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Adam Dawson's Reviews > Universe: The Definitive Visual Guide
Universe: The Definitive Visual Guide
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3 / 5 for 'Universe - The Definitive Visual Guide' by Robert Dinwiddie
Well, this DK guide to the known universe is certainly a book of two halves!
Presentation-wise, this book is excellent, it has to be said - it is filled with stunning photographs and illustrations throughout, as well as informative text under logically progressive sub-headings, illustrated timelines, informative descriptions of stellar events, and lots of little stat / fact / info boxes.
The first half of the book is a solid 5/5, covering in wonderful detail, the universe itself and its theorised creation, then our solar system including all of the planets, moons and belts, the rest of our galaxy including other stars and solar systems, and then finally what may lie further afield. Thoroughly engrossing and beautifully presented.
Conversely, the second half is a solid 1/5. The whole second half is simply is a massive guide to the zodiacal sections of the night sky and where certain constellations are - perhaps it's just me, but this second half was boooooring. What a shameful waste of 220+ pages. Maybe there are people out there who want to read a 220+ page guide to what constellations are where, but I certainly don't. We could have had loads more pages about neutron stars, pulsars, quasars, comets, asteroids, nebulae....but instead, we've got a couple of hundred pages about the constellations and what zodiac sign they correspond to. Honestly, who cares?!
A truly wonderful 1st half, followed by an utterly shite 2nd half. I'm stunned that a book can be so great and so shite at the same time.
3 / 5
Well, this DK guide to the known universe is certainly a book of two halves!
Presentation-wise, this book is excellent, it has to be said - it is filled with stunning photographs and illustrations throughout, as well as informative text under logically progressive sub-headings, illustrated timelines, informative descriptions of stellar events, and lots of little stat / fact / info boxes.
The first half of the book is a solid 5/5, covering in wonderful detail, the universe itself and its theorised creation, then our solar system including all of the planets, moons and belts, the rest of our galaxy including other stars and solar systems, and then finally what may lie further afield. Thoroughly engrossing and beautifully presented.
Conversely, the second half is a solid 1/5. The whole second half is simply is a massive guide to the zodiacal sections of the night sky and where certain constellations are - perhaps it's just me, but this second half was boooooring. What a shameful waste of 220+ pages. Maybe there are people out there who want to read a 220+ page guide to what constellations are where, but I certainly don't. We could have had loads more pages about neutron stars, pulsars, quasars, comets, asteroids, nebulae....but instead, we've got a couple of hundred pages about the constellations and what zodiac sign they correspond to. Honestly, who cares?!
A truly wonderful 1st half, followed by an utterly shite 2nd half. I'm stunned that a book can be so great and so shite at the same time.
3 / 5
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Reading Progress
June 7, 2021
–
Started Reading
June 7, 2021
– Shelved
July 26, 2021
–
Finished Reading
