Through the Eyes of Hubble: The Birth, Life, and Violent Death of Stars

This book has been sitting on the shelf in our office for years, and I just picked it up recently. Now, I have always been fairly interested in star formation, and this book only increased my thirst for more knowledge about stellar activity. To be helpful, the author gives a brief theory on the origin of the universe (and also how intense a star's explosion can really be). Naeye's writing is candid and to the point (some of what he said made me laugh), and provides a fairly easy and yet still enjoyable read, even for those who don't have a vast knowledge of space (such as myself). Strewn throughout the book, usually after considerable explanations of what exactly goes on within a star, are simple analogies that compare size, weight, and other aspects of stellar bodies to help drive the idea home. The book also goes on to introduce the Hubble Space Telescope and to explain how vital it is to astronomers, astrophysicists, and to the research of our surrounding galaxy. Although this explanation of the Telescope and its invention isn't very lengthy, it is very easy to understand and is as interesting as the rest of the book. Accompanying the author's praises of the Telescope's contributions to the scientific community are photos taken by Hubble, which range from "small" nebulae to images of gigantic galaxies parallel to our own. In my own opinion, these photos help to create a picture of what is actually out there all around us; they prove that what is in the universe is not only beautiful, but incredibly complex and sometimes vital to other star formations. All in all, this book is an essential piece to the collection of someone who wants to know more about the world we live in (but does not want to spend years in school to do it). It's like taking several college lectures with your favorite professor and condensing it into a satisfying book that everyone interested in science should read.

This is a nice little book, with great, full color pictures from the Hubble space telescope. The pictures are interspersed with descriptions of how stars are formed, live and die. The explanations of the images are technical enough to be informative, but not so technical that they are boring. After reading this book, you realize just how small you are in comparison to a planetary nebula ;)