100 Billion Suns: The Birth, Life, and Death of the Stars (Paperback)

by Rudolf Kippenhahn (Author), Jean Steinberg (Translator) "The earth revolves around the sun at a rate of 30 kilometers per second in an almost circular orbit measuring 300 million kilometers in diameter..." (more)
Key Phrases: hydrogenous matter, initial sun, radium nucleus, Milky Way, Delta Cephei, Zeta Aurigae (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
An admirable introduction to the difficult subject of stellar evolution accurately aimed at the general reader. -- Review

Review
Writing with Asimov-like clarity, [Rudolf Kippenhahn] makes exciting reading of the advances modern technology has brought to our knowledge of what is really happening out there in the Milky Way and far beyond.
(Publishers Weekly )

Kippenhahn has produced an excellent and most readable book. . . . Come on all you amateurs or armchair enthusiasts out there, read it and enjoy astrophysics as it really is!
(New Scientist )

A thoroughly delightful and informative book.
(The New York Times Book Review )

An admirable introduction to the difficult subject of stellar evolution accurately aimed at the general reader.
(Nature )

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Product Details

• Paperback: 280 pages
• Publisher: Princeton University Press (April 19, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0691087814
• ISBN-13: 978-0691087818
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,282,964 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Readable and authoritative guide to stellar evolution, February 15, 2001

By	Kevin W. Parker (Greenbelt, MD) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I read a lot of astronomy books, so any one book tends only to reinforce what I know already, plus just a little bit of additional information.

This book was different. I learned a lot about star formation and particularly about the meaning of the ubiquitous Hertzsprung-Russell diagram. The diagram is obligatory in a discussion of any astronomy other than planetary, but it tends to be described rather than explained. Here Kipenhahn goes through the life of stars of various sizes, showing their evolution along the H-R diagram and why the "main sequence" is so thickly populated (simply, because that's when the stars are burning hydrogen, which is what they do most but not all of the time).

Once done with the basics, he goes on to cover binary stars, neutron stars, and other stellar oddities. He also devotes a chapter to planetary formation and the possibility of life on other planets. Three brief but valuable appendices cover the measurement of stellar velocities, distances, and masses.

This book is a treasure and an authoritative work on the topic. Highly recommended.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice book, December 3, 2008

By	shopper1 (Arlington, VA USA) - See all my reviews

Very good book, it was able to keep me interested and I could learn some new stuff, building on what I've already studied. This book is pretty brainy, there is no fluff. The print is nice and large. I got it very cheap.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars galactical, July 1, 2000

By	deliandreadis (drama, greece) - See all my reviews

with out question one of the most exciting books about star evolution.