Universe: A Journey from Earth to the Edge of the Cosmos [Hardcover]

Nicholas Cheetham (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 22, 2009 | ISBN-10: 1905204000 | ISBN-13: 978-1905204007 | Edition: First Edition

Embark on the most astounding of odysseys, a voyage into realms not only stranger than we can imagine but also far, far more beautiful. "Universe: A Journey from Earth to the Edge of the Cosmos" leads us into a celestial panorama that extends for 130 billion trillion kilometres (80 billion trillion miles) in every direction, and allows us to explore nearly 200 of the most extraordinary astronomical views ever uncovered. Complementing these up-to-date and spectacular images are enlightening descriptions of the planets, stars, nebulae, white dwarfs, supernovae, black holes and other exotica that populate our universe.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Nicolas Cheetham studied at the University of Edinburgh where he read Classics and Byzantine history as well as Artificial Intelligence, before working as an editor specializing in popular science. He is the author of Earth: A New Perspective and lives in London.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Quercus; First Edition edition (July 22, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1905204000
• ISBN-13: 978-1905204007
• Product Dimensions: 11.5 x 10.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #820,649 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars **Can you locate your Home Address in our MILKY WAY?**, January 23, 2006

By 

mcHaiku "nmi" (Brown County INDIANA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Universe: A Journey from Earth to the Edge of the Cosmos (Hardcover)

"UNIVERSE, a Journey from Earth TO THE EDGE OF THE COSMOS" is overwhelming. What else can be expected when the subject is our Universe?

Perhaps you remember a fad (mostly among boys?) to embellish the address inscribed in school textbooks: beginning with name, street, town & state, followed by "The U.S.A., North American continent, Planet Earth, The Milky Way, and ending: "THE UNIVERSE." Nicholas Cheetham, author & editor, takes the reader farther than that - on beyond the reaches of man's mind, using such sources as interplanetary probes and the Hubble Space Telescope. His (literally) soliid book contains the most currently available and glorious 'PORTRAITS' - numbering almost 200. All of these wonders are for us to see on the way to the edge of Space.

There are some like fireworks' displays, and others resembling the nanobodies in the bone marrow! Color, drama, EVEN SILENCE IS SOMEHOW VISIBLE in this wondrous photography. If you believe in a God of Creation there is plenty in this book to amaze you. The beauty of connectedness, formations, colors and shapes found in these photographs is mind-blowing. Should we close our minds to the possibility of understanding? NO! We need to learn a lesson in humility at the same time we seek out all the ways we can to learn more.

The 'table of contents' is presented in a unique horizontal chart that is a surprisingly easy aid to use. From our Solar System on pages 10-11 to the Pleiades (p.60), and Ghost Head Nebula (p.144), to 'The Mice' (p.198-99), we find our breathtaking way to the Hubble Ultra Deep Field galaxies that show order beginning to emerge from Chaos.

Explorers from our history books could only stare wordless if shown pictures of "this dawning of Time" & "the afterglow of the Big Bang itself." You don't have to be an astronomer to want to keep this book 'handy' ! You will want to refer often to its encyclopedic knowledge, the Glossary, and the magnificent, extraordinary beauty of these 'portraits'. And YES! (on pages 134-135) we are shown a dense field of nearly 10 million stars: the heart of our galaxy: THE MILKY WAY. Says mcHAIKU: 'How can we not live in awe of this, our Universe?' Absorb it, and share.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful, just beautiful, August 16, 2007

By 

Working Woman (Bicoastal (SF Bay area, NY)) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Universe (Hardcover)

This is the ultimate "picture" book.I originally bought this book from a pile of remaindered books at a local bookstore for my young children. I'm now buying the hardcover version for myself because it's so unique from an artistic and lay-scientific view.

After the 4-page introduction, the balance of the 217 pages are devoted to strikingly glorious images of astronomic phenomena. The book ends with a computer image of dark matter, the first I've ever seen. All of the images are accompanied by a brief explanatory paragraph and by a number indicating how far in light-years (or in the case of our solar system, light-minutes or -seconds) the given nebula, galaxy, etc. is from Earth. The pages are arranged in ascending order in distance. One could learn a lot from reading this or one can simply enjoy the visuals.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good overview, July 27, 2008

By 

Sasidhar Goteti "Dark matter" (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Universe a Journey From Earth to the Edge of the Cosmos (Paperback)

This is a very interesting book for beginners who are interested in astronomy and want to know more about the universe and the objects in the cosmos. The book starts at earth and ends at probably the farthest object known to humans with descriptions for every planet, moon, star, nebula and galaxies. It also comes with a glossary at the end if you are not sure about the definitions of certain words!!
A must have book in the collection :)