A compact illustrated guide to cosmology: creation myths, Newtonian mechanics, galaxies, Hubble, the Big Bang, expansion and the possible fate of the universe.

It has that very pleasing old science-book quality where astronomy, myth, art history, diagrams, and speculative wonder all sit together on the page without feeling embarrassed about it. It's a beautiful little intellectual object: part popular science, part visual history of cosmological imagination. You get Shiva, Egyptian cosmology, Newton’s telescope, Andromeda, island universes, gravitational law, and the immense human comedy of looking at the sky and deciding it must mean something. Good for readers of astronomy, history of science, cosmology, illustrated science books, vintage Thames & Hudson / New Horizons-style publishing, and anyone who likes science writing that still has some metaphysical fizz in it.

Thames & Hudson / New Horizons paperback edition. Good second-hand condition from photos, with light shelfwear and handling to the cover. Internally illustrated throughout, with colour images and diagrams.