The Cosmos Explained: A history of the universe from its beginning to today and beyond

by Charles Liu

The Cosmos Explained is an exciting and beautifully designed book that charts the life of our universe from the Big Bang to the present day and beyond. Starting with the moment of the Big Bang—at exactly one ten-millionth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a second—this book charts a history of space and time all the way through the evolution of our solar system, the birth of stars and the formation of life on Earth, to the future of our galaxy and beyond. With deeply insightful and fascinating text by Hayden Planetarium Associate Professor Charles Liu, who also hosts the immensely popular StarTalk podcast, this book is an accessible and enthralling gateway into the mysteries of space, time and the universe.Pinpoint exactly where you are in space and time using the timeline at the bottom of every page, and explore the history of the cosmos and the science behind it through beautiful telescope images and striking illustrations. Packaged in a unique retro design that reflects the 1960s cosmonaut era but still feels modern and relevant today, this title is as rich with information as it is with stunning visualisations of the concepts and bodies detailed within.An ideal gift for anyone interested in space or curious about the cosmos, The Cosmos Explained is a unique and entertaining timeline of life, the universe, and everything!  

Genres: Astronomy, Nonfiction, Science

192 pages, Hardcover

Published April 12, 2022

About the author

Charles Tsun-Chu Liu is an American astronomer and astronomy educator. His research interests include merging and colliding galaxies, active galactic nuclei, and the star formation history of the universe. Liu is one of the original team members of the Cosmic Evolution Survey (COSMOS), the largest contiguous deep field ever observed with the Hubble Space Telescope. He is a former director of the William E. Macaulay Honors College and The Verrazano School at the City University of New York’s College of Staten Island. He currently serves as a professor of physics and astronomy at the College of Staten Island, and as President of the Astronomical Society of New York. In 2019, he was named a Fellow of the American Astronomical Society.

Reviews

[Theediscerning · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now, if I were me, I wouldn't be reading reviews by the likes of me if I needed to learn quantum physics and the entire history of the universe, from its origin point to beyond now. If the book to hand contains mistakes, I couldn't tell now, could I? All I can say is that with a kind of book that seems too easy to do badly, this appears to do it all rather well – the design is fine, the writing terse, without too many details and too much chuntering on at once. But early on it did seem to lose me, in giving, well, an asymmetrical amount of time (ie not enough) to the symmetry-breaking theories of the early universe, meaning that at crucial early points I was only able to follow one of the two sets of theories. But I persevered, to find one or two other, minor hiccups – the book discusses ejecta from black holes, and pages later calls them quasars – I knew that was what it had been talking about, but it never used the term until too late.

Things like that aside, this is quite a friendly read – again, it's always better to have this in bite-sized chunks, I find, and the narrative format is made use of quite well. The bites come down to small box-outs concerning certain scientists, and an incredible amount of them are female, showing an agenda but in this case most rightly and educationally. What it is is highly pictorial, and yet is complex to a quite deceptive degree, so while half of every spread seems design-led at no turn of the page do you ever feel short-changed by what you're getting. That quality should imply a four star rating for this; the idea I was seeing where improvement could be made might imply it should hover between that and three. Luckily it has the scope, breadth and just about the authority to push it back up. But that is just a layman's thoughts.

[El · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's very explanatory and simple. It has great images/ graphics throughout all the pages explaining the different cosmic events. I really liked it.

Is a captivating and visually stunning exploration of cosmic phenomena. Its simplicity makes complex concepts about the universe accessible, while the vibrant images and graphics throughout each page bring the wonders of space to life. From black holes to supernovas, every event is not only explained clearly but also accompanied by visuals that make the content both engaging and educational.

I was particularly impressed by how seamlessly the explanations and illustrations work together to ignite curiosity and deepen understanding. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

[Tony · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book has limited but explanatory text that is backed up by easily understandable pictures and graphics. Really enjoyable and packed with information.

[Tania · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love it! One of my favorite recent reads on this topic.

[Pedro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un poco dificil entender los primeros capitulos, por lo complicado del tema y el idioma, pero Charles tiene una forma de explicar que lo hace sentir llevadero y entretenido.

[Michelle Ogden · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love listening to Charles Liu on Star Talk so I snagged this advance copy of The Cosmos Explained. Charles is an amazing educator who has a gift for explaining complex ideas about the possible creation and end of our universe. What happened in those first moments of the big bang when the rules of physics did not apply? How did the basic building blocks of matter come into being and what could be the future end of everything?

Charles' text and simple graphics explain these concepts in a book for all ages. This is a must to have on hand when you get those hard questions about why the universe is the way it is or what the cosmic microwave background is.

[Hannah Peeler · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was such a cute book! I am a very visual learner so this book was full of color and helpful content. As a kid, I loved the night sky and as an adult, I feel like I am not too sure of how it all works. I really want to keep learning about things I don't understand so this book is a great way to do that. I didn't take physics in high school or in college so I am grateful to have it explained in a visual way. Physics is not the easiest thing to understand so I am really glad to have gotten an overview of the big ideas first.