The BBC documentary series Space is sure to inspire purchases of the accompanying coffee-table book. Some will buy it for the pictures—and they won't be disappointed. Young stars eject gas and dust in pearl-coloured billows that wrinkle up under their own weight until they resemble morel. Radiation sculpts a molecular cloud into fingers clustered with rings of newborn suns. Those who buy Space for its account of the Cosmos, however, are in for the biggest treat. The author, John Gribbin, is a scientist of some reputation, having helped calculate the best current estimate of the age of the universe. But it is in the rarely celebrated role of popular educator that Gribbin excels. He is a most prolific science writer (not least thanks to his wife Mary, a science writer in her own right and John's frequent and adept collaborator). In Space, Gribbin's task is to cover everything cosmological. In the first few pages, we learn that the Sun is a star. By the end, we're slipping comfortably and entertainingly through mini essays on quantum fluctuations, the negativity of gravity and how to create your own universe. And this in a book of only 230 pages, many filled by pictures. This book would inspire a budding astronomer—if only her dad wouldn't keep nicking it. The design is lively and not too fussy. "Topic guides" in the margins relate articles together in themed reading plans; they look naff, but are genuinely useful. The bibliography is a bit short—but who wouldn't be left wanting more after such an exhilarating introduction? —Simon Ings
Author
John R. Gribbin is a British science writer, an astrophysicist, and a visiting fellow in astronomy at the University of Sussex. The topical range of his prolific writings includes quantum physics, biographies of famous scientists, human evolution, the origins of the universe, climate change and global warming. His also writes science fiction. John Gribbin graduated with his bachelor's degree in physics from the University of Sussex in 1966. Gribbin then earned his master of science (M.Sc.) degree in astronomy in 1967, also from the Univ. of Sussex, and he earned his Ph.D. in astrophysics from the University of Cambridge (1971). In 1968, Gribbin worked as one of Fred Hoyle's research students at the Institute of Theoretical Astronomy, and wrote a number of stories for New Scientist about the Institute's research and what were eventually discovered to be pulsars. In 1974, Gribbin published, along with Stephen Plagemann, a book titled The Jupiter Effect, that predicted that the alignment of the planets in quadrant on one side of the Sun on March 10, 1982 would cause gravitational effects that would trigger earthquakes in the San Andreas fault, possibly wiping out Los Angeles and its suburbs. Gribbin repudiated The Jupiter Effect in the July 17, 1980, issue of New Scientist magazine in which he stated that he had been "too clever by half". In 1984, Gribbin published In Search of Schrodinger's Cat: Quantum Physics and Reality, the book that he is best known for, which continues to sell well 28 years after publication. It has been described as among the best of the first wave of physics popularisations preceding Stephen Hawking's multi-million-selling A Brief History of Time. Gribbin's book has been cited as an example of how to revive an interest in the study of mathematics. In 2006, Gribbin took part in a BBC radio 4 broadcast as an "expert witness". Presenter Matthew Parris discussed with Professor Kathy Sykes and Gribbin whether Einstein "really was a 'crazy genius' ". At the 2009 World Conference of Science Journalists, the Association of British Science Writers presented Gribbin with their Lifetime Achievement award.
