One Universe: At Home in the Cosmos

Don't let the large size and lush graphics fool you--One Universe is no coffee-table book. This grand tour explores the staggering vastness of space and the incomprehensibly tiny pieces that fit together to make our bodies, our planet, comets, and cosmic rays. Astrophysicists Neil de Grasse Tyson and Charles Liu of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City and science journalist Robert Irion have teamed up to put a planetarium in a book, and while you'll have to provide your own choral background music, the images are sharp and beautiful and the accompanying text is clear and engaging. The authors clearly love their subject and their work and even the most casual reader will find the book as inescapable as a black hole.

See supernovae, eclipses, and the end of the universe in all its quiet glory--but just as your eyes are drawn to the pretty pictures, your mind will seek out the explanations and elaborations accompanying them. Tyson is well known as the director of the Hayden Planetarium and has a brilliant knack for exciting people about astronomy without condescending or diluting; in fact, his respect for the public's intelligence is one of the best features of One Universe. Whether you want to get the latest on time and space, inspire students, or (dare we say it) show off your coffee table, this is well worth checking out. --Rob Lightner