover)

DK has been putting out this sort of high end "picture book" for a number of years now, but this is the first one I've seen that really packs the information in on every page. Some of their past titles look great but turn out to be rather light and fluffy on actual information once you get past the pictures.

But this book abounds with both gorgeous images and a sufficient amount of textual information that it goes beyond anything they've done before.

Browsing through this (very large) book, I repeatedly came across pages where I said to myself "ok, I need to own this book if only for that page".

I would highly recommend this book for anyone interested in the Universe (hopefully that's everyone :-) and definitely as an educational book for kids.

Another thing that sold me is that the overall editor of the book is Sir Martin Rees, who I greatly admire as a cosmologist and humanist. All his books are worth reading as well.

So, this one gets my highest recommendation, and I think you'll really enjoy it.

G.

52 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Invaluable Resource for all Ages and Educational Levels, December 3, 2005

By 

J. Brian Watkins (Laie, Hawaii) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Universe: The Definitive Visual Guide (Hardcover)

Years ago I used to love going to the library and thumbing through the Time-Life Science and Nature series. It has always been a disappointment that the Time-Life folks failed to provide an updated edition. But hats off and deep bows to DK publishing for this volume--the pictures alone are staggering but the quality of the writing takes the work to MUST own status. I can't help but think that if more of these had been laying around my home I may have managed to avoid the trap of law school and made something of myself.

The science is carefully explained at various levels in a graphically-dense format that allows readers of pretty much all backgrounds to find something interesting and useful. I find the volume particularly necessary here in Southern California, where many seem to possess a Ptolemaic sense that the world revolves around us. In the opening chapter there is a graphic that shows the structure of the Universe progress through orders of magnitude beginning with the solar system and ending up with a map of the universe containing great filaments consisting of superclusters of galaxies--mind blowing stuff. This book succeeds precisely because it convinces its reader to independently pursue the subject. It certainly got me out to look at the couple dozen or so stars/planets (and that Moon thing) visible from my LA-area backyard.

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Worth every star, January 31, 2007

By 

J. S. Radford (Woodside, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Universe: The Definitive Visual Guide (Hardcover)

Buy it! This is DK at their best. I've panned a DK Atlas recently (gorgeous graphics ruined by brain-dead binding). This book revives my respect for this publisher.

The pictures are not full-page for the most part but there are many of them and all are gorgeous and all are surrounded with logically laid out explanations of the Universe from Earth out to forever.

Oddly, it seems at first, there are over 150(!) pages of constellation and sky charts at the end of the book (starting after over 300 pages have gone by). Normally such a thing would be visually uninteresting except as a practical guide to star-gazing. And compared to the preceeding 330 pages, that's true, for me anyway. But flipping throught the pages, I felt inspired to (someday) go out and buy a really good telescope and use their charts to find the features highlighted on many of the pages. It's enticing. They sometimes show you a little inset photo of some marvelous nebula or galaxy or the like and then show you where to find such.

Buy it! It's both coffee-table wonderful and highly educational. A serious but accessible work that way.