Book 1

Stars

by Greg Brown

Published 11 February 2021
Whether stargazing with the naked eye or observing deep space with the largest telescopes in the world, humans have a seemingly neverending fascination with the stars. Our ancestors saw patterns in their random arrangement, inventing both tales of legendary heroes and the pastime of dot-to-dot in one fell swoop.

But it's only in the last century or so that the natures of these distant lights have been revealed - and it's more incredible than any legend.

How are stars born? How long do they live? And just how many times can you read the word 'trillion' before it starts sounding made up?

Find out as astronomer Dr Greg Brown of Royal Observatory Greenwich takes a short diversion from obsessing over black holes to illuminate us about the lives of stars - ending in black holes, naturally.

Book 7

The Universe

by Greg Brown

Published 10 March 2022
Given that it includes literally everything in existence, it’s not surprising that the Universe is the source of some of the greatest mysteries in physics. How big is it? How did it begin? And, perhaps more worryingly, how will it end?

Through cosmology, the study of the evolution and structure of the Universe, experts have been attempting to untangle these tricky topics for centuries. They have found the faint traces of the Big Bang and shown that our Universe is expanding at a phenomenal rate. However, while their efforts have forged our core understanding of physics and earned them a number of Nobel Prizes, there is much that eludes us still.

Explore the secrets of the cosmos with astronomer Dr Greg Brown as he entertains our fascination with impossible questions in
this pocket guide to everything that ever was and ever will be.